I found myself an old 1911 but have no clue what I got.

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I haven't seen one of those safeties in a coon's-age. Since the slide-stop doesn't match, I wonder if there wasn't a matching one at some point.

And that rear sight - can you show a better detailed picture of that?

All in all, I dig it. Looks like someone's long-term, multi-phase project.

Todd.
 
There was a time, a period almost completely forgotten in history, a time before iphones and today's availability of 1911's. Pretty much all that was available in 1911's back then were Llamas, AMT, and Colts. Colts were considered the reliable pistol, and they were hard to get. It was common for someone to pay big bucks for a Colt and take them to a gunsmith, and have the features that we consider as basic to a combat weapon added.

This is one. The guy who did the work did more than just adding a beaver tail, extended safety, and sights, but that is all you can see.

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This is another example. Springfield Armory arrived on the market and you could buy a basic GI model and have a master gunsmith make it into a real firearm. And this is what was done to this pistol.

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Melted Bomars were the thing, and it cost $$ to have the slide milled and Bomars installed. The checkering is all by hand. This has a Kart barrel and all the modifications considered necessary at the time.

And I would say, your series 80 is an example of that forgotten period, only referenced in dusty tomes, found only in yellowing magazines.
 
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Started with one of the oddball Colts with slide rib and slanted serrations like Gold Cup but fixed sights. Lots of rather inexpert modifications.
If it shoots reliably and was cheap, you are well off, but it is not state of the art. And was not in 1994, either.
 
FL-NC said:
And stipling. All brought to you from Bubba's Gun Werks.
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Well the gun is checkered not stippled so yeah your wrong on that.

Jim Watson said:
Started with one of the oddball Colts with slide rib and slanted serrations like Gold Cup but fixed sights. Lots of rather inexpert modifications.
If it shoots reliably and was cheap, you are well off, but it is not state of the art. And was not in 1994, either.
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This is what I am seeing as well. The mods are a bit dated. They also do not appear to be done by a professional smith but If the guns shoots it shoots.
 
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What a bunch of crotchety old, winter-weary curmudgeons y'all sound like.

The guy found a cool old project gun and all anyone notices are the already obvious *flaws*.

Heaven forbid anyone has a mar or imperfectly fitted part.

What I see is; some fella had an apparently good time shooting a lot through a budget-custom and now another fella owns it at a price he hasn't thought twice about.

Well..... maybe hasn't thought twice about until reading some of the comments here.

It's still a Colt and being a straight Series 80; no priceless, vaunted nor otherwise sought after guns were harmed in bringing this to our attention.

For my part - I get more honest joy outa looking at this than yet another perfect safe queen or pampered show-pony. I can find those in books and in my own rack.

I always reserve *Bubba* for something I can't really find any virtue in and has in fact degraded my own perceived value of an item. The noting that maybe some guy or gal wrung the snot outa this at club-matches or just matched targets with his or her buddies makes me happy.

And almost everyone here cries tears of joy every time someone else takes a soldering iron to a Glock - go figure.:evil:

Todd.
 
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Orkanen

Looks like you've got yourself a bit of a fixer upper! I think it would be great to have something like that to work on and to get it up and running properly. Years ago I finally got all the parts together to assemble a 1911 frame (Essex), and eventually I got a .22 conversion assembly to go with it (TacSol 2211). It was a good learning experience and kept me busy in what is usually a very boring winter season. Keep us in the loop as to what you're planning on doing with your new Colt and how you actually go about it!
fUh2v4s.jpg
 
If it shoots, it's all good.

And assume "idiot mark" is the takedown lever scratches? Know a few people and at least one API instructor somewhat loudly in the classroom portion that he DNGAF about it so takes down like this because his gun is there to shoot well, not be pretty but if you are a prissy boy, do it that way instead. It was fun at the time with almost everyone in class very precious about their guns.
 
