ltwguns.com

Bill asked that I post this to let everyone know what he is planning for 2011. There will be more news to come. He hopes to have all 100 built and ready for delivery by the 2011 SHOT Show. This is one of these you don't want to wait too long for. For those going to SHOT Show next week, he will have some news that will make this even better.

Thanks,

Rob


1911 Government Model

100th Anniversary Limited Edition




To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 1911 I am researching the feasibility of building 100 exact reproductions of my original and correct 1913 military 1911 pistol. My 1913 pistol is actually marked US Navy. It was 1 of 100 pistols purchased by the Navy and issued to the USS New York battle ship.

To create an exact reproduction of this pistol requires the manufacture of many of the internal parts to specifically match the original parts used in that time frame of manufacture of the 1911. Many people are unaware that there were many slight changes in some of the internal parts as time went by. As with any newly designed firearm, there were breakages of some of the internal parts as the number of rounds fired through the pistols increased. So, Colt redesigned the parts that failed to increase their strength but still allow direct replacement of the original parts without other modifications of the pistol.

The most noticeable changes to the exterior of the pistol came in 1928 with the introduction of the 1911A1 pistol. The visible changes were the changing of the flat mainspring housing to an arched mainspring housing, the grip safety tail was lengthened to stop hammer bite, the hammer spur was thinned and shortened, the slide stop checkering was changed to serrations, the thumb safety was changed from a small thumb piece to a longer style with serrations instead of checkering, machining of the relief cuts behind the trigger guard to allow more finger access to the trigger, the front and rear sight changes for improved sight picture, the ejection port was enlarged downward, and the lengthening of the of the cut under the slide nose on the recoil spring plug housing. The finish of the pistol was changed from a polished blue to a grit blasted parkerized finish. The wooden grips were also changed to the plastic grips for improved durability and less manufacturing costs.

The internal parts that were changed over the years were the firing pin stop, the trigger went from being machined from one piece of steel to two pieces, the recoil spring guide was strengthened, the barrel was changed externally to allow faster production, the disconnector cut in the slide was changed from a hole with relief angles to a ½ moon cut, and of course the inspectors marks changed as the inspectors changed.

The finish on my reproduction will be a correct buffing with the carbona bluing

So, as you can see creating an actual reproduction of a 1913 pistol will require quite a lot of work and expense for a small run of 100 pistols. I am currently researching the costs to reproduce the pistol. I will put the projected price of the pistol in this document as soon as I get it figured out.

The marking on the pistol will be slightly different as I cannot use the Colt name or the horse. I will roll mark the slide with the same type style. The patent dates will be the same. The name will be changed to Cylinder & Slide. The address will be changed to Fremont Ne. The horse will be changed to an entwined CS in proper type style. The manufacturer’s line on the frame will be changed to Cylinder & Slide Fremont Ne. The US Property marking will be rolled on the frame. Now here is a question for you. The Army pistols were marked US Army on the right hand side of the slide and the Navy pistols were marked US Navy on the right hand side of the slide. Would you rather have a US Army or US NAVY marked slide? If I get enough of you that want a Navy marked slide I will go to the expense of having a roll die made to mark your slide US Navy.

I am not sure yet what serial number scheme I will use. I will probably use something like 1913001. Your suggestions will be appreciated.

Please fill out the questionnaire with your contact information and check the question blocks and put your comments in the comment box. I will not give your contact information to anyone else and I will not start bombarding you with emails. I will send you an email when I get more information so I can keep you posted on the progress. Once I have a firm price on the pistol I will send everyone an email offering you the chance to place your nonrefundable deposit of 50% of the purchase price. The serial numbers will be issued on a first come first served basis. Serial number 1 is mine so don’t even ask.

There will be quite a few commemorative 1911 pistols produced for the 100th anniversary but I am betting that those that attempt to make a reproduction will only attempt to make a pistol that looks like some version of a 1911 on the outside with current production internal parts.
I hope that enough of you want a true reproduction that I can build these pistols. The target for the completion of production will be Shot Show 2011 so I really have to get this project rolling to meet this schedule.

Click here to send me your information and have your name added to the list of people interested. There is also a comment section you may add your suggestions, thoughts and comments. Your input is greatly appreciated.

http://www.cylinder-slide.com/reproduction.shtml

Bill Laughridge

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We sleep safely in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm. George Orwell

Just got back from Vegas and had a chance to visit with Bill. It looks like this project is a go. Bill received a lot of positive feedback and has now located an early three-digit 1911 to examine. This will enable him to have the most accurate reproduction homage possible. This will include the first style magazine release. Bill is also planning to selling the parts to enable those with older guns to replace worn or broken parts while keeping faithful to the original design. However, these parts will be specifically marked to they can not be represented as original.

