PLS HELP!!! 1911 Colt Series 70 Barrel in a 1917 mfg Colt 1911 ....?

gravis

gravis

CGN Regular
Rating - 100%
151   0   1
Location
South of 60
Have been looking for quite some time for a decent shooter, pre owned, reasonably priced barrel for my 97 year old pistol; whose bore is shot out. I stumbled upon a very kind and generous chap, who has a series 70 barrel available....would this be a no nonsense drop in job...? or a pile of headaches with modifications being necessary.........?

Thanks in advance for those willing to share their insight and wisdom, all the best

Joel
 
My only fear would be the age of the piece.

If it's been shot enough that the bore is gone, then she's been shot a whole lot, and the more essential bits may be approaching the end of their service life. This is an unsolicited piece of advice and as such not worth very much, but were it my pistol, I'd be inclined to get it well and truly checked before investing in a barrel fitting.

A lady with that may miles behind her may have earned her retirement at the back of the safe. :)
 
I picked her up about 5 yrs ago, unfortunately was refurbed with new recoil spring and few other worn parts before I got it, by reputable smith. Despite barrel being frosted and pitted beyond belief I can land 5/6 out of 7 rounds on a 8" x 8" steel plate at 50 M

I rarely ever shoot her but when I do I don'y want to be adding any more unnecessary miles to that 'ol HP barrel ;) She will be an heirloom for my kids one day and want it as correct as possible.

thanks again folks

Joel
 
Should be no problem, I have a commercial Colt 1911 manufactured in 1919, replaced the shot out barrel with a later manufacture barrel from CGN exchange, it is a commercial Colt series 70 barrel, test fired fine, shoot fairly often and runs just fine, No fitting problems, went through my pile of spare barrel links and swapped links for tighter link and better lock up with less slop, No issues always works. If you are not confident have a gun smith check it out.
 
Guys have been putting 'new' barrels into old, worn 1911's since Pershing was a West point Cadet. GI, commercial, whatever.

I don't believe that US Army armourers did any particular fitting on run of the mill GI 1911's to keep them running.
 
Make sure the link is the correct length. Make sure the barrel fits the slide locking lugs.

The first thing you should do is putting new springs of proper weight and length into any old pistol you plan or expect to shoot.

Be aware that the material your 1911 was manufactured from has changed at least 3 times since 1917...

Metallurgy has progressed substantially since then, with 1919 and 1928 being important dates for Colts.
 
Yes that to, I replaced all springs with new ones, inspected the barrel with a high power magnification glass for cracks around the breech or lugs, buffed the breech ramp up with a felt dremmel bob and jewelers rouge to slick it up, after several hundred rounds did a tear down, closely inspected frame slide and barrel, no cracks or galling still GTG but I have several other Colt 1911's that I also shoot so everyone gets rotated through the year. Still shoot the 1911 commercial but as it will be a hundred years soon it will get less use as time goes buy as the mileage is adding up.
 
gladius 2 said:
Should be no problem, I have a commercial Colt 1911 manufactured in 1919, replaced the shot out barrel with a later manufacture barrel from CGN exchange, it is a commercial Colt series 70 barrel, test fired fine, shoot fairly often and runs just fine, No fitting problems, went through my pile of spare barrel links and swapped links for tighter link and better lock up with less slop, No issues always works. If you are not confident have a gun smith check it out.
Click to expand...

Great to hear similar story.... just no armourer around and I'' likely need a different barrel link then....? don't have the barrel in hand yet as I wanted to see if it'll work prior to going ahead with it.
 
You can buy a selection of barrel link sizes through Brownell's not very expensive buy 3-5 in various sizes to achieve optimum lock up. If one comes with your barrel it will more than likely work fine as I had some spares I went through them all and picked a slightly longer one.
 
Well the barrel arrived today and it seems to fit perfect with my old barrel link/pin and bushing. It seems to cycle fine what should I watch out for or what would I notice if fittiment was not good? the barrel link pin is loose.... do you just give it a whack with a punch to set it properly? Thanks again guys
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom