Shocked - AO 1911

[George Hill]

I ran out to my local gun shop to check and see if my gun arrived yet (could have called, but needed to get out and get some Dr Pepper anyways).
They had a milspec 1911 there that said Auto Ordinance on it. Looked different than all the other AO's I've ever seen. So I asked to look at it.
It was slightly used, asking 350 for it. I picked it up and MAN! It actually felt pretty dang good. In fact - it felt just like the 1911 that I carried as issued back when I wore BDU's for a living. Lanyard loop and everything.

Every other AO I've ever seen looked as if it was cast in sand molds. Totally crappy. This one was right on. Looked good. Felt good. I didn't strip it down to look at the inside, but dang... I must be seeing things because it looks like AO is now making good 1911A1s.

Is this really true or am I just nuts? This one is the only one I've seen since Kahr took over the operations. Looks like Kahr may have done something truly wonderful here.

 

[Avery Goodschott]

Kahr quality is contagious...

I love my MK9 Elite 98

 

[stans]

The last one I saw was a total piece of ! The first thing I do when I examine a pistol is drop the mag and check the chamber. Well, I pushed the mag release and the mag dropped just a little, it took a real hard pull to get it out of the frame! The machining on the one I saw was pretty rough and seemed no better than the Auto Ords of the 80's and 90's.

 

[George Hill]

This one had the mag falling out with no problem, chamber was brightly polished, and the whole thing felt solid. No rattle in the slide either. The rails were showed pretty even wear marks from what I saw, like I said, I didn't get to see the insides.
This one was NOTHING like the old AO guns I used to see all the time. Well, nothing save the fact that they were 1911 pattern guns.
Is this gun what AO'Kahr putting out now or was this gun "worked over"? It was almost new.

 

[Sarge111]

Laugh if you want...

but last spring I rebuilt an old Pit Bull with an Ed Brown bushing and FLGR- and proceeded to shoot what may have been the best 25-yard group I ever shot with a 1911. It ran 100% through about 350-400 rounds of Wolf ball and Sierra 230/JHP reloads, too.

The thing with buying older A/O's is to look them over real good before you buy them, and maybe shoot them first if you can. I have seen some that were way off spec as far as pinholes, mag release cutout, etc. were concerned, and they are utterly hopeless. Some others have been real good. I am hearing pretty good things about the Kahr/AO guns these days, but haven't had a chance to wring one out yet.

 

[Tamara]

How's it shoot?

 

[Sarge111]

Assuming you're talking to me...

I've got a pic of the gun and target somewhere, which I had posted here before, but I took it down off my photo host and will need to re-link it. Out of 5 shots @ 25 yards there were 3 in 1, and a couple of 'flyers' that ruined the group to the tune of about 2" as I recall. This was with Wolf hardball.

If I'd have known it was gonna shoot that good I would have tried harder...

 

[1911Tuner]

Auto Ordnance

Good to hear first hand that Kahr has improved'em. I've got an older
AO...production, around 1982-83...that is actually quite good, which goes to
show that it DID happen on occasion. It's as accurate as a couple of
my friends' stock Gold Cups, in spite of the mega-cheaped 2-piece barrel...
which proves that it's more a matter of fitting and lockup that anything else.
I did retrofit a hard-fit bushing to it, but that's about it other than replacing
the badly cast slidestop and all springs and pins...Firing pin and extractor too. More a matter of attending to the "most likely to break club" than anything that was necessary. Oh yeah...Almost forgot the link. That
went away with the pin and was replaced by a Wilson set.... and
the best link turned out to be a .275 center to center...Go figger.

Alas, the grip safety will never look right due to many dimensions and
hole locations being so widely departed from print specs...but it works,
as does any other GS that I try in it, and that's the main thing, I reckon.

I may upgrade the hammer sear and disconnect later this year, as well as
a few other incidentals. The gun has been completely reliable on the range, and the trigger fits smack in the middle of "Not bad, considering"
category.

After a bit of attention and prep, I would carry the gun...which, considering my anal retentive quirks over weapon reliability, says a lot for it.

Hope I get a chance to get a close look at a Kahr Auto-Ord sometime soon.

Cheers!
Tuner

 

[George Hill]

So basically your old AO guns is okay because you have replaced everything but the slide and frame?
That's fine for you to say... Your the gunsmith and you do this sort of thing in your sleep.
For your average joe... that would be a big deal.
For example, how much would it cost me for you to do all that to my old AO 1911? (No I don't have one. *shudder*)

 

[1911Tuner]

Cost?



The parts that I've replaced on it so far have been the link and pin...7 bucks

The slidestop...20 dollars and change.
Extractor...20 dollars and change. (That's a given for ANY entry-level 1911
these days)

The firing pin, hammer and sear pins...plus all springs...another 20 or so.

Barrel bushing...15 dollars (Not needed, just on a whim and because I had one in the drawer) Fitting took about 20 minutes. I'd charge a fella
10 bucks to do it if he rushed me...5 if he didn't.

One King's trigger...whim. The stock trigger was slop-in fit.
The King's dropped in.

The hammer, sear and disconnect haven't given any trouble, so that would
be a "whim" project too, just for peace of mind. If I don't decide to carry it,
I may not do it at all. Works fine as is.

A little prep and polish here and there to clean up rough edges and sharp corners on the main 3 trigger parts. took about an hour.

The newer Kahr-built pistols probably have MIM small parts, which are
head and shoulders above the crude castings that my old AO has, and
they may not need anything unless you plan on making a heavy-use
beater out of one.

Joe Average could do everything I did except the bushing, and EGW will
take his barrel and slide dimensions and custom-make a near drop-in
for about the same cost of buying one and paying to have it fitted. A
little lapping compound in the slide to bushing OD would fix it up nicely.

Not that much to it if he lurks around THR and asks questions.
I'd have to break a Kahr AO down to have a close look at what's inside before I could make any suggestions, though. My guess is that they're
better than the older ones. That's the first thing I'll do when I take
possession of that Springfield in the next week or so.

Pickypickypicky...That's me.