Back on the range with a 45

[BrokenolMarine]

Back on the pistol range with another 45. The previous post has been lost, hopefully just temporarily... but here is a peek at those targets. Back on the 21st, I shot my Taurus 1911, a service grade 1911 with replacement sights by Novak. It's decent at 10 yards.

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Tina gave me a really nice Kimber Tactical Ultra II thinking I'd carry it off duty back in the late 90s. It was a get well present after a major surgery. We were carrying the Glock 22 full size 40 ON duty, and I was a department firearms instructor. So I carried the Glock 23 Mid frame 40 off duty to set the example. the Kimber was my (Bar-b-que) dress gun when we went out. It still is a Shooter...

05 Kimber Tactical Ultra II.jpg (564.55 KiB) Viewed 64 times

I went back out yesterday and shot my Winter Carry, the Sig P220 Miss T gave me for Father's Day the first year we were married. The gun, like the shooter, is old and beat up, She's no longer pretty, but she's still a shooter. Standing at about twelve yards, I put eighteen quick rounds on the plates, and 14 rounds in the B27 Iron Maiden. The last seven rapid fire. Still puts them where I'm aiming. That's why she's my Winter Carry.

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10 7 and 7.jpg (642.7 KiB) Viewed 64 times

[daytime dave]

NICE shooting Marine!

[BrokenolMarine]

Thanks Boss.

You might remember that the match 45 had some fur issues. The match trigger in that gun had grown fur since the last time I shot it. Dissimilar metals corrosion issues. I ordered a new trigger from Brownells, that came today. Over the last week I had broken the gun down to all it's individual parts. Cleaned each and every part and from a Wilson Combat video recommendation, cleaned every nook and cranny in the frame and slide. AMAZED at the carbon that had built up. (Especially in the extractor channel, just as Bill Wilson warned.)

06 The Springfield Match.jpg (770.64 KiB) Viewed 49 times

I took my time, slowly assembled the gun piece by piece following the Brownell's Gunsmith video. She's back together and slick as oil on glass. Smooth. Can't wait for the rain to stop, which we need badly, and I'll get back on the range and give 'er a whirl. The new trigger is crisp and breaks clean.

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[fortyshooter]

That short Kimber gets the job done!

[BrokenolMarine]

That short Kimber gets the job done!

It does, but unlike the P220, it is ammo sensitive. It won't feed just anything reliably. I can't just pick up a box of self defense hollowpoints and fill the mags and call it good. I won't carry anything in it without three or four flawless mags run through the gun.

(Of course I test all my carry ammo/gun combos before trusting them, but the Kimber Tactical is finicky.)

[brm4450]

[Hatchdog]

Nice shooting with the 45’s. Also great job with the re-assembly, that’s an amazing pile of parts there on your bench.

[BrokenolMarine]

Nice shooting with the 45’s. Also great job with the re-assembly, that’s an amazing pile of parts there on your bench.

I hadn't done a complete disassembly and reassembly on the 1911 before, but had been through the Glock armorer's school twice, and had some one on one instruction on the basic Smith and Wesson revolver inspection, teardown and reassembly when I was the Firearms Instructor for my Department. The Armorer for the PD for the County showed me how to do the semi-annual inspections and then I could do OUR revolvers. If I found something that needed attention, HE stepped in and made the call, repairs, and re-certifications. He was MY mentor in PPC and all things shooting/reloading/competition and showed me how to do a very basic spring swap and trigger job on MY personal revolvers...

With all that behind me, I felt confident in watching the videos I noted above and then attempting the task. Any issues, I would have sent the gun into the hands of a true gunsmith. Thankfully, it worked out. Now I know I CAN break down the 1911s I have and clean out the nooks and crannies to protect the parts. (Wilson says that the carbon buildup in the extractor channel can eventually end up causing the extractor to break by eliminating it's ability to flex.)

Only advice I can give is the same advice I used on ALL my projects I did where I was following Videos, or references. (Like the "Ranger Pickup for Dummies" book. Go slow, don't skip steps, and take pictures of the process for reference.
I tore down my Ford Festiva to change the timing Chain using the "Dummies" books. I laid all the stuff out on a blanket covered folding table in the order it came off the car, slow and sure, step by step. Did that change every 60,000 miles and the little car got 45mpg right up to the point I smacked a huge buck with it at 240k miles...

Insurance company totaled it, Tina bought it back from the insurance company for $800. She bought one with a blown engine for $500, we swapped all the parts, and it still got about 40mpg until we sold it a few years later.