The Colt 1911 Guide to Modifications according to Jeff Cooper

3830 Views 65 Replies 29 Participants Last post by theraptur, 2 mo ago

crkckr

Discussion Starter · 4 mo ago

I offer this without comment, take from it what you will! I do not remember the date of this list but it was a while back!
Cheers,
crkckr

THE COLT 1911 .45 ACP:
Guide to Modifications, according to Jeff Cooper

THINGS YOU SHOULD DO:
High Visibility Sights (including ramped front)
Dehorning
A crisp 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 lb. trigger

THINGS THAT ARE USEFUL:
Adjustable high visibility sights
Solid bushing
Enlarged ejection port
Beveled magazine well
Extended thumb safety
Throated barrel and polished feed ramp
Round and polish bottom of extractor hook
Magazine floor plate pads

THINGS THAT ARE OK:
Trigger over travel stop
Deactivate grip safety
Flat main spring housing
Spring modification to magazine release
Combat accuracy job (slight tightening of slide; solid bushing, not too tight; fitting of barrel hood,
link and slide stop to barrel lugs; 3 to 5 inch groups at 50 yards.
Bobbed hammer
Press fit of firing pin stop

THINGS OF QUESTIONABLE VALUE:
Colored sights
Duck tail grip safety
Ambidextrous thumb safety
Custom stocks
Stainless steel parts
Recoil buffer

THINGS THAT ARE OBJECTIONABLE:
Sight rib
Optical sights
Trigger shoe
Extended slide stop
Squared or hooked trigger guard
Loaded chamber indicator
Double action conversion
Muzzle brake
Over-length barrel
Extended magazine release
Recoil spring guide
Long slide
Group gripper
Ejection port modified to drop brass close to shooter
Maximum Accurize job; hard fit, lapped, maximum tightness, groups of 1 3/4 to 2 1/2 at 50 yards.

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21 - 40 of 66 Posts

Che

· #21 · 4 mo ago

crkckr said:
I offer this without comment, take from it what you will! I do not remember the date of this list but it was a while back!
Cheers,
crkckr

THINGS THAT ARE OK:
Flat main spring housing

I found it as a good read. One thing that jumped out was the Flat MSH that is standard now for 1911s.

Thank you for sharing.

Reactions: 2

Frank Vaccaro

· #22 · 4 mo ago

I agree with Col. Cooper on most things.
I highly agree with dsk”avoid the temptation to replace everything on your new 1911 just to make it better!”
However, I really like the “beaver tail” grip safety, my hands are big & I grip handguns high. A standard grip safety is going to draw blood sooner than later.😲

Reactions: 3

ether

· #23 · 4 mo ago

jtq said:
Though the "Duck tail" was a style of grip safety that Colt used, and while different than a GI grip safety, it isn't a beavertail.

Maybe birds of a feather don't flock with beavers

Che

· #24 · 4 mo ago

crkckr said:
… I've seen a lot of guys have their self tuned 1911's go full auto in the middle of a match! Instant DQ!

That is scary. I’ve seen that too in matches. The other side to that, is the revolver shooters that have such a light trigger pull the hammer strike is too light to fire a round. Not scary but embarrassing indeed.

Reactions: 2

tomrkba

· #25 · 4 mo ago

Col Cooper was not always right despite him being sure of it.

Reactions: 3

ken98k

· #26 · 4 mo ago

Just curious about deactivating the grip safety, why would you do this?

jtq

· #27 · 4 mo ago

ken98k said:
Just curious about deactivating the grip safety, why would you do this?

The way some grip a 1911, especially one that enables a very high hold, their grip may not reliably disengage the grip safety which prevents the gun from firing when you want it to fire.

Reactions: 1

ether

· #28 · 4 mo ago

ken98k said:
Just curious about deactivating the grip safety, why would you do this?

You don't really need it if you're practiced in trigger and thumb safety control. But if your finger is on the trigger, and your thumb is cocking the hammer, it's a minimal/microbial safety against accidental discharge.

If you're a quick-draw gunslinger, you might want to make sure it never gets in your way of pulling the the trigger

Reactions: 1

ken98k

· #29 · 4 mo ago

ether said:
You don't really need it if you're practiced in trigger and thumb safety control. But if your finger is on the trigger, and your thumb is cocking the hammer, it's a minimal/microbial safety against accidental discharge.

If you're a quick-draw gunslinger, you might want to make sure it never gets in your way of pulling the the trigger

ether said:
You don't really need it if you're practiced in trigger and thumb safety control. But if your finger is on the trigger, and your thumb is cocking the hammer, it's a minimal/microbial safety against accidental discharge.

If you're a quick-draw gunslinger, you might want to make sure it never gets in your way of pulling the the trigger

I think I would choose a grip safety with a so call "memory pad" before I would disable a safety.

Reactions: 3

ether

· #30 · 4 mo ago

ken98k said:
I think I would choose a grip safety with a so call "memory pad" before I would disable a safety.

If I were out in the wild looking for trouble, and especially if I were wearing gloves, I'd disable the grip safety.

As I am, I'm OK with mine functioning as designed.

