ltwguns.com

sorry for the poor pictures.

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Gary Eastridge
http://www.randgfirearms.com

Swenson?

Good guess. Like I say my photos arent the best. Maybe when the tornadoes leave town I can get it out in the light and get some good pics.

68 Commercial Goverment model with classic Swenson features. Squared and checkered trigger guard, checkered front strap, serrated slide rear, french cut border on slide, matted above border, barrel positioner and SW rear sight. This one has a bar sto barrel. Swenson Gardena markings on left side slide just behind roll marks and just above SN on receiver. Blue steel (seems to be less common than hard chrome on Swensons. Jason???)

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Gary Eastridge
http://www.randgfirearms.com

Awesome! I wish mine was blued... I've only seen a few.

RE: Blued vs. Hard-Chromed Swensons

The book Combat Handguns by George C. Nonte, Jr. contains at least nine illustrations of Swenson pistols, including one shown on the back of the dust jacket. The other photos appear on pp. 119, 120, 200, 201, 202, and 203. Note that the photo on p. 119 might only illustrate the opposite side of the pistol shown on p. 201. The rest are obviously pictures of unique, individual pieces. The pistol shown on the dust jacket is incomplete in the sense that there is no rear sight. As such, its 'white' color may not indicate that it was hard-chromed. Of the seven remaining pistols, four are blued.

The four blued pistols include:
• one "Bobcat" (shortened Government Model, p. 203)
• two Commanders (pp. 202 and 203)
• one Government Model (p. 202)

The three hard-chromed pistols include:
• one Bobcat (p. 200)
• one Government Model (with Pachmayr grips, p. 120)
• one Government Model (with checkered front strap, p. 119)

Again, just to be clear, the pistol shown on p. 119 might well be the same as that shown on p. 201 so it is only counted once here.

While this ‘survey’ is based on a printed reference from the ‘correct’ era, it is nonetheless based on a limited sample (n = 9, max.). However, the results do suggest that Swenson blued a fair number of the pistols he built.

My own experience is much more limited: I have never owned a Swenson, and I have only seen one once. Approximately ten years ago, I was at a gun show where I stumbled across a table bearing a few Swenson-built Government models. Mind you, this was just a small, local show where nothing of much interest ever showed up so at first I thought the dealer was lost. Instead, I soon found out he was merely 'displaced' from California.

In any case, while I cannot state with absolute certainty the exact number of Swensons the dealer was showing on his table, I do clearly recall that it was more than one, none were refinished, and all were blued.

Hope this helps.

-AC

PS: Combat Handguns was published in 1980, two years after Mr. Nonte’s death. For those who might wish to find a copy and add it to their library, the book bears ISBN 0-8117-0409-2.

PPS: The book contains several additional photos of 'white' Swenson pistols, but they are close-up detail shots so one cannot discern whether they represent additional specimens.

He may have done them in equal numbers. Maybe more hardchrome guns survived. I have seen and handled a dozen or so over the last decade and this is the first all blue. I have seen several listed on various forums and only one of them was all blue. I have only seen a handful of confirmable Swensons offered for sale in the last few years.

I need to add the Nonte book to my library. I see it offered here and there.

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Gary Eastridge
http://www.randgfirearms.com

I have some news for you. I have waited many, many years to do this.
The pictures of the Pistols that you refer to as Swenson's, ARE NOT.
Page 120 is an early pistol that I did. If you look very close you will see the "RH" number right above the thumb safety. This one and the Commander that follows were done in 1975. yeah, I have been at this a long time.
Page 203, 204, 205 is an early Commander that I did. The magazine on 206 is from this Commander.
The Gov't. Model was finished in Hard Chrome and the Commander was finished in Satin Nickel.
Before somebody opens their mouth about the checkering not being sharp, this is the way it was at this period of time. It was all done by hand.
The recoil spring guide is what I made that time.
I met with George Nonte in his office in Peoria, Illinois. He took all of these pictures and after he finished he told me he could do an article on the Pistols if I gave him the Pistols. I flat told him to go to hell and I walked out.
Sometime later the book was written by Edward C. Ezell, whoever that is. If you notice some of the photos say the Pistol is a S&W M 39.

