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When my grandfather was the gun buyer for Marshall Field & Company on State Street in Chicago during the 1950's, he was given this gorgeous pair of thick mother of pearl handles for a 1911:
Rex Firearms was a large gun distributor in New York. They specialized in custom and specially made S&W firearms. As noted on the back of the business card in the cloth bag, these grips were compliments of Al & Ted:
My grandfather never installed them on a gun. Neither did my dad. Neither did I. Until now. Finally....
When I was checking out all the "100 Years of Service" roll marked 1911 pistols in the Colt booth at this year's SHOT Show, my mind got to working the way it does sometimes.
My dad had a pre-WWII Colt Government Model .38 Super like new in the box. I remember holding that stunningly blued pistol and the way in balanced in my big hands. The .38 Super barrel with its extra thickness gives a 1911 a whole different feel compared to a .45 caliber version.
At the Colt booth, I fell in lust with the Colt Custom bright stainless "100 Years of Service" marked .38 Super. I realized right there in Las Vegas that I would sell my Tanfoglio Witness Match .38 Super along with the .22, 9mm, and .40 caliber conversion kits I had for it. I just didn't shoot the gun as much as I thought I would.
It's been 100 years since the 1911 came out. A Colt is the one to have to celebrate John M. Browning's genius and a Colt marked with the 100th logo is really the one to have!
And grandpa's pearl grips would look awesome on the high polished stainless steel!
Midway through April, I called Colt. The problem was that no one had these pistols. Backorder, out of stock, no idea when they would get them. The lady I spoke with over the phone told me that Colt was just about to start a run of the Custom .38 Super pistols. She told me that they would be available very soon.
A week later, I received an email from an online seller that I had previously asked to notify me if any of the 100 year Colt Custom pistols became available. He said that Colt was sending him three of the guns and that I was number 2 of 8 people that were on his list.
I jumped on the opportunity. I had already sold my Witness Match so I had the money in hand. Plus, it was already a quarter of the way through 2011 and Colt is only making the "100 Years of Service" marked guns until December 31st. Who knows if they'll even be able to make another run of these .38 Supers?
I picked it up yesterday from my FFL:
The blue box is really sharp looking!
But the pistol is even sharper! I had called my FFL when I was notified by email that FedEx had delivered the gun. He opened the box over the phone and exclaimed, "Geez! I can comb my hair in the reflection of this thing! I understand why you wanted one so much!"
The wood grips are actually very handsome:
The roll mark really makes this gun special to my way of thinking. It will be neat to look back 20 or 30 years from now and reminisce about all of the 100 year commemorative 1911s from all the different manufacturers. But a Colt is still a Colt.
I like how simple the lettering on the left side of the slide looks:
As good as the gun looks with the factory wood grips, it was time to screw Grandpa's pearl handles on to the polished stainless steel:
I had purchased two extra magazines from Colt Online so now I have a total of four:
A few years ago, Colt and Talo produced a limited edition run of 300 Colt Talo Royal Gold Cup National Match pistols. They were stunning with their royal blue finish and they came in a really nice presentation case. CDNN had a few of the cases for sale as an overrun of the original production and I bought one for just $69. The neat thing about the case is that it presents the 1911 facing to the right so that it would display the Gold Cup National Match roll mark on the right side of the slide.
In my case, it displays the "100 Years of Service" marking:
At the SHOT Show, Colt had pewter looking 100 Year Anniversary pins so I secured one inside the presentation case.
The fit and finish of this brand new 2011 Colt is fantastic! I am very, very happy with it. I can't wait to shoot it. Although there was not a fired case inside the box, Colt definitely test fires them. There was black grime on the faceplate and the inside of the barrel was a dark, grimey gray/black. When I pushed a Hoppes 9 soaked patch down the bore, it came out black! After a good cleaning though, the gun looks terrific!
I am thrilled to now own a .38 Super Colt. I am also pleased to finally have a gun worthy of wearing my grandfather's old pearl handles. I really enjoy the fact that this limited edition gun will be a rarity and I love that it's a 100th year production Colt!
