I’ve always had a great appreciation for the history of the custom 1911 and the work of the gunsmiths that helped cut the path for where we are today. My interest in past custom makers got underway when I got my first Armand Swenson built Colt. Since then I’ve been a collector and fan of Swenson’s work and long before I was building guns professionally I made every effort to see, inspect, shoot, and hopefully own examples of guns from, not only Swenson, but also a great variety of both current and past builders and shops.
As I got further down the path of the custom 1911 the “older” guns continued to be of great interest to me and helped form an even greater respect and understanding for the work that was done before the advent of the 1911 aftermarket that we enjoy today. The admiration for early guns furthered my drive into custom 1911s and getting my hands on good custom 1911s from any era became a goal of sorts. This goal eventually spread further as I became interested in other customs, such as the Devel and ASP pistols as well as some custom revolvers, but at the heart I have always been a 1911 guy and it is centric in my interest in custom guns.
Of the past custom 1911 shops/makers there is probably no other example that embodies and represents the custom 1911 of years past better than the Pachmayr Combat Special. There was a period of time when the Combat Special was the gun often associated with knowledgeable gunmen and after notable shooters had competitive wins using a Combat Special the pistol, quite simply, became
the 1911 to have.
Over the last year or so I’ve had the opportunity to build a couple of Combat Special styled tribute guns complete with buried Bo-Mar style rear sight, squared and checkered trigger guard, Combat Special styled grip safety, and two-tone finish to go along with the other standard features and modifications I incorporate into every full-house gun that I build. These guns, such as the recently competed example shown here, have been some of the most rewarding projects in recent memory and it’s projects such as these that I’m lucky to build as they help me stretch my wings a bit and continue to fuel my fascination with the custom 1911. Enjoy the pictures.
Credit where it’s due… big thanks to my friend Brady at
Monkey Edge for the outstanding photography and my friend Rob for the loaner of the original Combat Special seen in the last photo.
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