First 1911

[wyntrout]

I finally got through to Check-Mate today. Their "Contact Us" link was broken and I looked until I found a contact number on the M1911 Forum from a story/interview/visit in 2009. I called and then emailed the info to the lady I talked to, directly to her email address. I know they are interested in making things right.
I really want those magazines to work for me and it might be something simple to fix.

Wynn

[kyletx1911]

let me know how it works out

[wyntrout]

Will do, buddy. I've boxed all of the magazines up and am sending them back. Checkmate wants to examine them and see what's wrong. They'll replace them all after examination. Maybe it's just my Springfield, but there must be some way to get reliable use of these mags.
We're leaving town to visit my brother in Natchez, MS, and my little brother, newly-retired California Corrections Officer brother, will be there, too, and maybe we can go shoot somewhere. My next youngest brother has access to a hunting club he helps there and he wants to try out a new 9mm. My CO brother carries a Para P12 (I used to have one of those) or some kind of Kimber all of the time. He's a real gun nut... has every gun he's ever owned... lots... not sure he knows how many.
I think that I'll take all of my Tupperware Kahrs with me... and a lot of ammo, of course.

Wynn

[DKD]

Your Sites

Wyn,

Just go with a higher rear site...that will raise your popint of impact regardless of the type of hold you are using.
Just a suggestion.

[wyntrout]

Right, but I don't like the front sight anyhow. There's not much available for the standard G.I. dovetail. I'll have to wait until I get back from our trip so I'll have the time. If I had one of those Swenson 65° files at Midway for doing 1911 dovetails, I would have already gotten some sights. The ones like that at Brownells(? or Midway?) that were in stock are $34 to $35 each. I'll wait on the $12.50 ones or get new sights as part of a package... refinish and all.

Wynn

[wyntrout]

Well, we got back around 0900 Monday the 28th... also Wifey's 55th BD... dinner that night at Longhorn's.

We were dead tired and just unpacked the cold stuff and hit the sack. About 1030AM I got a call from the lady at Check Mate Industries. I had told her in my email that we would be back that Monday. She said the magazines feed lips didn't have the right spacing and that they were ready to be shipped. I said OK and she said they would go out immediately. I got them Thursday... the same magazines.

Saturday 8 got my 1911 and PM45, mags, and ammo, and headed for the range. my membership runs out Monday the 7th and it was probably my last trip as a member.

Anyhow, I still didn't have sights for the Champion 4", but I still had the unused one that I had made for the front from an aluminum female document binding set. The female didn't have threads externally, nor did it have the flat screw base. I used my small vise and a file to shape it. I just threw some Sharpie black at it and made a dot with word correction whiteout... ya use what ya got.

I put that in the front dovetail and put some Super Glue on both sides. It held in place for the test. The pistol still shot low, so aiming became sort of pointing at 7 yards and 15 yards was really tough, but I managed to keep a magazine of 8 on the 19" by 21" cardboard at 15 yards, and at 7 yards I was shooting it better after establishing a sight picture and then pointing.

I can't wait to get decent sights. I've been trying to find some adjustable "Novak-cut" types with Tritium dots... 3-dot sights, but neither Midway or Brownells had the ones I wanted in stock. I don't want to have to do more than minimal widening of the dovetails. My rear sights are .330x.120x65° and the front are .300x.075x65°. Novak dovetails are .495"x.125"x65° rear and .330"x.075"x65°, so I could widen them judiciously with my single-cutting-sided 65° Swenson file when it arrives. The Novak adjustable ssights require a small bit of milling in front of the dovetail for the hinge, so I couldn't just use theirs... what's that sound... a little bird... Cheep! Cheep!

I just had a couple of failures to feed when I released the slide so the magazines worked OK... the 1911 8-rounders... stainless welded base and Removable extended polymer Base (RB) ones. The Colt Officer's 7-shot mag had the spring pop out on the last round in the PM45 and the slide didn't lock back.

I fired 150 Federal 230-gr FMJ and 8 Bonded Remington 230-gr Golden Sabers... my carry choice. I fired those 2 to a mag to check for any problems with the spring and slide lock. 40 to 50 or so were through the PM45. Switching from SA to DAO didn't help me with the Kahr.

I had one stove pipe each on most of the Kahr mags:

2 K5's S/P at round 4... after 3rd round fired. The next use they were okay.
1 K7 ditto.
K6G, ditto, but after 2nd round fired.
The 2 K7G's were fine. No problems at all. I like those... the 7-round extended grip models... CW45 and P45 sized, for reloads and the range.

A few pictures will be added shortly.

Wynn

[wyntrout]

7 yards wasn't too bad, but at 15 yards, the slide covers the whole target with the front held high enough to hit the target. I can't wait to get some decent sights. This will be a great shooter.

At least I hit the 19" by 21" diamond-shaped cardboard with all 8 shots at 15 yards. Some of the 7 yard targets were pretty good. One 8-round magazine I got 7 out of 8 in the 4" bull and five were a ragged hole. I fist thought that i had a flier or two and annotated the target as 6+8 after the subsequent magazine, but I'm positive that the mags were full and the hole could have had several more through it without making the hole larger... at least that's my story.

I love shooting the Champion with its crisp SA trigger but I've got to get serious about finding sights.

Oh, I had two spaces for pix open, so I just put in a few girls with guns.

Wynn

[wyntrout]

I mailed the slide to Novak Sights yesterday for adjustable tritium sight installation. I got tired of looking... the ones I wanted weren't in stock. I guess that Novak has sights and knows how to install them.

Wynn

[swampman]

first 1911

I mailed the slide to Novak Sights yesterday for adjustable tritium sight installation. I got tired of looking... the ones I wanted weren't in stock. I guess that Novak has sights and knows how to install them.

Wynn

good luck with your endeaver

[wyntrout]

Thanks, George. I just hope I can shoot that 1911 and put at least put a whole magazine in the pie plate, if not the 4" bull, at 15 yards.

Without sights, I was doing better with it at 7 yards than my PM45.

I got really turned on at the range when I shot a guy's AO GI Milspec .45... with GI sights. I loaded 5 rounds of my ammo and the first two shots weren't right on. Then I settled down and put the last 3 into a small group 5/8" center to center. I was impressed! I had to get one, but a 4".

Wynn

[swampman]

first 1911

Thanks, George. I just hope I can shoot that 1911 and put at least put a whole magazine in the pie plate, if not the 4" bull, at 15 yards.

Without sights, I was doing better with it at 7 yards than my PM45.

I got really turned on at the range when I shot a guy's AO GI Milspec .45... with GI sights. I loaded 5 rounds of my ammo and the first two shots weren't right on. Then I settled down and put the last 3 into a small group 5/8" center to center. I was impressed! I had to get one, but a 4".

Wynn

A 4" is great,I have a 3" and a 5",The 4" is great for concealed carry,I cannot out shoot either one of my 1911s.They are so accurate I dont have to aim

[wyntrout]

I have that 5" S&W and it's a beast... humongous! I tried that CCW when I used to walk my dog. It was just too big and bulky. I got a Para P12... more compact. i don't remember but the barrel was probably less than 4". With 12+1 230-grain .45 Federal Hydra Shoks, I stopped carrying a reload and was ready for just about anything while walking all hours of the day/night.

I'm trying to stop a leak in my air handler for the A/C. The drip ring/pan that catches condensation broke not long after I got it and I've been able to patch it a few times with WaterWeld... since 2002. I hope it's not a big deal. I've used a couple of rolls of Bounty paper towels around the leaking side and have kept the water out of the house for about a week now.
Wifey's at work and her car's out of the way, so I'm going to get after it while the temperature isn't hot and the air doesn't run much. I precooled to 70° and it's about 60° outside, so I should have enough time.

Later!

Wynn

[wyntrout]

Update and range test of new sights!

Range test:

http://kahrtalk.com/showthread.php?t=5560&page=2

Wynn

[GunStoreGirl]

The 1911 is BY FAR my favorite gun. I'm saving for #4 currently! I'm really picky about what I want in one, though. And I'm ALWAYS suspicious of the "for sale" pics that don't show the slide stop side...most times people do that to hide the idiot scratch they made!

[wyntrout]

I have a large S&W 645 and I hate the slide-mounted safety/decocker... it's in the danged way!

I also don't like extra stuff that increases the width... like ambidexterous safeties... again, the 645 has that, too... both sides of the slide where you would like to grab the slide to cycle it.

I know that things like that could come in handy... and extended controls look handy with the 1911 because I have to shift the gun a lot to reach the slide release and even the magazine release. I usually use my left hand to release the slide. The safety isn't too bad. I can operate that.

When I sold my Para P12 to a retired Army officer, he had to check out assembly and disassembly and he scratched the frame putting the slide lock back in. He noticed that and bought the gun, paying full price. I was kind of shocked at that and wound up giving him all of the defense ammo I was going to sell for about $60 at the next garage sale. He said that he didn't believe in trying to beat someone out of the asking price. I had figured on getting about 10% less, so I was happy and wanted to help him out.
I would have been sick if he had decided not to get the pistol after the scratch!

That's the risk you take in letting someone else handle your "toys". At one of our garage sales, I was selling an RWS air rifle in mint condition and I was out of the room with my wife watching things and I heard the report of the pellet gun being fired! Damn, I was pissed at the idiot. He said it didn't hurt anything and he did that with his (P.O.S. cheapie) all the time. Well, the piston is supposed to be cushioned by captured air behind the pellet, not slam into the end of the air chamber with no pellet loaded. There's a warning tag on the rifle's trigger guard and in the manual warning not to do that... it's destructive and weakens the piston. RWS knows what they're talking about.

The 1911 is over 100 years old and still the most widely produced and used pistol... just super.

I like the 4" barrel, but the pistol still weighs 44.5 ounces with 8+1 onboard... not a light weight and only about an ounce lighter than the 5" model. It's about as full-sized as I would want.

I need to get some more pie plates to ventilate... ran out last trip to the range.

Well, I need to get back to repairs and renovations in our bathroom. Most of the day is gone and I just took a break.

I still marvel at my PM45 and it's compactness and the power it has, but I love the Champion, too, especially for more accurate shooting, though seven yards is getting to be max range for me... for any kind of decent grouping and consistency.

Wynn