An ode to old slabsides...

[PALADIN85020]

I was doing some photography work today, and realized that I didn't have a current picture of my first love in the handgun category. My very first centerfire pistol was a G.I. surplus Ithaca M1911A1. In the Army, I had it accurized and blued (I know, I know, but it was a near-dog when I bought it). It served me well on active duty and in the National Guard as a trusted personal sidearm.

My first introduction to the battle-tested 1911 was in high school ROTC, where a grizzled old Army master sergeant praised it highly and then instructed us in its use and how to field strip it. I thought it was, to use a modern overworked term, really awesome. Over the years, I've acquired many variations - most of them I wrote up in the 2003 Gun Digest. A chapter on the 1911s is also included in my book, 101 Classic Firearms.

My stepfather-in-law willed me the Colt 1911A1 he carried as his only armament behind enemy lines in Korea - he made it back, and in a Tokyo hospital, recovering from grenade fragment wounds, he kept it by his bedside. It's one of my most treasured firearms.

At any rate, I selected an excellent condition Colt M1911A1 to photograph today. It left Hartford to join the service in January, 1944. In my opinion, John Browning's masterpiece is still the king of serious self-defense pistols; I thought I'd share these formal portraits of a good one with you.

John

 

[Iggy]

The first time I picked up a 1911 it felt like putting on an old favorite sweater.

Most natural pointing gun I have ever handled.

 

[shouldazagged]

I've never owned one, and now in retirement never will, but I believe that means my education is incomplete. I still kick myself for passing up a finish-worn but apparently sound Norinco in a pawn shop years ago.

 

[Rick_A]

I took a "selfie" with mine today.

20150115_110233 by Slick_Rick77, on Flickr

 

[824tsv]

These are my real first loves as well.
Really neat to see the heat treating so clearly in your pic's. Lovely pistol thanks for posting.

 

[Rustyt1953]

To me it's the sexiest pistol ever made. No offense to other handguns but nothing makes me purr like a 1911.

I love mine and find myself just gazing at it with a grin on my face.

 

[Xfuzz]

Very nice 1911.
I've packed one a many mile.

 

[XAVMECH]

Remington Rand

My first 1911 was a Remington Rand WWII surplus. Bought it in a California pawnshop in 1969 for $65.00. Wish I had that old thing today. I am grateful that I at least have several other examples, in both 45ACP and 9mm. Two of the seven are slabsides...

 

[Seven3]

Took my old Series 70 to the range yesterday, carried my CCO today, and have a new Government Model in .38 Super on order. I guess you could say I like them, too.

 

[Texas Star]

One of the more remarkable and most copied of all pistols...

 

[rwsmith]

Darn you guys to heck.......

I swore I was going to stay away from big calibers. Too expensive. But everywhere I look I see 1911s and these are some of the nicest I've seen. I'm probably going to end up buying one.

 

[Big Cholla]

I moved out of Alaska in 1972. I was a S&W revolver man all the way. I had a Winchester M-70 that a new acquaintance just had to have. He traded me a NIB Colt M 1911 Series 70 Govt. and a bunch of money. I didn't know what I was going to do with the M 1911, but gave it a try. First shots were going exactly where I aimed and in a tight little group. I was hooked. By the time I opened my gunsmithing shop, I specialized in building anything the customer wanted as long as it begin with a Colt M 1911. I can still shoot the M 1911 as well as any. I'm heavily back into S&W revolvers now, but will never be without a few 1911s.

The ergonomics of the 1911 are near perfect for the widest spectrum of the shooting public of any handgun. Little women with small hands to huge men with large hands and all in between have become master shooters using the same government model 1911. I too believe it is the 'best' pistol for defensive use ever made. ........... Big Cholla

 

[David R]

The armoror at the gun shop I hung around when young told me the 45 was one of the hardest guns to master. That is when I HAD to have one.

This was in the 80s. Buy a cheap 45 (I bought an auto ordinance) for the frame and build your own. I ended up with a really nice gun that has fired I don't know how many tens of thousands of rounds shooting bullseye. It has a Wilsons match grade barrel and bushing fitted by a pro. (I did my own the first two times).

Love it to this day. Along the way I picked up a Light Weight Officers Model for CC. Its kind of big. I only pack it when I feel the need. The rest of the time its a 637 with laser grip.

I used Cut Pacs. I knurled the front strap in my dads lathe. Rails were peened and lapped. Full length guide rod and of course a decent trigger job. (OK, it took me a few tries)

I bought this just before my first daughter was born in 1987.

David

 

[loc n load]

1911

I shot a 1911 the first time in the 60's and bought my first one in the early 70's....my feelings are similar to Big Cholla's....I am a S&W guy when it comes to revolvers and a Colt 1911 guy when it comes to pistols....I carried a S&W revolver as a duty gun until 1988 when it was replaced with a 659 Smith....for the next twenty years I would be immersed in training with, carrying and instructing various DA/SA platforms that are encountered in LE....but the 1911 was always alive and well in my off duty hours .....just finished up casting a couple thousand Cramer 200 grain hp's destined to be 45 acp fodder, the majority of those will be cycled thru 1911's.

 

[Rick Bowles]

Masterpiece, classic, iconic and old friend. They all apply to the venerable 1911.
This is a first year Government Model serial number C406

 

[vonn]

Every shooter should own at least one 1911 so they have something to compare the wannabes to. They just make me shoot better!

 

[Frizzman]

I bought my first 1911 in 1977. It was the second handgun I ever bought. It was a Colt Combat Commander with the satin nickel finish. It went with the other "must have" gun I bought before it, a four inch .357 revolver. I carried that Colt under my cruiser jacket in colder weather and as my off duty gun as a rookie patrolman...I still have the .357 but not the Colt.

Growing up, my father had a "forty five" that he kept in a dresser drawer along with a brown box of government issue ball ammo. The pistol was well worn but kept clean and oiled. He got the gun from his older brother who won it in a poker game in El Paso in the 1920's. Dad never fired it. As a special treat, he would get it out and let me look at it.

After I joined the Navy and saw my first 1911, I realized that there was something different about the old "forty five" in Dad's drawer...I later discovered that pistol isn't a Colt 1911...It's a Colt 1905. So, what I thought was the first 1911 I saw wasn't a 1911. He loaned it to a younger brother a couple years later and I never saw it again...DAMN!

 

[Arik]

Not an old slabside but my current carry. Pic taken just now at work while no one is around

I still want to do a few minor things but I'm fine with it as is.

Mainly I want a arched MS and slightly faster grips. I need something to take up more space in my hand

 

[Watchdog]

Masterpiece, classic, iconic and old friend. They all apply to the venerable 1911.
This is a first year Government Model serial number C406

I look at that pistol and the first thing came to my mind was that it was made three years before my father was born! What a genuine treasure of a pistol.

 

[lawandorder]

Agree every body needs at least one 1911............................