I haven't been doing much if any shooting lately and need to catch up the journal.

I was looking at my 1894C the other day and realized that the front sight was to the right of center. At first I was concerned because I was afraid that the sight was loose in the dovetail and might fall out but looking at the Foolproof I could see that it was adjusted for that. Apparently I was too dumb or too lazy and forgetful to fix the front sight when I zeroed the rifle. After some thinking and an attempt to drive the sight further left into the dovetail I fixed it. What I did was to drive the front sight out of the dovetail (left TO right) and then used a dovetail file on the SIGHT (never the dovetail) and clean off any burrs or machining marks on both sides of the male dovetail part. I then drove it in to center on the barrel and adjusted the rear sight to accomodate the change.

Of course I needed to check the zero and took the rifle to the mom's farm on my next trip out there. It was quite a warm day and a groundhog with cabin fever was out sunning and looking for lunch. He was right about 100 yards off and I used the 1894C on him. Took him dead center so I called the sights good and went about my business. I should check the sights at the range but that has had to wait. I've been distracted by a new purchase.


My "new" Colt 1991A1

I've been wanting a full size Colt 1911 .45 ACP for a long time. Many years ago I was fortunate enough to get a MKIV Series 80 Combat Commander. It HAS been a better concealed carry gun but it isn't the GI type pistol that I wanted. Yes, I wanted a gun at least very much like the gun(s) I carried in the service. Then I saw this one in a local shop.

Now, I haven't been concerning myself with semi-auto anything for a long time and certainly not enough to keep myself up-to-date on all the variations and prices. I also know that the various "blue books" can be deceptive as to pricing for a lot of reasons. So, the first thing I did was ask some good, intelligent, folks if the price on the tag was reasonable. It was. Now the problem was funds. I was going to have to scrape the money together. That took a couple of weeks of counting change, leafing through books looking for the odd dollar, selling some unnecessary items (not blood, I'm not THAT addicted) and generally worrying that the gun wouldn't be there when I went back. Of course I wanted this gun and why you ask? Well, I think this says it all...
and, yes, I did get a box of Remington .45 ACP FMC when I finally went back for a last critical look and, ultimately, negotiations and purchase of the pistol.

As you can see it is very close to like new, it has the box, it has the original rubbery plastic grips AND a set of rosewood panels. It only came with one magazine and a clean bore. If it had been shot I don't think you could tell it, I couldn't. The breech face was just as clean. One thing I did like was that it has a flat main spring housing (MSH) but I didn't like that it was "A" nylon and "B" lacking the lanyard loop. That will have to be fixed. Another thing that bothered me, even more so really, was the long, plastic trigger. Not only is the trigger plastic and too long it also doesn't have a good fit top to bottom. Looks like an afterthought. One big positive was the excellent sights. They look military issue, almost, but they are much more defined and I can easily use them. Ok, so they aren't Novaks or Bomars but although they are simple they are easy to see and use.

Of course, I HAD to take it out for a function test with a box of factory ammo. So, I went up to my mom's and took the pistol with me. I have an 8" concrete block sitting on her pond dam about 80 yards from the garage. I pulled up, pulled the pistol out and let 7 rounds go down range at the block. 7 puffs of dust came off the block face. This was cool! A moment to reload and another 7 rounds flew downrange to meet their destiny at the concrete block. Oh yeah. Sweet.


My 2 Colt .45s, MK IV Series 80 Combat Commander over 1991A1 "Government" Model

I used to have Pachmayr rubbers on the Combat Commander but after handling the new gun with the wood panels I rushed old faithful downstairs to the bench, dug out the factory issue grips and swapped them back. Being retired makes me a lot more appreciative of the wood!