PaulWVa

· #31 · 4 mo ago

Frank Vaccaro said:
.... A standard grip safety is going to draw blood sooner than later.😲

Ha! I still have a small scar on the web of my shootin' hand from my first year of IPSC ('81-'82). I had a Commander with an original style grip safety and was shooting two matches a month and practicing 500 to 600 rounds in-between. It wore a hole in my hand that never had a chance to fully heal. Then I got a "beaver tail" installed and the world turned. My hand healed and my shooting got better as practice became more comfortable.

I'm guessing JMB didn't have very big hands, or he would have made that change in the original design.

L. Boscoe

· #32 · 4 mo ago

ether said:
If I were out in the wild looking for trouble, and especially if I were wearing gloves, I'd disable the grip safety.

As I am, I'm OK with mine functioning as designed.

I don't carry, only range shooting, and I really have to watch my grip to engage the safety. I put skateboard tape on it and that helped, but the way I shoot, I don't really need it.

dsk

· #33 · 4 mo ago

jtq said:
Though the "Duck tail" was a style of grip safety that Colt used, and while different than a GI grip safety, it isn't a beavertail.

If you look at the one on my pistol it actually looks more like a duck's tail than a beaver's. At the time they came out there wasn't a commonly-accepted term for them. Many of them were actually custom-made by gunsmiths since not every parts vendor offered one. The modern ones are more accurately described as beavertails because they are long, wide and upswept.

Reactions: 2

riposte191145

· #34 · 4 mo ago

Mello2u said:
Of those things listed, I had a 1911 that I was fortunate enough to get some modifications done by the Gunsite gunsmith back in the early 80s.

High Visibility Sights (including ramped front)
A crisp 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 lb. trigger
Solid bushing
Enlarged ejection port
Beveled magazine well
Extended thumb safety
Throated barrel and polished feed ramp
Round and polish bottom of extractor hook
Deactivate grip safety

This was after it had a trip to Robar (Robby Barkman's company) for a two tone finish.

I wish I could remember the name of the gunsmith.

Maybe "Kit" Carson (I don't think I actually knew his first name)?

But Ted Yost was at the gunsmithy in the 80s as well, if he did your pistol it is a fine pistol - but I don't think they ever had any slackers while the Col. ran the school.

Riposte

riposte191145

· #35 · 4 mo ago

dsk said:
I only assumed it was the early 1980s because he mentioned beavertails, which really weren't a thing until then.

I have an early Colt Series 80 with the first-generation Wilson/Clark #66 beavertail on it. It's actually very comfy and I prefer it aesthetics-wise over the current ones. It just doesn't let you grip the frame as high as modern ones.

I think I've got a pistol with that grip safety - but I bought it used and have no idea when it was built.

Several Custom makers including Hoag and Pachmayr were doing wide grip safeties - but they had to make them by hand (by soldering sides to the regulars safety and "whittling" them down to shape ) - I saw a few in the 70s, but before that I wasn't paying much attention - they may have even predated that?

I did misspeak on API, or at least omitted something. It is true that The American Pistol Institute was the name of the school on Gunsite Ranch, in 1975, but API also existed in the 1960s at Big Bear Lake and it was mostly a mobile school which gave classes in several foreign lands. I'm not sure when Col. Cooper first incorporated API?

Riposte

RickB

· #36 · 4 mo ago

A mod not mentioned, but in evidence on Cooper's guns in the '60s, was removing most of the serrated or checkered finger piece of the slide stop.
He probably advocated for not using the slide stop as a slide release, so no loss of function, and I suspect the issue was interference with or wear on the holster.

After using all of the widely available grip safeties, I'm a fan of the M1911 original, with a spur hammer shortened and contoured for no hammer bite.
Beavertails create issues with reliable disengagement, and I find that a much more important than picking nits over how high the frame can or should be cut and blended.

shooter59

· #37 · 4 mo ago

offrdmania805 said:
I like how he lists magazine floor plate pads

Here is a magazine from my 1970 Jim Hoag build and the magazine has a substantial magazine floor plate pad.

View attachment 665642

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I remember sacrificing an old leather belt to make base pads from in the mid 70’s😂

Reactions: 1

offrdmania805

· #38 · 4 mo ago

shooter59 said:
I remember sacrificing an old leather belt to make base pads from in the mid 70’s

What was the point? Was it so that when you dropped them during competition you wouldn’t ding up the bottom of the magazine?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

shooter59

· #39 · 4 mo ago

PaulWVa said:
Ha! I still have a small scar on the web of my shootin' hand from my first year of IPSC ('81-'82). I had a Commander with an original style grip safety and was shooting two matches a month and practicing 500 to 600 rounds in-between. It wore a hole in my hand that never had a chance to fully heal. Then I got a "beaver tail" installed and the world turned. My hand healed and my shooting got better as practice became more comfortable.

I'm guessing JMB didn't have very big hands, or he would have made that change in the original design.

Grips and stances were very, very different when the 1911 came into service. Things have evolved quite a bit.

Reactions: 1

shooter59

· #40 · 4 mo ago

offrdmania805 said:
What was the point? Was it so that when you dropped them during competition you wouldn’t ding up the bottom of the magazine?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Not so much that, as being a bit of insurance that you get the mag seated home the first time, without leaving some meat off your hand behind😂

Reactions: 2

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