ApacheCoTodd said:
I haven't seen one of those safeties in a coon's-age. Since the slide-stop doesn't match, I wonder if there wasn't a matching one at some point.
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I have seen them before. They are listed on Brownell's as I was looking for 1911 parts for my in progress build. All I can imagine is having a very low grip in order to flip that safety off, but that is just me. Market dictates there is a use for them somehow.
 
bannockburn said:
Orkanen

Looks like you've got yourself a bit of a fixer upper! I think it would be great to have something like that to work on and to get it up and running properly. Years ago I finally got all the parts together to assemble a 1911 frame (Essex), and eventually I got a .22 conversion assembly to go with it (TacSol 2211). It was a good learning experience and kept me busy in what is usually a very boring winter season. Keep us in the loop as to what you're planning on doing with your new Colt and how you actually go about it!
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Beautiful grips. Makes me think of oak panels in a well appointed office.... or bar.

The rest is damn nice too.

Todd.
 
herrwalther said:
I have seen them before. They are listed on Brownell's as I was looking for 1911 parts for my in progress build. All I can imagine is having a very low grip in order to flip that safety off, but that is just me. Market dictates there is a use for them somehow.
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I don't really get the point of them either. Kind of like an *anti* thumb rest.

Still, I dig weird.

Todd.
 
shoobe01 said:
If it shoots, it's all good.

And assume "idiot mark" is the takedown lever scratches? Know a few people and at least one API instructor somewhat loudly in the classroom portion that he DNGAF about it so takes down like this because his gun is there to shoot well, not be pretty but if you are a prissy boy, do it that way instead. It was fun at the time with almost everyone in class very precious about their guns.
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Idiot marks are engraved in the side of the pistol when the slide stop is inserted or removed incorrectly, then slid up or down against the side of the pistol. The US Army Armorer's school at Ft. Jackson taught me how to insert and remove the part correctly to avoid that. I actually knew it before that, the guy who taught me was a graduate of the same school. I bet the folks at Colt don't slide the stop against the side, either. ( Or Springfield, Dan Wesson, S&W, Ruger, Remington, or even RIA or Tisas, for that matter.)
They don't ruin a gun, but unlike cylinder stop trails, they are 100% preventable.
 
That guy started out just like the one I will inherit one day far sooner than I would like to think about. Dads pistol is also a “colts government model” and is probably the only nice gun he ever bought himself. He has always been a utilitarian kind of guy, but saw it, fell in love with it, and bought it on a layaway payment plan. The only things I can say about the pistol pictured above is that the safety is less confusing that the texture added to the bottom of the trigger guard. I would love to buy a gun like that, especially if I could get it cheap enough to not worry about odd stuff that can be fixed or overlooked. We all enjoy a project, and part of the fun in reworking a project is figuring out what in tarnation somebody was thinking when they put that safety on there.


And if anybody acts like they don’t like that gun, just point out the fact that it doesn’t have some stupid accessory rail or forward slide serrations.
 
ApacheCoTodd said:
I don't really get the point of them either. Kind of like an *anti* thumb rest.
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It was a modification to adapt the 1911 platform to fit smaller handed shooters...so that they could use it as a thumb rest

WestKentucky said:
The only things I can say about the pistol pictured above is that the safety is less confusing that the texture added to the bottom of the trigger guard.
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That is an popular modification from the 70s by IPSC/USPSA shooters. It provides index/traction for the upper surfaces of the fingers taking a high grip...I'm still seeing it on competition pistols in current use
 
Congrats Orkanen. Clean it up and go shoot it and see how it goes. It looks like the previous owner has made a couple of changes but nothing looks out of place. Probably a very nice shooter.

Did you get any spare recoil springs? Off the top of my head the loads you speak of sounds very light, so I suspect the previous owner must have put in a lighter spring to get it to cycle reliably. If so, keep with his loads as 230 ball will probably be too much for your spring and be hard on your slide.
 
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