ltwguns.com

Anyone reading this who is on my waiting list, apologies. You got moved back the better part of a week for a personal project…… making my new pin gun a little faster. It’s the first 1911 I have bought for myself in I don’t know how long— ten, fifteen years. More, probably. It is an amazing bit of 1911 industrial art by my friends at Guncrafter Industries. GI guns are like, everybody’s crazy about silver and here you can get gold for the same, or less, money. As you might guess I am not easily impressed by 1911’s in general. GI is in my mind, by far, the best value out there. Alex Zimmermann at GI is the current reigning 1911 genius in the world, in my book.

It’s in .50 GI caliber. I’ve never comped a .50 before and not sure but this could well be the first one to get a comp. I decided from the start I would go BIG on it since the .50 GI is not a high-speed, high intensity round, so it probably would not tend to benefit from a compensator as much as, say, 38 Super major. So—big gives more area for the escaping gasses to work against. But, big means heavy, in this case way too heavy for fast shooting and heavy enough to impede function, so I made it from aluminum. Will it hold up? Yes. Will it erode faster? Yes, but I’ve done them in aluminum before and it’s really not a concern if you’re not shooting 1000 rounds a week.

I asked Alex to fit a second barrel to it, so it will have this 6” and a 5”. I’m shooting 255 SWC’s at about 850. I can go to 900 and beyond but of course there’s a speed penalty and this 216 power factor whacks a pin just fine.

Start with a block of 7075 aluminum, about 2X2X4….


Ports going in. I’m just making this up as a I go here.


To the lathe. Here I have put the nose radius on. This radial sweep has been a signature characteristic on pretty much all of my compensators.


Some additional exterior sculpting, then, some side ports at 45 degrees. This comp is a little different in that the main ports go way deep. These side ports then, just ¼” holes, vent from the bottom of the main ports, upward. Note that the main ports go all the way through but if you’ll bear with me you’ll see that they will get closed back up……


This floor plate, “T”-slotted into the bottom, will close the ports at the bottom. “I just felt like doing it this way”.


Halelujah, the floorplate fits! I got lucky and it dropped in with just a teeny bit of handwork—it fits like a well-done slide to frame fit. Totally unnecessary but I’ll take it. Needs trimming to match the comp body so—back to the lathe.


And, trimmed to match the body. And, a mistake shows itself—you’ll have that when you’re just working to a mental picture. My rear screw head is going to overhang…. Unsightly, so, I have counterbored it a bit since this pic.


The comp is a shrink-fit on the 6” barrel’s OD. Here I’m making sure it’s on good and straight before I cross-pin it. Yes I could have threaded it on but this was fast and I am in a hurry to get something serviceable for myself. Threading it on it has to be timed just right, etc.


More as I get it, stay tuned……

And of course, if there's a weight limit, making it out of aluminum makes it easier to stay under said limit.

Ned is not just a genius, but crafty.

No, just "willing to cheat".

Well I shot it today. I hope it is appreciated that I showed it before I knew if it worked or not.

It works, but it's taking a little spring juggling. It weighs 8.5 OZ and it's gonna take a lighter recoil spring than the factory one-- 14 ish is doing it-- the stock spring is pretty heavy. I can get some more weight out of the comp but-- not much for the time I'll have into it. Gonna do a few other odds and ends. Thought from the start about making a booster for it but.... too much going on to put that much into it when it's for myself (non-paying customer that I am....).

Thing is I need it to work with the 5" barrel too and with the same 255 / 850 load. Just need a little more range time, that's all.

Some shots fired and a pic of the whole setup. Work yet to be done on the gun itself-- I ordered it kinda "bare" so I could do things my own way.

The pistol as is, I think, is a real beauty. I'll grant you the compensator is not. It wasn't meant to be. It was meant to be the T34 tank of compensators: bidniss only. Built for the battlefield and not the showroom. I did not have the time to try and make it beautiful and I don't believe I could have. Had that been the main goal I'd have flown to my office in Milan and discussed it with my styling department .

Note that the chambers get wider at the bottom. As I said, I figured "large" was what it would take. Lots of volume and lots of surface area. It does indeed shoot very mildly.

Ned, That's a formidable looking piece; methinks someone might consider it as much club as firearm.

_________________
Don Williams
http://www.theactionworks.com
http://www.ltwguns.com

Well Don, you have heard the term "gun club", right?

Go ahead, give it a (ahem) Second Chance...

