ltwguns.com

I’m hesitant to post for a couple of reasons: a. my photographic skills are not up to the level of most of those posted here; b. this gun is not nearly as visually tricked out as most of the work seen here. But, it has a certain charm so what the heck.
This Colt originally went out on Colt’s loan account (March 19, 1924) to D.G. Phelps, Colt’s sales manager for many years. A few months later it was returned to the factory and shipped to O.C. Alderman, a hardware proprietor in Springfield, Massachusetts. When I received the pistol it had some interesting features—the top of the slide was sand-blasted, the mainspring housing was flat and checkered, and it had a pre-war Colt match barrel. These were all Colt options in the 1920s and 1930s and I believe these features were original to the gun. The pistol started life as a sales “demo.” However, the pistol also had considerable wear to the finish and some light pitting when I got it. Perfect for what I had in mind.

For several years a project had been rolling around in my head about finding an interesting pre-war Colt and building it out with features congruent with the time period. No beavertail safeties or golf ball treatments for this gun. This would be about subtle functionality, not eye-popping metal work. Who came to mind for the work? Ned Christiansen could have arguably been last in line, given the leading edge nature of most of his projects, yet he got excited about the concept. The design dictum was to stick with the look and feel of a pre-war match gun. We did not hue slavishly to the period but if J. Henry FitzGerald wouldn’t recognize the modifications we didn’t do them. So, Kart barrel and bushing, tightened up slide/frame fit, new ignition parts but old hammer, trigger, slide stop and safeties. The ivory bead front sight and U notch rear was popular with shooters back in the day, and complement the vintage ivory stocks. Old school checkering but a subtle new lanyard attachment feature and mild mag well treatment. There are lots of other little touches and a few we left out that I kind of wish we had included. For example, fire blue small parts and French borders would have added some eye appeal. But overall it came together beautifully and the quality of Ned’s work is second to none, of course. I think this is a gun that Frank Hamer or Melvin Purvis would have appreciated.


Regards,
Kevin Williams

Very well done. Beautifully understated and elegant!

Love it, scrolling back up to look again as soon as i hit "submit"!

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www.mattlamey.com

That is a great BBQ pistol. I particularly like the ivory stocks.

Where did you get the ivory stocks?

I shudder to ask, what was the turn time?

Thanks for sharing.

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Semper Paratus,

Steve

I hesitate to 'show my colors' once again here , but that is fantastic.

First and foremost in my mind is that it still looks like a COLT.

Beautiful gun, just beautiful.

She's a real beauty; very well done.........

Actually Kevin, I was hoping that if you posted this one, you would start out with something like, "I was traveling through Wisconsin and stayed at the historic Little Bohemia Lodge, site of the famous shootout between Dillinger et al and the G-Men. As I was getting settled in the room, I noticed, in the ceiling of the closet, a little trap door for access to the attic. I popped it open and just reached my hand up there to feel around a bit, and found....."

Yes, I usually don't do retro, but indeed I enjoyed this one, especially since it was for a customer so deeply into Colts and Colt history. Kevin gets an A+ rating as a customer.

There were some rough spots. I've seen some of this before, where some one, decades earlier, did not know how to get the safety or MSH pin out and resorted to force. I stoned out some of the deeper stuff. For bluing it went to Glenrock. My few experiences with them have been great, and I broke with tradition here, letting them do the polishing and prep. I find it very hard to trust anyone with that but my estimation was that they could do it, and maybe come closer to our spec of, "make it look they way they did them back then". That is, some of the rounds polished. For practicality the slide rear and top are matted; that's about it. Glenrock came through again and did a fantastic job.

The front sight is made from scratch, slotted in and silver soldered. I drilled it for the ivory insert and made same from a little chunk I got from Austin Behlert before he died.

Kevin wanted to stick with the period look as much as possible so I special ordered the Kart barrel with no engraving on the hood. He provided the ivory grips which luckily were a near perfect drop-in fit.

I am jealous, even though that gun would bite me 'til I bled.

Good eye, Patrick. It scarred me just hand-cycling it!

Kevin,

I remember when you told me about this project quite some time ago. It certainly was well thought out and came out very nice. I'm envious.

Hope to see you in Tulsa in November.

Tom

Ned,

Being born and raised in Texas, the story will have to be about A Texas Ranger or Sheriff...maybe gunning down Clyde Barrow. I'm impressed with Glenrock bluing. Although it is pretty black in the hand, it photographs to look much like Colt's pre-war charcoal blue.


