Auto Ordnance 1911 A1

[CLASSIC12]

I am the happy custodian of this 1943 Colt 1911 A1

http://smith-wessonforum.com/firearms-knives-other-brands/566282-colt-1911-a1-1943-a.html


and I confess putting abt. 50 rounds through it in 2 separate sesions, you know, had to get rid of that itch.

But I had read a post abt. preserving these guns, and fully agree with it, so I decided three years ago to buy this for my shooting enjoyment / GI experience and store the old lady for hopefully another 70 plus years of preservation.

Upon delivery I took it to the range and compare it to the original 1943 Colt 1911 A1.

In terms of built quality is seems very tight compared to the old warhorse, or even compared with my 2003 Series '70 repro. Sight picture is the same, trigger is just a smidge heavier than the Colt. Grip safety spring, and mainspring have a lot more tension too, which is to be expected.

Shot abt. 100 rounds of different ammo with no issue at all (and I also tried them all in the Colt, no issues at all either).

Those included classic 230 gr ball :

Federal American Eagle 230 gr FMJ (bought a 1000 rds box of these at a reasonable price)
Geco 230 gr FMJ
Fiocchi TOP TARGET 230 gr copper plated

And some target rounds :

Magtech 200 gr LSWC
Fiocchi 200 gr FMJ flat nose

Unfortunately hollow points were banned from civilian use and purchase some years ago in Switzerland. I have some leftovers but I am not punching papers with them now.

Accuracy on both pistol is very comparable, a typical example at 25 meters (27 yards) with ball ammo, two handed slow fire. Very acceptable results for a first outing, will get better with practice :

And it is not a precision target pistol, for that I will use my GCNM, or military Sig P 210.

 

[CLASSIC12]

Then I decided to do my first details strip AND trigger job. Done quite a few more since.

I changed the grips for some very nice Kim Ahrends.

I got some tools

Within minutes the pistol is detailed stripped

Polishing the sides and back of the trigger bow with 800 sandpaper

And the sides of the sear and hammer (lower part only).

And finally the stone cutting on the sear

by the way the feedramp is nicely polished from the factory

That's it, pretty simple if you take things slowly and easy. Trigger feels much nicer now, very smooth, no creep. Trigger pull went from 5 pounds to 3.5 pounds.

 

[CLASSIC12]

But it didn’t stop there, as I then I bought a few parts to enhance the old GI look.

Original USGI trigger, mag and slide release, safety, hammer and spring plug. Would love to find a checkered MSH with lanyard loop, however no luck sofar.

Oh and this

Meaning this will disappear

So detail strip her again

Put her back together, and ta da

With the real thing

Don’t know if I can blue the barrel hood ?

 

[Telecaster]

Nice! I have the same AO 1911. I tried an original short trigger in it, but it made my finger touch the frame which threw off my accuracy so I put the AO trigger back in. The extractor needed tuning and I needed to shoot a hundred or so rounds to break it in, now it’s a lot of fun.

 

[American1776]

i was just about to ask about these guns. I'm intrigued by the quality for such a reasonable price.

 

[stansdds]

The Kahr Arms produced Auto Ord's are good 1911's. The old West Hurley, NY ones were hit or miss and often had cast steel slides. I had one of the old ones, it was my first 1911. All of the major parts were cast steel. It even had a cast steel barrel! I eventually put it to good use, learning some smithing skills and the receiver now functions as my DIY 1911 Commander.