1911 Mainspring Housing

[Nine Toe Jim]

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Hi I'm looking for a 1911 flat, smooth mainspring housing with a lanyard ring. I've found a few on the internet but the dealers do not mail to Canada or want $25.00 shipping for the small part. Anybody out there have any suggestions as to where I can get one at a reasonable price??

[St. George]

Given that the original is a WWI piece - $25 'is' reasonable...

Try Colt.

Seriously...

They're building the 'real' WWI reproductions at the moment.

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Jim;  The 1911 guy in Canada is Gunnar Christiansen at armco.  He is the best IPSC guy in Canada.  He usually has a selection of 1911 parts available.

http://www.armco-guns.com/

[Nine Toe Jim]

Thanks Sir Charles I shall check it out

NTJ

[Nine Toe Jim]

St. George,

Heck $25.00 for the part is great (they are not originals). It was the $25.00 shipping they wanted. I'll give Colt a shout on Monday. I can't remember now which company I contacted before but their price was $36.00 Plus $25.00 shipping. It was the shipping cost. I just received a 1912 holster from California and it was only $12.00 shipping. Anyway, I'll let you kow how I make out.

Saw pic of the new Colt WWI. Quite impressive.

NTJ

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Jim;  I had some luck negotiating the shipping charge on "ebay" items.  You might try emailing the vendor.

[St. George]

Twenty-Five Dollars for shipping...

The mind reels...

There are two varieties of Colt's Model of 1911.

The first (and earliest) version features 'WMK' as a suffix to the serial number and these were finished at Ron's Gun Shop by Paul Lippold - in a 'Carbonia Blue' finish.

The second version has 'WWI' as a suffix, and I suspect they're fininshed in-house.

Mine is the former, and all I did to it was to install my darker 'Diamond' walnut grips, instead of the somewhat lighter shade supplied and it 'made' the weapon.

The fit and finish is typical Colt - perfect - and the various inspectors marks are placed exactly where they should be, when using my original WWI M1911s as a guide.

They did themselves proud...

They supplied a facsimile reprint of the original manual and the 'L-shaped' disassembly tool.

One fine day when I'm bored, I'll create a handful of two-tone magazines and maybe a couple of lanyard loop types as well.

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

   Seems every time I start complaining about shipping cost, my good friend Johnny McCrae reminds me of what it would cost to make the trip my ownself, it doesn't seem like much after that.


              tEN wOLVES 

[Nine Toe Jim]

A friend of mine in Michigan just sent me a picture of his original 1911 WWI. He does a bit of WWI re-enacting. Enough to make your mouth water 

I'm trying to attach a pic. hopefully it will come through this time.

NTJ

[St. George]

These 'new' WWI Colts are exactly what they're supposed to be - 'and' they're far stronger than any of the originals.

Thanks to modern metallurgy, their frames and slides won't wear like the earlier weapons would, and for a shooter - that's important.

I had had a WWI rebuild at one time - built in 1917, re-built and marked to M1911A1 specifications in 1926, it went on to serve in WWII, Korea and Vietnam, where it got new springs and a chrome-lined barrel.

'Then' I got it.

Most Service Pistols are 'carried much and shot little' and this one was no exception, so it became a 'hardball' gun and served me well for a couple of years' worth of Army matches.

One summer though, was a very busy season - I put 5000 rounds through it.

One afternoon - I was just shooting for fun, when I saw the slide stop backing out of the frame.

I pushed it back in and continued - but it kept doing it.

At that time, I had a 'lot' of GI .45 parts, so I swapped it out and it kept doing it, so I took it to our Armorer, and got out the copy of 'Rebuild Standards for Small Arms' and we found that I'd ovalled-out 'all' of the pin holes in the frame - 'all' of them...

WWI .45's were 'soft' - the Great War showed that to the Services, and certain parts would be flame-hardened, like the slide stop and muzzle - and even the slide serrations.

This shows up today, as darker areas in the original finish of WWII-issue weapons.

WWII .45's are far harder, overall - and with modern metallurgy - new guns are harder still - at least the Colts are...

If one 'really' wants to reenact the Mexican Border period and WWI - there are now 'correct' pistols available and some fairly decent-looking leather, as well, and no originals will suffer the fate that mine did, from extensive shooting of full-patch loads.

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

[Nine Toe Jim]

Well St. George,
As I mentioned to Sir Charles in an email I have hauled out my old Auto Ordinance 1911 A1 that I bought 30 years ago or so and have removed all the bells and whistles added back then and restored it to original factory specs. However I will be adding the flat housing. Im doing this in case I run into a Wild Bunch side shoot in my CAS travels. I picked up a 1912 holster from Pacific Canvas & leather and a belt from What Price Glory.

Have to wait until summer to get re-aquainted with the 1911 as it's a real joy trying to find your brass in 2 feet of snow. You would never believe how far a hot casing can bury itself in snow.

Anyway I think my mainspring housing problem is solved - I thank you and Sir Charles for the info.

NTJ

[St. George]

Oh, I think I might know how difficult brass can be to re-locate on the ground - no matter if it's snow, grass or sand.

 I'm an old Army National Match shooter...

Good Luck.

Be sure to add the long trigger, for a better effect - and if you're not aware, the Gold Cup mainspring housing is also flat - you can add a lanyard loop easily, and you might fint that part more readily available.

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

[Nine Toe Jim]

Thanks SG I'll let you know how I make out

NTJ