_________________
CT Brian Custom
'Blending Art With Firepower'

Tough sightline

_________________
DerrPrecision.com

Oh, so now I'm supposed to be able to use the sights. That's just great

Actually that is the next step but I have actually been able to keep them within 4" at 1000" with the "kinda" sight picture. But obviously that's not gonna cut it on bowling pins.

Have not yet been able to address the sight issue but I have it all figured out. If anyone thought I was exaggerating about shooting 4" at 28 yards with blocked sights, well.....you were right. I did get the first several into a decent knot and after that kinda stopped paying attention. Walked by it the other day and more like 10"

Maybe really big bowling pins....................

_________________
Don Williams
http://www.theactionworks.com
http://www.ltwguns.com

Somebody's gonna see that and the next thing you know it will show up in a new Hollywood action thriller. Yep, betcha....

Do post a video when you have a chance. I'd love to see one. Are those the cross pins at the top rear sides of the comp?

Yes, I cross pinned it on instead of threading. Better in some ways maybe, not better maybe in others, but, importantly in this case, easier. Two 1/8" dowels into holes that are right on the OD-meets-ID line. They go into stepped holes so they can't come out to the left; and although they are a light tap fit, they are further secured by 1/8" split pins ground to 3/16 long.

So... a little progress today on sights. Since for pin shooting I need a "stock gun" and a "pin gun", and I, um, can't afford TWO separate .50 GI pistols, I swap barrels: a 5" plain (bull) barrel, and a 6" bull with the comp on it. The process then, is get it super-zero'd at 25 feet, not yards, with the stock barrel. Swap out to the comp'd barrel and put on the rear sight riser, and without adjusting the sights, zero by machining the sights to where they need to be. Having to adjust sights between barrels would be an embroidered invitation to mistakes under pressure.

Got everything nicely dialed in but I think before the shoot I will lower the comped-barrel sights by another 1/8" or so.

.50 GI is very easy to hand-load well. Chrono-ing today I find the comped barrel running just under 900 and the 5" at 850.



The dif between comped and uncomped is, well...... the comp is working. Gonna try and do some comparative slo-mo tomorrow.

More / better pics as progress is made, I need to get the gun FRAG'd in the next couple weeks..... need to check the dipstick on my tank of midnight oil.

Update pic.

More carving on the comp?

You guessed it..... the weight was dampening the cycle to too close to the edge of reliability. Ran OK with a 12 pound spring but I wanted it to run with a 16 pounder, so the comp and barrel got some metal removed.

It's funny, final load I'm getting 850 out of the 5" barrel and 900 out of the 6". PF's 216759 and 229500. You'd swear shooting the comped barrel that it was a different, 40% reduced load-- I'm truly getting more for less, finally for once in my life!

So, how far into orbit do you think this beast will launch pins, Nedly?

_________________
CT Brian Custom
'Blending Art With Firepower'

Well Tim, now that I have whacked several hundred pins with it off the real-deal tables, I can attest that it is working very, very well. There's no denying a ballistic edge on pins with the .50GI but I hesitate to put a percentage on it; .45's are still working very well for those that have sorted out a personal pin load or gone with something well established. A power factor of 210 is widely considered in the running-- my standard .45 pin load is a 215 SWC at about 1020, so 216 plus. But this .50 in the compensated 6" is giving me 225-plus.

You may have gathered, I am currently at The Pin Shoot. The .50 is doing very well for me and my "cousin" Jess Christensen. Mine is so dang easy to shoot..... I will try to quantify this but apart from the ballistic advantage if any / not huge, I am starting to think that for the same power factor, the .50 GI just shoots "milder". It feels like the only thing the gun needs is someone to hold it and point it in the general direction and the pins fly off. This goes for both barrels, the 5" and the 6".

I understand there is something on Facebook being posted daily. I'n not much of a Facebooker but I think if you go there and search "The Pinshoot".

There is a new event called The Big Push. 3 pins must be shot back 14'; it's made for and being shot with guns like the .500 S&W Magnum-- they sure do it well! But I tried it with the .50 using strategy in place of a 650 power factor and I cleaned it-- but not with a winning time as of yet.

.50 GI is doing very well on pins, Jess took second today in the daily mon-on-man shootoff. Patrick Sweeney got in last night, so the events I've been doing well in, I can probably, figure on getting knocked down one place at least. The match goes through Friday the 16th; awards that afternoon.

Wednesday 6-14-17 update..... Sweeney has indeed knocked me down one spot in the shotgun vs/ eight pins event with a blazing 4.1 seconds. That's a 12 gage with real-deal 00B-- the Sellier & Bellot load that has long been the preferred pin load and is a really good load for anything else for that matter-- 12 pellets instead of 9 and not a magnum load. Pat used an 1100 (or 1187) to beat my 5.1.... which was really a 6.1-- pump gun shooters get a one second "credit". Sweeney is hard to beat at anything shooting-related. Or spelling, or history, or, well, anything else.

Richard Hupp won the daily shootoff yesterday AND the day before, David Blough won it today. I thought I was gonna get there but I got knocked out at the finals.... by Jess. Jess and his .50 GI were third. Chris Horii won Friday's "warmup" shootoff with me second, Jess won Saturday's "warmup" shootoff, and I won Friday's "money" shootoff.

Jess and I have been fixing and adjusting a few guns. It's surprising how some of them seem not ready for prime time; a few have only just now come out of the safe after the 19 year lull. Some are saying to their owners, nineteen years I don't hear from you, and now you come back and expect me to do what!?

I went back into my safe and found a treasure that was resting there. One of my original Pythons I used in the early 80's, when IPSC first started and our little club in Alabama was starting out. Tri-State Gun Club. The gun performed very well than and did okay yesterday. I just did not after twenty years of not using it. My skill set with it was acceptable but nothing like what it was 20 years ago.

_________________
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

Big Push aftermath, a headshot pin:


Pin guns, now and before-- Pingelder and its predecessor, still a totally viable pin gin in .45 ACP:



Jess rockin' his .50

Funny coincidence. We were talking when I called to pay for the item I bought from you on GB. I shot at Tri State back then, too. The club moved a few miles west to a new range in Level Plains a few years back. The old range is still operated by a new club made up of some of the older members. Since I retired from Uncle and moved back home I've been shooting there with some old friends some.

Some pin shooting vids from last week are up:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-QRpt ... b-0GRoA1bA

Guess it's no secret I'm a fan of Guncrafter 1911's. Full disclosure, they are friends and we do some business back and forth but somehow it always happens that among the manufacturers of bottom-end stuff, I don't have friends and don't do business with them

Alex at GI has quietly brought a lot of innovation to the 1911. Some of it by contract to other manufacturers and going back years. Pica rails on 1911 dust covers, Alex's prints are all over that. Two of the few places that did the whole "external extractor " thing right, did it with Alex consulting. The others should have hired him too as several completely failed-- to the point where they withdrew it and for a time were simply replacing those slides with slides having original-format extractors.

Fit a .50 caliber cartridge in a standard-sized 1911? Alex. The 1911 may have a few known weak points; there are others less well known that don't show up until you really run them long and hard. Alex has addressed these.

Owning two, handling many, visiting the shop, I will say their quality is surpassed by none. Not saying "unequaled" because there are some other really good 1911's out there-- most of which come from the same part of the country (AR), But GI's level of innovation is impressive.

Although Alex and I are friends, he tells me friggin' nothing when he has something brewing. I had to happen on this on my own, thought it was cool enough to post in this thread.
https://cdn6.bigcommerce.com/s-9ftgo78i ... 69.jpg?c=2

Bowling pin season opens in less than a month….. Jess, pictured above, is one of my old pin shooting companions who also happens to be with GI. He wanted a compensator like the one I used last year. He will have a complete separate top end with slide, so no need for the tall front sights that I used, so his comp is lower on top. We did a little trading and here’s what happened. His is improved over mine in some ways but I am guessing the effect will be pretty close to identical.

Time is growing short...... checking zero on the Vortex Venom tonight. There is a separate class for pin guns equipped with optics: "Space Gun". Never shot the event before but decided to give it a try this time. I have the optic mounted and rigged so that taking it off and putting it on, it does not seem to lose zero. This same gun will be used in three of four "Main Events"-- as shown, with the optic removed, and with the optic off and a 5" standard barrel installed.


http://www.pinshoot.com/

The Pin Shoot 2018 is now over-- look for it on The Outdoor Channel in February 2019. The .50 GI made a good showing, including winning the Two Person Team event:


I'm not a big fan of Facebook but there are some pics and vids up:
https://www.facebook.com/thepinshoot/

Dang Ned, Looks like you brought home enough loot to open a gun shop . . . and maybe a hardware store.

Good going!