Dreams Can Come True.

It arrived yesterday. The FedEx box showed the Kansas City address of CZ-USA as the sender. My anticipation had me childishly giddy. Really. I know, very immature, but I had been waiting since April for this Dan Wesson custom pistol. My Gun Club handled the transfer, and then, off to my shop to field strip and clean the factory oil from the 10MM, Black, "Valor" 1911.


I will be testing this new pistol and 500 rounds of 10MM ammunition this Monday and Tuesday. Bird season opens in Maine on Wednesday, the first of October. Four of my dearest friends, my two sons, my brother-in-law, and myself, leave Sunday morning for the seven to,eight hour drive from Portland, Maine, to our lakeside cabin near the Canadian border. We will be situated roughly in the middle of four and one half million acres of trees and wildlife known as the North Maine Woods. It is quite a spectacular place.

Being roughly three to four hours from the nearest hospital, with no cell service, no electricity, no running water, (you get the picture). We adhere to some very strict rules pertaining to safety. If you get seriously injured out there, you will likely die before you see a doctor. Anyway, we will be throwing lead down range from a wide variety of ordinance, and we will all be extra careful whilst doing so.

I just put the finishing touches on a .880 bore Black Powder cannon. We will use it to "announce" dinner. It should fling an .875 steel ball a good distance out into the lake. My new Dan Wesson is going to be very loud. The "88" is going to make bystanders wish they were wearing their brown boxers.

So, the dream is about to become reality. Shooting my "Dream 1911".  Its a Dan Wesson custom "Valor". It is chambered in 10MM Automatic, it has a relieved slide stop pin, Clark ribbing on the top of the slide, an enhanced magwell, tritium night sights, VZ Frag grip panels, four pound trigger pull, lowered and flared ejection port, extended magazine release, checkering on the mainspring housing and fore grip. A bunch more "standard" features too. With the pistol finished in Black "Duty Treatment", and the addition of a set of elephant ivory stocks...well...that my dear readers (if you're out there) is going to be the "bee's knees", in 1940's vernacular. For me, just perfect, really a dream.

Shoot straight, and do the right thing.

Gaff

Series 70 Government Model

You guessed it, I saw the Colt 70 series Government Model, (true USGI featured), and I had to have it. What made the purchase more inevitable, was my acquisition of a 1970's era, like new, Colt .22 LR, 1911 conversion kit. I found it on a recent trip to Florida to visit relatives. This "Colt Ace" kit allows the .45 ACP pistol to fire .22 long rifle ammo by simply removing the .45 ACP slide from the pistol, and replacing it with the .22 cal. slide assembly. Then, load 10 rounds of .22 LR into the special magazine, slip it up into the .45 cal 1911 frame, rack the slide, aim, and fire 10, .22 rounds at your intended target. Smooth as a silk stocking.

The new pistol matches the finish of the conversion kit, and makes a really nice, complete dual caliber set-up. I fitted the pistol and conversion kit into a blow-molded case last weekend. I have no complaints about the conversion kit. However, the spanking new Colt pistol disappointed me in a couple of ways. First, when I removed the slide stop to clean the factory lube from the pistol before going to the range, the frame's bluing was rubbed off in two places under the slide stop. The back side of the slide stop has a struck number "1". This stamped number was not smoothed, and it's raised edges wore (scratched) the finish off. Another surface on the back was slightly raised as well, and caused the bluing to be rubbed off. Mind you, this is fresh out of the Colt Custom Shop blue box.

Another issue, was one of the new 7 round, blued magazines furnished (2) with the pistol. It would not hold the slide open after it was empty, and refused to drop clear of the frame when the mag release was pressed. Comparing it to the other new magazine, it looked identical, yet, the other magazine worked perfectly.

The last disappointment is with the ejection of the shell casings. After firing 100 rounds of factory ball ammo through the pistol at the range, I noticed a condition that I have not seen before in any of my other 1911's. Most of the spent cartridge casings had slammed into the side of the barrel hood on their way out of the ejection port. The result was a severe flattening of the case's mouth rim.

I realize that this pistol is a true representation of the M1911A1 from the 1930's, and does not have a lowered and flared ejection port or elongated ejector like a modern 1911, but this "malfunction" would still be evident on the pistol during factory test firing, even with those modifications. I believe the ejector's front profile is causing the casing to go directly to the right upon ejection, and not upward and to the right. I also am aware that the military really could have cared less what the spent cartridges looked like. They just cared that the pistol went BANG! every time. They didn't reload, I do.

For a new pistol to come out of the custom shop, or the factory floor for that matter, with this poor ejection trajectory is a disappointment. I am a Colt fan, and own a number of Colt pistols. I don't think this pistol should have been allowed to leave the plant with this issue. I will tinker around with the extractor and ejector, and see if I can improve the ejection. Or, I may "bite the bullet" and send the pistol to Colt.

I may have to write about the Florida trip next time. There are some strange Southern folk down to Florida. Very nice mind you, just a bit strange. A fully automatic UZI made a short, 20 round appearance.

Do the right thing...

Gaff