I was thinking the other day about some of my really early work, how some things have changed and some have stayed the same…… especially the many things I did not know then, and how much I am still learning. Once that stops I’d better find another job……
Bear in mind that some of these things I would not do these days, but it was all part of the ongoing learning process.
I was really going for snag-free, even way back. This is work from 1979 and 80. Rear sight: set into a pocket and silver soldered in place.
Back then I was fascinated with the EDM and had to do a rip-off MagnaPort job on everything that fell into my clutches. Seems dumb now. Bushing is made from scratch and has two lugs, not just one. I think this was right after I busted my first Series 70 bushing. Finish on the bushing is Nitex….. barrel has been buit up with chrome on the end and then ground with an annular, radiused ring for lockup, thanks Mr. Behlert for taking it as a compliment when I showed you how I used your idea!
Three more of that rear sight.
This top end for the same gun came later in my pin shooting career, 1985. This one has sent a lot of pins to that big bowling alley in the sky. Worked OK, a little loud, but it didn’t look like anything else out there at the time.
Witchita rear sight set forward for protection. At the time I preferred them over BoMars. Notice the sight base is.... not there.
The obligatory squared trigger guard and I guess you could say the first Conamyds. Each of those is a pointy little cone…. I made a special fixture to machine a set of electrodes from Copper-impregnated Poco 3 graphite and EDM’d the pattern on.
The muzzle view of the uncompensated top end.
Another snagless rear sight, this one from ’83. I was building a subcompact .45—this was right before the Colt Officers ACP came out.
The front end. Somebody was recently asking about cut down G-Models…. This one as you can see has a little rearward extension to the dustcover silver soldered in place. It held up for what little I fired this setup but, as incredibly strong as a silver joint is, it would not go the distance. I abandoned this top end. Bushing is another two-lugger--- I wound up silvering it in place, and……
….the barrel comes out the bottom a la Browning HiPower. Barrel body length is reduced to two locking lugs to get all the stroke I could. I still feel to this day that, at least in .45, one is enough—but three is better, no doubt about it.
These days I have an OACP slide for it--- it’s an ongoing project—since 1983. And some people think I make them wait ïŠ
The bottom end. Yes, it is thinner than it should be under the MSH retaining pin….. frame ws originally a Commander frame.
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Probably right up there with Theo I bet 
