[AC's & 45's]

After a week and a half I finally received my Grade 1?, Sistema.
I question it because while all serials match and it has been refinished, the bore is very rough.
The man who obtained it for me is also a gun smith. He said he would shoot it a little , but he would also get a GI barrel for it if I intend to shoot it a lot.

With this in mind I took it to the range.
I was able to keep 50 rounds of mil-surp
ball on an old fold out American Handgunner rag mag at 25 Yrds. Not bad for a shot out barrel with ancient mil surp ammo.

I do plan to pick up a surplus GI barrel for it. I didn't buy it to look at.

JFTHOI I fired four full mags of 230 Hydra Shoks through it. No jams of any kind.

Now for the critic in me...
Heavy but crisp trigger, to be expected
Good finish: hard use and abuse very evident
hammer bites like a big dog : was expected
fit and finish: very pleasing
barrel: shot out still throws em pretty good
slide to frame fit: equal to many 80 Colts I have owned.


My one genuine bitch is when I detailed stripped it the third leg on the sear spring was cracked and fell apart in my hand. Easy enough to replace, but irritating.

With the exception of the shot out barrel I am pleased. It is a crap shoot when you buy any surplused firearm. I didn't expect a perfect pistol. It has character. I like it.

My apologies to CDNN. My gun was actually obtained from J.L.D. Enterprises.

------------------
Guns don't kill people,
People kill people!

 

[T_Smith]

AC,

Just curious, what's the condition of your mag-release? Does the mag stick in the well and have to be PULLED out, or is it less dramatic?

Also, my grip-safety doesn't seem to work very well. 90% of the time the hammer will fall when the trigger is pulled and the grip-safety is not engaged.

Just curious.

Have a good one

 

[dsk]

T_Smith, your grip safety or trigger bow is likely worn. Since you also have a problem with the hammer falling when the slide is dropped I'd say you need to have a good 1911 pistolsmith give it a look-over.

When I first took apart an Argentine Colt purchased through JLD, the sear spring broke on that one as well. The plunger tube also had to be replaced along with the grip screw bushings. I didn't care because I had a ton of spare parts on hand plus I know how to rebuild 1911s. But I certainly wouldn't have been happy had I known nothing about 1911s.

------------------
D. Kamm
USGI M1911/M1911A1 Pistols Website
http://www.geocities.com/M1911_M1911A1

[This message has been edited by dsk (edited 10-17-2001).]

 

[T_Smith]

Thanks dsk,

When I ordered the Sistema, I also ordered a "Spring Set" which included 4 coil springs and the leaf-sear spring. I went ahead and replaced the "main recoil spring?" and the sear spring since these were easy to get to after a basic dissasembling.

Now, the grip-safety was loose(not under pressure from the sear spring) so I SLIGHTLY bent that leg of the sear spring up a little to put more pressure on the grip safety. Could I have done more harm than good doing this?

Have a good one

 

[dsk]

No, that's how you do it. Also make sure that the safety moves all the way in and out. If it's not going all the way out that could also cause it to not function.

Go to my website on function-checking to make sure she's all sound:
http://www.geocities.com/M1911_M1911A1/function.html

Make SURE it's unloaded before you do the checks though!

------------------
D. Kamm
USGI M1911/M1911A1 Pistols Website
http://www.geocities.com/M1911_M1911A1

 

[AC's & 45's]

All safeties work as intended. I replaced the sear spring with a new (to me) surplus.
The included Colt mag drops free as does two new stainless Colt mags I already had.

Jfthoi, I tried Winchester 230 sxt jhp's.
"poop through a goose" only twenty rounds through 3 different mags. I know this isn't much of a test. But those damn sxt's hang up in all my modern .45's. While this old barrel is pretty shot out and very well worn, it isn't throated.
I did finally get around to scaling the trigger pull. I knew it was heavy, but damn.
It breaks just that damned old glass rod at 8- 8 1/2 lbs.

I think after I get the new barrel, lighten the pull and tame the hammer bite, this will be one heck of a gun.

------------------
Guns don't kill people,
People kill people!

 

[BB]

FYI, I *think* it was Century International that has some unused GI contract chrome-lined barrels for around $30.

 

[AC's & 45's]

BB
Do they have a web site?

If they do I'm not doing it right..

 

[BB]

http://www.centuryarms.com

Colt 1911, .45 Cal. Barrel - without Links
USGI Blued New with chrome bore $US34.87



[This message has been edited by BB (edited 10-19-2001).]