Bill has already taken a few orders, sight unseen! The project is going to involve a substantial investment but Bill feels that there are enough people that are interested to make it worth while.

Visit his site to obtain updates. Bill hopes to have a "proof of concept" pistol made in the next 90 days or so.

Bill has the skill, integrity, and respect to pull this off. I only hope that I can find the funds to order one.

SHOT was a disaster with a poor, no stupid, layout at the facility. It didn't help that it rained everyday and the Sands had buckets in the floor, and hung from the ceiling to catch the water. Some of the displays and products received water damage. From a business viewpoint, everyone seemed to do pretty well with orders and traffic, at least on the upper levels.

Rob

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We sleep safely in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm. George Orwell

Interesting observations on SHOT. I'll have to check out this effort by C&S. Between this and the Trident gun, Bill's got me interested. Doesn't bode well for SHOT that they signed something like a 3-year deal with Sands for the show. In one of those weird quirks of timing, I'm always either deployed or TDY during the Vegas years, so I have yet to experience the show there. Orlando is always a heck of a lot of walking, but at least I haven't been soaked inside the convention center there!

I have to agree with Rob regarding the layout at SHOT. There were specific booths that we wanted to visit but had trouble locating because it was divided up into so many different rooms. Over the course of two days visiting the Sands Expo Center, we probably saw between 1/3 and 1/2 of what we wanted to see.

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No Piece, No Peace

I have to agree with this. The layout was insane.

Regards,
Greyson

Just received this update from Bill. Please pass this on to anyone who may be interested. There was a lot of excitement at SHOT about this project. Get in now

Rob

Update: 27 January 2010



Update on the 1911 reproduction project:

I have decided to build a reproduction of the military issue 1911 pistol as produced by Colt until Serial Number 3000. This pistol has several very unique parts. The most notable part that was changed at SN#3188 was the magazine catch and magazine catch lock. The original magazine catch lock had a concave head instead of a screw slot. The removal of the magazine catch was quite difficult to do. The sear spring had no turned down end on the left hand tine. The change to the turned down end on the sear spring was made at some where around #1000. The mainspring housing pin had convex ends on it until about #6499 instead of one convex end and one concave end. The thumb safety lock was also different and changed at about #6000. The recoil spring plug did not have a tab pressed into it until about #6500. There may be more slight differences and I will continue to research them with the reference books that I have. The only incorrect parts that I will have to offer with the pistol will be the magazines. The exposed base plate magazines look like they are going to be just too difficult to do so I will do the Type 3 magazines. There will be two magazines with each pistol. One magazine will have the lanyard loop and the other will not. The bases will be pinned on. The slide, frame, mainspring housing, and grip safety will be buffed correctly as possible and the bluing will be Carbona Blue. The small parts will be fire blued to the iridescent blue color as per the pistols up to #2400.

I would appreciate it if any of you can point out any other major parts of the pistol that were different in the under #3000 serial number range that I may have overlooked. Please understand that there are so many tiny variations found from gun to gun that no two of these early pistols were perfectly alike. These pistols were hand fitted by many different fitters so there were always tiny differences from gun to gun. So, I will do my best to produce as close of a reproduction as possible and still keep the price under the UNOBTANIUM category.

Speaking of price and the do-ability of this project, the price that I have now based on my projections is $4000 per pistol. I will start this project only when I receive 50 deposits of $2000. The cut off date for receiving the first 50 deposits so I can launch this project will be May 30th, 2010. If I have received the required 50 paid deposits by that time all deposits become non refundable and the project will move forward. I have to start the project at that time to be even remotely able to deliver the pistols in 2011. If I do not receive the needed 50 paid deposits by that time I will have to put the project on hold and I will return all deposits in full that I have received. If for some reason the price that I have now increases, everyone that has paid a deposit will be contacted and given a refund of their deposit if they so desire. I would really like to be able to build this 1911 reproduction to celebrate the 100 anniversary of the 1911 but I understand that these are trying times for many people due to the state of the economy and the unknowns of job security so this type of project may be badly timed.

Please keep checking for new updates. I would appreciate it if anyone has a pre #3000 pistol that they would be willing to let me examine. The more pistols that I check the more accurate I can be. I also would appreciate it if anyone has an original two piece box that the pistol was shipped in so that I can duplicate the markings that were on the box on my two piece craft paper covered boxes.

Bill

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We sleep safely in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm. George Orwell

Latest update from Bill -


Update: 18 February 2010

Currently I am working on making the one piece long triggers and the magazines.

