Mystery 1911 Barrel? Any 1911 Experts??

[dandyrandy]

I have a 1911 barrel thats brand new but I cant find any information on it. I found this in a lot of gun parts from an old gunsmith shop. I thought maybe someone might know something? Its says Bingham LTD on the package and the .45 acp barrel is 5 inches blued. The only thing I can find about the company is that they made PPS/50 guns but I cant find anything about 1911 parts. Also I suspect this barrel might of been just put in a Bingham bag. Thanks!

 

[dandyrandy]

After thinking about it I dont think this barrel was just put randomly in this bag. The barrel is too well packaged up in this parts bag like it was sold like this just like the many other new barrels I have seen from other manufacturers.

 

[2152hq]

Bingham Ltd was (still is?) a retailer & importer in Atlanta.
They used to sell any number of firearms accessories and parts, ammunition, ect. Most along the military/police type,,,tactikool in todays speak.
The 1911 bbl could have been from any number of large/small foreign or domestic makers. Simply bought and bagged by Bingham Ltd and resold.
They were one of the importers of the Italian made (Pietta?) 22LR cal smg, a PPSH look-a-like at the time.
It liked to go F/A due to some sear problems and went thru recalls, several redesigns by the mfg'r and very low opinions from the BATF.

They also were involved in a Fed court case over their sale of exploding tip ammo,,22rf IIRC, call Devastator in the mid 80's.
Very busy bunch!

There's also Squires Bingham Co,,,that's a Philippines co that took on the name of Armscor in a corporate reorganization.
That all occurred about the same time as the above but the 2 companys had nothing to do with each other.

The Squires Bingham Co did sell a 22RF semi auto PPSH smg look a like also. I believe it was the same Italian made copy as the Bingham Ltd gun. Squires also mfg'd in the Philippines a Model 20 semiauto 22rf rifle that was notorious for going F/Auto due to poor design. They made several other semiauto and bolt rifles in 22rf.
An AR15 look-a like in 22 was also marketed by them.

 

[dandyrandy]

Bingham Ltd was (still is?) a retailer & importer in Atlanta.
They used to sell any number of firearms accessories and parts, ammunition, ect. Most along the military/police type,,,tactikool in todays speak.
The 1911 bbl could have been from any number of large/small foreign or domestic makers. Simply bought and bagged by Bingham Ltd and resold.
They were one of the importers of the Italian made (Pietta?) 22LR cal smg, a PPSH look-a-like at the time.
It liked to go F/A due to some sear problems and went thru recalls, several redesigns by the mfg'r and very low opinions from the BATF.

They also were involved in a Fed court case over their sale of exploding tip ammo,,22rf IIRC, call Devastator in the mid 80's.
Very busy bunch!

There's also Squires Bingham Co,,,that's a Philippines co that took on the name of Armscor in a corporate reorganization.
That all occurred about the same time as the above but the 2 companys had nothing to do with each other.

The Squires Bingham Co did sell a 22RF semi auto PPSH smg look a like also. I believe it was the same Italian made copy as the Bingham Ltd gun. Squires also mfg'd in the Philippines a Model 20 semiauto 22rf rifle that was notorious for going F/Auto due to poor design. They made several other semiauto and bolt rifles in 22rf.
An AR15 look-a like in 22 was also marketed by them.

Thanks for the info! I couldnt find anything about Bingham anywhere! Your help is greatly appreciated. So is there any thing special about these Bingham barrels? I noticed that there is not a lot of these barrels around and I believe this barrel was supposed to be a new barrel replacement for an old Remington Rand 1911A1 that was from WW2.

 

[s&wchad]

Post photos of any markings on the back of the chamber, the bottom of the barrel or the lug. Military barrels were marked.

 

[dandyrandy]

Post photos of any markings on the back of the chamber, the bottom of the barrel or the lug. Military barrels were marked.