Tom,

I'll be there!

Regards,
Kevin

Absolutely beautiful..

Not much into the "Retro" guns, I would pick this gun up in a heart beat!!! I got to see this gun a few times in it's transformation, beautiful work from begining to end..Ned's checkering looks perfect on this gun and a few touches you can't see from the outside, make this thing a keeper. Ned- looks like Phil came thru in his usual style, finish looks perfect on this one. Very cool gun!!!

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https://www.graffcustom.com/

Yeah - what he said. Great job, Ned!

Kevin, You are correct, sir: Not retro. "Right" comes to mind. That one has "it".

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ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE
Thunder Ranch THG & UR(x2), Gunsite 250C,
Yavapai Firearms Acad HG1(x2), HG2, & SG,
Shootrite Prvt Inst HG, NRA Life Member

Very Nice Ned, gotta do a throw back ever once in a while!

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Kandros Customs Gunworks
www.kandroscustoms.com

Kevin, both your taste and Ned's execution are impeccable. I only wish I had a Colt of that vintage to follow your lead. Well conceived and well done, both of you.

~Jim Keeney

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"I'd rather die on my feet than keep living on my knees." - Emiliano Zapata, Mexican Revolutionary

Kevin,
You have a beautiful piece there. Spec'd out perfectly, nice to see a functional build keeping with tradition. Congrats to you and the builder for pulling it all together.

Thanks for the compliments, but of course the credit goes to Ned.

I shot the gun yesterday for the first time, with a couple of friends. I have no problem with hammer bite (my hands are bony) but it did bite one of my friends. That's OK; kind of like a dog that doesn't bite the master. It functioned beautifully and was minute of tin can. Since it was raining we didn't have a chance to do much more than plink a little bit but it was fun.

Regards,
Kevin

Nice looking piece. I have been saving a real 1911 for some time to do something with and you have showed me a "real" option. Thanks again.

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Be safe and keep the brass flying

Terry Peters

Do your research but you get what you pay for front end or back end
http://www.pt-partners.com
@ptpartners_tx

I'm not just tit-for-tattin' here, Kevin gets plenty of credit for the theme and specs on this gun. I'da probably violated several rules or retrotude, left to myself.

I gotta say I am diggin that idea, the gun, the whole nine....thanks for the pictures Kevin.

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Heirloom Precision, LLC.
480-804-1911

"If everyone is thinking alike, someone isn't thinking."
- General George Patton Jr

That weapon is absolutely breathtaking. Good luck with it.

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Fraternally yours

Jimmy Ward

"FOR THOSE WHO GO IN HARMS WAY,
LIFE HAS A SPECIAL FLAVOR THE PROTECTED WILL NEVER KNOW"

Beautiful gun. Looks like some subtle work on the grip safety and frame area around the tang as well as the hammer. Do you get any hammer bite? Was the front strap relieved slightly or does it just look that way because of the checkering? I really like the rear sight. Is it a 10-8 NM? Beautiful gun.

This gun, for me, is a hammer-bitin' one.

I freely share the credit with Kevin on this gun since I was just the band, he was the band leader, and you know without a leader the band just sits there and makes noise, but dangit he would not allow me to remedy the hammer bite. He was that bent of the the "period" theme and besides, he says, it doesn't bit him..... I guess that's what really matters.

Likewise no hi-grip on the front strap, but I may have snuck a few extra chips off in certain areas of the grip safety .

Gun started with a Yost Retro sight but Kevin wanted a u-notch and sent me the 10-8.

Terrific plan and beautiful execution! IMHO, for aesthetics, nothing beats an early Commercial Colt.

I do have one question. On the retro projects that I have seen where checking was added, the pistols did not duplicate the original Colt cross-hatch pattern checking. Is this checking pattern too hard to duplicate?

All the best for many years of enjoyment with this gorgeous pistol!

John

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NRA Endowment Life Member
I may be big, old, and slow, but so are the ball rounds in my 1911.

Ya know, Brownells always has and I think still does sell a guide for doing that, but I have not seen one done using it.

Mr. Christiansen,

Did you relieve or open the ejection port a little as well? The more I look at this, the more I like it.

No, in order to stay with the "how it might have been carried out back then" theme, I didn't.

I really, really dig this gun....