The long one piece trigger is the most difficult part to manufacture besides the frame, slide, and barrel. I feel that the original part was probably manufactured from a forging. A forging die is way too expensive to have made for a short run of parts. My one piece triggers will be made from billet steel.

If you have ever looked at an original one piece trigger and understand machining this part is a work of machining art. The complex shape and the thin bows make it quite difficult to make even with today’s modern machining methods. The change in the trigger that was introduced in 1928 for the 1911A1 made the trigger much easier to manufacture. The bow is made from a stamping and the finger piece is made from a stamping also. This type of manufacturing would have reduced the part price by at least 75%.

I am going to have 200 of these one piece triggers made. There will be 100 of the triggers made available for sale as parts and the other 100 will be reserved for the pistols. It looks like the triggers will have to sell for $95 each. These triggers will have the finger piece highly polished and then heat blued.

The magazines that were used in the original 1911 pistols were made from seamless tubing that was purchased from Germany according to my information. I cannot make magazines like that. However, I can make the magazines with the pinned on floor plate that shows the entire side of the floor plate below the magazine tube sides. The magazines will also have the lanyard loop on the floor plate. The manufacture of the floor plate is actually pretty complicated. The floor plate has two bosses machined on the top that have 1/16” holes drilled through them for the pins that hold the floor plate on the tube. The bosses also have to be machined on the ends so that they can go up inside of the tube. These bosses keep the floor plate from sliding sideways on the tube. The pins keep the floor plate on the tube and keep the floor plate from sliding fore or aft. The pin holes in the tube must line up exactly with the pin holes in the floor plate bosses so the tube must be jig drilled to match the floor plate pin boss holes. The other little fun thing is the 5 degree angle on the back of the floor plate to match the angle of the back of the magazine to the bottom of the floor plate. Don’t forget that the sides of the floor plate must line up nicely with the sides of the tube. I hope that we can hold this tolerance very closely so I don’t have to make the floor plate width slightly wide and then grind and buff them to match the tube. This will add quite a bit to the price of the magazine if I have to do it. The magazines also have to be carbona blued. They are not going to be two tone magazines. According to my reference books the original magazines were not two tone because they were not case hardened by dipping the tops into molten cyanide. I assume that the original magazines were pretty soft and didn’t hold up well. Our magazines will be made from modern heat treated steel. The lips will be of the old ball style as they were. The cut out in the back of the magazine at the top will be new style with the rounded corners instead of the sharp square corners as the dies that the tubes are made from have that feature and I can’t and don’t want to change that feature. The reason that they changed from the square corners to the rounded corners was that the magazines cracked there. The other feature that I may have to keep on the magazines is the 1/8” weep hole slot in the bottom of the front of the magazine. The originals did not have this weep hole. I am not sure when the weep hole was added as I have not come across that information. The die that stamps out the tubes has the weep hole built in to it and I don’t know yet if that can be removed from the die without a major reworking of the die.

I don’t have a cost figure on the magazines yet but they will certainly cost more than a new 1911 magazine does.

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We sleep safely in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm. George Orwell

Please get Bill to rewrite this, most of that information is incorrect.

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OD

"Slow down, you'll get a more harmonious outcome...."

Yes, I noticed that too..maybe someone needs to send hime a Clawson?

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"The most effective armor is to keep out of range"-Italian proverb

CHECK OUT MY CUSTOM 1911 BLOG
http://thearsenalofdemocracy.blogspot.com

Gents,

I don't have access to a Clawson book. Can you be more specific? What's incorrect?

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If You're Not the Lead Dog, The View Never Changes.

The changes began in 1924, with the first pistols delivered on January 23, 1924. The shortening of the hammer (on the M1911A1s) didn't begin until 1939. The thin spur hammer was adopted in 1944. Colt used the short self thumb safety throughout production of the M1911A1s and used them on the Commercial Model until 1949. The changes on the recoil spring housing began in 1918.


Colt did not start Parkerizing their pistols until May 1941. Colt introduced their plastic stocks (called Coltrock) in 1940. That change took place in 1918.

The change from the long trigger to the short took place on the M1911A1 (1924), the one piece triggers continued until August of 1942 when the stamped triggers were adopted. The recoil spring guides were "round" to the approximate style more in line with those of Springfield Armory drawings. Barrels remained the same, some varied in the amount of polishing.

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OD

"Slow down, you'll get a more harmonious outcome...."

Rob, you should have Bill contact Scott Gahimer @
http://forums.1911forum.com/forumdisplay.php?f=30

If he is interested, I can also have Scott e-mail him.

Scott is second only to Charles Clawson in expertize on the Colt M1911 & M1911A1, and the early Government Models. He can answer ALL Bill's questions.

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"The pistol, learn it well, carry it always ..." - Jeff Cooper