Yes I looked all over and the only markings are "Cal 45 acp." That leads me to believe that its some kind of aftermarket barrel probably imported by this Bingham LTD as mentioned by the guy above. The lack of markings definitely adds to the mystery. I think this was supposed to be a replacement barrel for an old Remington Rand I once had long ago. It definitely has the old GI barrel vibe going for it especially since its an all blued barrel. Most aftermarket barrels I see now are stainless steel shiny looking. I wonder now if this is a drop in type part or something you would have to fit and finish to be put into a gun? Im thinking it might need some fitting like any other aftermarket barrel. I can say this that the barrel is brand new!

 

[dandyrandy]

Bingham Ltd was (still is?) a retailer & importer in Atlanta.
They used to sell any number of firearms accessories and parts, ammunition, ect. Most along the military/police type,,,tactikool in todays speak.
The 1911 bbl could have been from any number of large/small foreign or domestic makers. Simply bought and bagged by Bingham Ltd and resold.
They were one of the importers of the Italian made (Pietta?) 22LR cal smg, a PPSH look-a-like at the time.
It liked to go F/A due to some sear problems and went thru recalls, several redesigns by the mfg'r and very low opinions from the BATF.

They also were involved in a Fed court case over their sale of exploding tip ammo,,22rf IIRC, call Devastator in the mid 80's.
Very busy bunch!

There's also Squires Bingham Co,,,that's a Philippines co that took on the name of Armscor in a corporate reorganization.
That all occurred about the same time as the above but the 2 companys had nothing to do with each other.

The Squires Bingham Co did sell a 22RF semi auto PPSH smg look a like also. I believe it was the same Italian made copy as the Bingham Ltd gun. Squires also mfg'd in the Philippines a Model 20 semiauto 22rf rifle that was notorious for going F/Auto due to poor design. They made several other semiauto and bolt rifles in 22rf.
An AR15 look-a like in 22 was also marketed by them.

You wouldnt happen to recall the quality of these barrels? Are they any good? The barrel looks to be of very good quality but the lack of markings is questionable to say the least.

 

[2152hq]

The bbl is probably as good as any of the others that were commonly available at the time (70's, 80's).
That was a popular time to 'build your own 45' with many companys starting to offer slides and frames for 1911 pistols as well as a full list of parts.

Many of these aftermarket parts, if not most of them were of investment cast production. Even the bbl started off as an investment casting and then was machined to finished form with minimal effort.

This was the time when this investment casting production method was really taking off and allowed a lot of people to get in to the gun business.
The parts were fairly inexpensive, readily available and everyone could be a gunbuilder at home. Not too much unlike the current AR building craze.

Companys like Essex, Crown City Arms, Numrich, and others sold anything from a 'kit' containing everything needed to assemble your own (FFL needed to purchase of course),, 'slide kits' (the upper with all the necessary parts and in different calibers) to individual parts like this bbl, and any of the other small parts needed.
Many of the small parts were sold with their as cast matted finish showing and only the machined as necessary areas being bright looking like they may have been polished. Most stainless parts were simply bead blasted,,keep those costs down.

Some of the companys sold completed pistols as well.
Crown City was one. I did a couple jobs for them back in the 80's. But I remember the investment castings he was using had some voids imperfections for lack of a better word. I got the idea he was getting them from Essex, but never really found out the whole story. The place was a husband and wifey run operation out of Cortland NY.
Essex branded frames and slides always appeared quite good to be honest. I know it takes quite a bit of $$ to get into the investment cast process with the cost of moulds for the wax part investments. The actual places running the castings were not plentiful and quality greatly.
That was the reason Ruger ended up building their own casting facility (PineTree in NH) to run their own and control quality

Anyway,,
Most parts like the 1911 bbls were made to GI Specs and considered a drop in fit or at the most they needed a bit of work fitting the hood or the width of the lug. Most didn't.
Other parts came in various grades of finished condition and quality depending on the source.
Some so called Match Grade parts were marketed and sold, Those were generally just a bit oversize and needed fitting for you to get any Match Grade accuracy out of the pistol. Nothing mystical about them. Nothing special about the rifling or chambering that I could ever see.

Your bbl is most likely a drop in fit for a GI 1911A1 and will do what most any of them will do in the accuracy dept.
As to the quality of the mfg, that can only be seen with close inspection and some measurement and see how it stands up to prolonged use.
It'll probably be just fine.

 

[reddog81]

I'm not sure what markings you are looking for. I've only seen a couple aftermarket 1911 barrels but none of them had any markings other than caliber. Given the unknown history of the barrel it's not really worth much (~$50 maybe). Most OEM barrels only have the caliber listed and nothing else.

If it was a milspec replacement part or an original military barrel it would be marked in some way to identify what it is otherwise the fact that it's unmarked doesn't mean much.

One would also have to assume Bingham sold more than one 1911 barrel and probably got them from whomever provided the best price at the time. That's just the nature of how that kind of business worked.

 

[dandyrandy]

I'm not sure what markings you are looking for. I've only seen a couple aftermarket 1911 barrels but none of them had any markings other than caliber. Given the unknown history of the barrel it's not really worth much (~$50 maybe). Most OEM barrels only have the caliber listed and nothing else.

If it was a milspec replacement part or an original military barrel it would be marked in some way to identify what it is otherwise the fact that it's unmarked doesn't mean much.

One would also have to assume Bingham sold more than one 1911 barrel and probably got them from whomever provided the best price at the time. That's just the nature of how that kind of business worked.

I think the barrel might be an actual military replacement barrel because the barrel came with an original GI military 1911. But who knows for sure...

 

[D Brown]

Bingham Ltd was (still is?) a retailer & importer in Atlanta.
They used to sell any number of firearms accessories and parts, ammunition, ect. Most along the military/police type,,,tactikool in todays speak.
The 1911 bbl could have been from any number of large/small foreign or domestic makers. Simply bought and bagged by Bingham Ltd and resold.
They were one of the importers of the Italian made (Pietta?) 22LR cal smg, a PPSH look-a-like at the time.
It liked to go F/A due to some sear problems and went thru recalls, several redesigns by the mfg'r and very low opinions from the BATF.

They also were involved in a Fed court case over their sale of exploding tip ammo,,22rf IIRC, call Devastator in the mid 80's.
Very busy bunch!

There's also Squires Bingham Co,,,that's a Philippines co that took on the name of Armscor in a corporate reorganization.
That all occurred about the same time as the above but the 2 companys had nothing to do with each other.

The Squires Bingham Co did sell a 22RF semi auto PPSH smg look a like also. I believe it was the same Italian made copy as the Bingham Ltd gun. Squires also mfg'd in the Philippines a Model 20 semiauto 22rf rifle that was notorious for going F/Auto due to poor design. They made several other semiauto and bolt rifles in 22rf.
An AR15 look-a like in 22 was also marketed by them.

That's interesting! Do you happen to know the results of the court case? The reason I ask is I have a box of "EXPLODER" .45 component bullets packaged by BINGHAM LTD., Atlanta, Ga. These were given to me by a coworker back in 1988 when he discovered that I was a reloader. I've never known what to do with them, I really never wanted them in the first place, just didn't turn them down because they were free.

 

[DWalt]

I have a few examples of Bingham explosive bullet 9mm cartridges in my collection. I always wondered if they would work, but I never tested them. John Hinkley used Bingham "Devastator" explosive .22 bullets in his assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan. I think the only bullet that actually exploded was the one which hit James Brady.

 

[Mack]

I think the barrel might be an actual military replacement barrel because the barrel came with an original GI military 1911. But who knows for sure...

That is not a military replacement barrel and given the general quality of Bingham products I would hesitate to use it in any 1911 I cared about.