Pistol Picture Thread

I am one of those poor bastards
In the 70s I took a gunsmith class with Jim Kelley. In the class I met a man named James Norman. James was a Big gambler. You did see I said Big? He also owned a gunstore in S.C. named Norman's Gun Exchange. Mostly High Grade Brownings.
One night we were working together on a project and we realized there was some one standing right behind us. James turned and asked the young man...What are you doing Boy?..The young man answered...I was just watching what you were doing....James answered...Well Back the Eff up, pore people make me nervous. Poor people...indeed. Not a 1st world problem.
 
Went to the range today for the first time in a long time. Just opened near my house and signed up for a membership. It’ll be good to shoot regularly again.

All but the Beretta were new to me and have not shot them before today. The Ithaca 1911 was amazing, very accurate and so easy to shoot. It was the winner today, but the other two were great as well.

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Why do people mark up their 1911's? I bought this Colt National Match Gold Cup, series 70 knowing there was an idiot mark on it and then had it tricked out with Wilson Combat parts. New hammer, springs, trigger, slide release, safety, Alexander and Smith bushings and grips with a Magwell also. All properly installed by a very good gunsmith that I know.

Never shot it. Bought it as a shooter and it has yet to be fired by me. The gunsmith fired it, but I have so many favorites that this one has never been to the range.

I must be in high cotton..... LoL Guess I work too much. :)

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I looked around this morning on various sites for BHP grips, don't see anything that really gets me going on that yet..........Wes made mention he might make some grips off the drippings of a Myrtle Stock we are doing for a WinM70 right now... ???? Hmmmmm????

I have lots of BHPs but only a few of them wear factory shoes. They are all older guns that where the French Walnut stocks which are not the best for shooting for me but have a classic look and are original to the guns they are on.

Spegels are great grips. They are thin with just a slight plam swell. They are the best shooting wood grips I have had. There is a long wait list for them but sometimes you can find them used. I am perpetually on his wait list. He calls me once a year tells me what he has available and I buy or pass and stay on the list.

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The slimmest grips out there are Naviderx Micarta. They have no palm swell and have a straight line feel. To me they make the already thin BHP thinner in the hand. These are my second favorite after Spegels.

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Houge wood is OK. To me they are a little to thick and a little to rounded but people with larger hands seem to like them.

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If you like the feel of the Pachs currently on the gun you can look for a pair of the now discontinued Uncle Mikes grips that were designed by Spegel. They are basically a the same profile as his wood grips but made of a different tackier material. They can be found used here and there.

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The slimmest grips out there are Naviderx Micarta.

Thanks excellent info, I might take a look at these, staying with black and the two tone guns, bottom side bright nickel. To me, on those, I am used to black.....
 
Seems that WVSIG had a set, and now in process. We will see how they do on the BHP.... Thanks..............

In the meantime, this is a Series 70 Gold Cup, damn near pristine new.... Very good shape. Sporting a set of FAKE IVORY...........Until I take the time to find something else better......... So many other
things occupy my time, that I deem more important at the moment....Like the BHPs, I have not had them out in a few years, other than maybe about 2 years ago I was testing some ammo, needed a test
gun.. I can't say the last time this Gold Cup has been messed with?

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This is perhaps the very finest 1911 gun I have ever owned. It was the very first Kimber I ever laid hands on, and since this was forever a Kimber fan. This gun is slick, all movements are like the thing is running on ball bearings. No glitches, no rough spots, no nothing...... just slick as can be. Trigger great, straight out of the box, unlike some changes that Kimber had a few years after this gun. Incredible shooter as well with anything
you put in it, feed/function as to my memory 100%... (like everyone LOL).............

I even took this gun to take a Mt Lion in Utah once, using the then DEADLY and evil Black Talons! I shot the lion dead center front of the chest, the bullet traveled over 2 feet of lion, and when recovered it was pristine, you could have loaded it again and shot it a second time. Absolutely no upset, no mushroom, no nothing.... Could have been a piece of ball ammo for all the good it did.....So much for "Magic Bullets".........

I also shot my first big jack rabbit with this gun. This thing was huge, I had intended to have it mounted. I put it in the back of the truck, but it was a little close to the dog box. After a bit, I looked at my rabbit, and the damn dogs had got to him through the box and chewed all his legs off! I was pissed, now all I had was a Torpedo Rabbit. No legs! Never took another one.

Our pal Sidney down in Tupelo scrimshawed these grips for me and they have been on the gun for years now. We also ran into a fellow many years ago, forget his name now or much of anything about him, but he was a rather decent engraver, so I had him do a few things, this was one of them.........

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I was damn proud of that Rabbit!!!!!! LOL
 
Seems that WVSIG had a set, and now in process. We will see how they do on the BHP.... Thanks..............

In the meantime, this is a Series 70 Gold Cup, damn near pristine new.... Very good shape. Sporting a set of FAKE IVORY...........Until I take the time to find something else better......... So many other
things occupy my time, that I deem more important at the moment....Like the BHPs, I have not had them out in a few years, other than maybe about 2 years ago I was testing some ammo, needed a test
gun.. I can't say the last time this Gold Cup has been messed with?

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Those grips on that gun are some of Melvin Tyler's Original Linen Micarta grips. They are Magnificient. You also have a pair on a Ruger that Thelbert converted to a Colt SAA, try to put them on. They have almost turned Orange.
 
Those grips on that gun are some of Melvin Tyler's Original Linen Micarta grips. They are Magnificient. You also have a pair on a Ruger that Thelbert converted to a Colt SAA, try to put them on. They have almost turned Orange.

Damn, I am glad you remember that......... They have been on the gun forever, I reckon they will stay on it too..... They do look good.

Yep I just went and looked at the Ruger, after a small search, and those grips are indeed on it too.... and they look the same, they are nicely yellowed up!
 
Many years ago I took a hard look at those Colt WW 1 and WW 2 commemorative guns. I think they were made in 1967 and 1968 for the WW 1 guns, and some later on the WW 2 as I recall. These are great guns, but they never sold at higher prices. I remember picking some up for as little as $400 on occasion. Later we would find them at $750 or there about. I believe on occasion we would buy a set, I think there is 4 different WW 1 guns and 2 WW 2 guns. At any rate, I ended up with several......... They are really nice guns. I decided that one is just like the other, I didn't need to shoot them all...... LOL..... What is the point? But, I picked two out of the bunch and put some Giraffe bone grips on them, not just any giraffe bone you buy, but my own grips, from one of my giraffes................. These two I have shot a good bit, carried a lot and more or less a matching set........

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Yes, if you noticed the safeties, I did change those. These are true 1911 guns, but that tiny safety is a bit small for my taste, so I put standard safeties on the guns.
 
I really like those grips you have.
 
Thanks Ron, I like them too......... I still have some giraffe bone, I need to get some more done.
 
Man the last week or so I have been hot on GunBroker chasing Colts......... 1911s to be specific. I think this thread and dragging some out the other day set me on fire..... HEH HEH....... This past week I ended up with another Gold Cup. Now I sent one of the old rougher Gold Cups I had here to Fords a couple of weeks ago, going to have them Nickel it up to match exactly the one we just got back a few weeks ago. One is good, two gotta be great.

Now I have this other one on the way. I think it has to be finished as well, but this one we will high polish blue to top side and bright nickel the bottom. I think.......

Then I also ended up with a really nice 1969 Commercial, it looks great, and its on the way too.......... I am looking hard at C Colts and the older NM Guns.......... A few Series 70 1911s too..............

Along the way I put away several of the WW 1 and WWII guns. I showed you the two I decided to pair up with the Giraffe bone grips.......... Looking at GB this week, these things have gone up in price too, like everything I suppose. Still they are very reasonable for what they are I think....... Here is a few I have pics of............

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Went to the range today for the first time in a long time. Just opened near my house and signed up for a membership. It’ll be good to shoot regularly again.

All but the Beretta were new to me and have not shot them before today. The Ithaca 1911 was amazing, very accurate and so easy to shoot. It was the winner today, but the other two were great as well.

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Is that An Eagle
 
Gonna post this'n again, and point out that the Browning BDA 380 (Beretta 84) has two distinctions. It has an alloy frame. And it is one of the few doublestack 380 pistols ever made. Other doublestack 380s include G25 & G28, both of which are like the BDA 380 in that they are blowback actions. Chiappa MC14 is a Beretta 84 clone.
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Need to find another C96 and not break it this time. Never had a picture of mine, this one off the web. If yours is a 7.63mm Mauser, don't fire 7.62x25 or hot Hornady 85 gr XTP out of the old gal.

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CD
 
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Need to find another C96 and not break it this time. Never had a picture of mine, this one off the web. If yours is a 7.63mm Mauser, don't fire 7.62x25 or hot Hornady 85 gr XTP out of the old gal.

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CD
You can usually tell if they've been fired with the hotter incorrect Ammo on the frame. If they've been fed them, the rear of the frame will begin to bulge rearward. I do not know how many rounds before it becomes noticeable. This happens between the bolt and bolt stop. See my cropped pic and pay attention to the area in the middle of the pic. This one is looking ok best I can tell.
 
I have been on a shopping spree the last few weeks, a few new 1911s and a hell of a lot of 1911 grips that are on the way, Mammoth Ivory and Exotic Woods.... Maybe all will be in towards the end of the week...Woo Hoo!!!!!!

I finally found some Browning HP Grips that I like. By chance, snooping around on Amazon and found what is called "CoolHand" grips. I thought they looked pretty spiffy, price was decent, so I tried one set of BHP and a 1911. I liked them quite a bit, so ordered a second set for BHP #2, and Two more sets of 1911 for my Kimber Eclipse guns as well..........

Here is how the Brownings turned out. Mind you, these have had many a 1000 rounds fired in them...................

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I had bought a Kimber Eclipse many years ago, have been very pleased with it. A friend of mine died in 2016 and I inherited a second one. These sort of grips really look good on a stainless gun, and even better on my
Eclipse Pair......While not super nice Ivory or Mammoth, these guns would be out of place with grips like that.

The CoolHand gray/black is just about perfect on these guns in my opinion.................

Now later in the week, I hope to have most of my Ivory and Exotic wood grips in, I have guns waiting on those now............ I get that put together I can show you some nice stuff maybe..............

Here are the Eclipse Guns.................

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They also look pretty good in one of my Elephant Rigs, made from one of my Elephants...............

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