-Steve
Rex Firearms was a large gun distributor in New York. They specialized in custom and specially made S&W firearms. As noted on the back of the business card in the cloth bag, these grips were compliments of Al & Ted:
My grandfather never installed them on a gun. Neither did my dad. Neither did I. Until now. Finally....
When I was checking out all the "100 Years of Service" roll marked 1911 pistols in the Colt booth at this year's SHOT Show, my mind got to working the way it does sometimes.
My dad had a pre-WWII Colt Government Model .38 Super like new in the box. I remember holding that stunningly blued pistol and the way in balanced in my big hands. The .38 Super barrel with its extra thickness gives a 1911 a whole different feel compared to a .45 caliber version.
At the Colt booth, I fell in lust with the Colt Custom bright stainless "100 Years of Service" marked .38 Super. I realized right there in Las Vegas that I would sell my Tanfoglio Witness Match .38 Super along with the .22, 9mm, and .40 caliber conversion kits I had for it. I just didn't shoot the gun as much as I thought I would.
It's been 100 years since the 1911 came out. A Colt is the one to have to celebrate John M. Browning's genius and a Colt marked with the 100th logo is really the one to have!
And grandpa's pearl grips would look awesome on the high polished stainless steel!
Midway through April, I called Colt. The problem was that no one had these pistols. Backorder, out of stock, no idea when they would get them. The lady I spoke with over the phone told me that Colt was just about to start a run of the Custom .38 Super pistols. She told me that they would be available very soon.
A week later, I received an email from an online seller that I had previously asked to notify me if any of the 100 year Colt Custom pistols became available. He said that Colt was sending him three of the guns and that I was number 2 of 8 people that were on his list.
I jumped on the opportunity. I had already sold my Witness Match so I had the money in hand. Plus, it was already a quarter of the way through 2011 and Colt is only making the "100 Years of Service" marked guns until December 31st. Who knows if they'll even be able to make another run of these .38 Supers?
I picked it up yesterday from my FFL:
The blue box is really sharp looking!
But the pistol is even sharper! I had called my FFL when I was notified by email that FedEx had delivered the gun. He opened the box over the phone and exclaimed, "Geez! I can comb my hair in the reflection of this thing! I understand why you wanted one so much!"
The wood grips are actually very handsome:
The roll mark really makes this gun special to my way of thinking. It will be neat to look back 20 or 30 years from now and reminisce about all of the 100 year commemorative 1911s from all the different manufacturers. But a Colt is still a Colt.
I like how simple the lettering on the left side of the slide looks:
As good as the gun looks with the factory wood grips, it was time to screw Grandpa's pearl handles on to the polished stainless steel:
I had purchased two extra magazines from Colt Online so now I have a total of four:
A few years ago, Colt and Talo produced a limited edition run of 300 Colt Talo Royal Gold Cup National Match pistols. They were stunning with their royal blue finish and they came in a really nice presentation case. CDNN had a few of the cases for sale as an overrun of the original production and I bought one for just $69. The neat thing about the case is that it presents the 1911 facing to the right so that it would display the Gold Cup National Match roll mark on the right side of the slide.
In my case, it displays the "100 Years of Service" marking:
At the SHOT Show, Colt had pewter looking 100 Year Anniversary pins so I secured one inside the presentation case.
The fit and finish of this brand new 2011 Colt is fantastic! I am very, very happy with it. I can't wait to shoot it. Although there was not a fired case inside the box, Colt definitely test fires them. There was black grime on the faceplate and the inside of the barrel was a dark, grimey gray/black. When I pushed a Hoppes 9 soaked patch down the bore, it came out black! After a good cleaning though, the gun looks terrific!
I am thrilled to now own a .38 Super Colt. I am also pleased to finally have a gun worthy of wearing my grandfather's old pearl handles. I really enjoy the fact that this limited edition gun will be a rarity and I love that it's a 100th year production Colt!
-Steve
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