Recent content by ImperatorGray

Another friend got the Tank Commander but also wanted to learn the process to de-bite a spur hammer without making it visually obvious. I showed him and we swapped hammers.

Thought about adding a pair of jump wings to the exterior. :)

Snapped a few pics while constructing the box.

The ring hammer was straight from Tisas and dropped right in. Trigger pull averaged 4lb 0.4oz with the old hammer... and with the new one.

My best friend served in the 82nd in the Cold War days of 1911s. He's wanted one of his own ever since he left the service, but he's never gotten one. Well, when an inexpensive pistol I evaluated early last year passed muster (the minor barrel-fit issue worked itself out after a couple hundred...

I've taken glamour shots, as promised. Here she is wearing Pachmayr Signature GM-45C / 02921 Combat grips: Front sight: Heinie #9055GF 14k gold bead for Springfield's oddball .340x60 dovetail. Rear sight: 10-8 Performance 0201-375-140 U-notch. Thumb lock: Colt SP572401 teardrop. Flush...

Upgrade the sights. Steel, fixed, with a von Stavenhagen "dot the I" configuration or something up front to draw the eye (whiteball, gold bead, big glowy dot) in a U-notch rear. Have your smith make it so it has a hook/ledge on the rear for one-hand problem solving. Maybe play with color...

Good call out. If I remember right, some folks seem to think Kimber was a better pistol when some quality control was conducted in Oregon, pending a company range going up in NY. /shrug/

Hopefully I'll have tweaks made within the week and can throw some pics up. :) Will include a parts list.

Kimber is on my do-not-buy list. And that's for both pre- and post-relocation Kimbers. My experience with them suggests that the idea that quality went down after the move to Yonkers is likely a myth. The fact that Kimber has been unable to cut feed ramps correctly is an absolute dealbreaker...

The nylon trigger is, um... unacceptable. I (kinda) forgave its existence because (1) the price difference vs the other options I considered paid for it and the rest of the small parts I'll be replacing many times over and (2) I knew that the trigger was on the way out just from aesthetics...

Extractor No fitting seems to have taken place during installation of the extractor. It protrudes conspicuously out the back. It rotates freely ("clocking") which, combined with its fore-aft wiggle, makes reinstalling the firing pin stop after a detail strip truly maddening. More...

After making the rounds for a 10mm and watching counter clerks abuse the used 1911's in their charge, I decided to grab a good deal on a factory-fresh one. The Springfield Armory Ronin 10mm didn't quite match up to the specs I had in mind, but it was the closest on the new market shy of sending...

Proper extractor tuning is skipped on a lot of 1911's out of the box, and the non-.45's even moreso I think. The smaller breachface of a 9mm/.38 (or a 10mm/.40) means that the internal extractor gets un-tuned during the installation, as the extractor channel is bending it the wrong way as part...

Back in April, I posted a gushing analysis of a 5" SDS "U.S. Army" 1911. Functionally, the only imperfection out of the box was that it stopped on the link slightly - and I neglected to add before the thread was locked that after 100 rounds the link stretched a tad and made for essentially...