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Richard Heinie

Interesting. Now I definetly have to get the book.

Thanks for the input.

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Gary Eastridge
http://www.randgfirearms.com

Mr. Heine,

Thank you for correcting what I mistakenly thought was an accurate reference. Although it was not my intention, I am also glad to have presented you the opportunity to do so in this venue.

I never met Mr. Nonte, but I nonetheless regret to learn of your experience with him. In addition to the inequity you were apparently personally subjected to, it stands as yet another example of a community too often divided.

On balance, it is perhaps worth noting we are fortunate to have this forum and participants such as yourself to further our collective understanding of the history and evolution of the modern custom pistol. I can tell you I certainly appreciate it.

Sincerely,
ArtCrafter

Hard chromed vs. blued on a Swenson gun... I may never know for sure but if I had to guess I would say hard chrome was the more popular finish. With the exception of one two-tone gun, all of the Swenson guns I have owned have been hard chromed. Additionally, all of the Swenson 1911s I’ve seen and inspected were also hard chromed.

Now mind you that not every single gun Swenson touched could be described as a “complete build” such as the gun pictured here so there very well may be quite a few Swenson tuned/tweaked pistols in blue. However, I would still wager that the bulk of his work, the “complete builds” if you will, were finished in hard chrome.

Either way very nice gun Gary! Does the rear sight have the retaining pin just behind the attachment screw? Also, is there a date scratched into the Bar-Sto barrel? I was a bit surprised to see that gun have a Bar-Sto.

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Heirloom Precision
http://www.heirloomprecision.com

Since we're in record-correcting mode this AM, I would like to add a few points points regarding the Nonte book.

I do not know who Edward C. Ezell is - or rather who he was by now - but the book itself seeks to explain his role as editor - not author - of the text. A trivial point perhaps, but one worth noting, I think.

Similarly, the photos mentioned in this thread are all credited in the book - to Mr. Swenson. A double (triple?) whammy, so to speak.

There are additonal errors such as the figure captions referenced above by Mr. Heine that misidentify a 1911-type pistol as a S&W M39. However, knowing a little about how publication works (or at least how it used to work before the computer age), I generally attibute such errors to glitches in production. In some cases, author figure captions are discarded (i.e., ignored altogether) and replaced with rubbish by the editorial or production staff.

I also usually regard such publication errors as minor or even trivial, but as Mr. Heinie's account clearly indicates, they are sometimes consequential indeed. It is well to be reminded from time to time that not everything written is correct or true.

-AC

The "Revised Survey Results"

I am sure everyone's just waiting for this so here goes...

Unless I also counted wrong - quite possible at my age - Mr. Heinie's observations eliminate one pistol from each "category" above (Blued and Hard-Chromed).

That leaves five pistols in the Nonte book that appear to be Swenson-built.

Of those, three appear to be blued, and two appear to be hard-chromed.

-AC

No recoil pin in the rear sight. No initials I can find. The barrel positioner pin would be nearly invisible except it is a slightly different shade of blue than the slide top. I pulled the slide to see if there were any markings on the disconnect rail but I didnt pull the barrel to look for a date. I will do that tonight. Jason do you know approximately when Swenson left Gardena?

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Gary Eastridge
http://www.randgfirearms.com

Wow! So Gary, where did you find this one at? Certainly not at some local show!
I would love to see this one sometime....
Thanks for sharing!

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De Oppresso Liber

Nose to the ground brother.

Come on by (you know the way! ). I will let you know when the Pathfinder comes back from Don.

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Gary Eastridge
http://www.randgfirearms.com

I saw that one on GunBroker last week. In my head I was going back and forth whether I wanted to buy it or not. I snooze, I loose. Congratulations on a fine 1911.