Question for the 1911 guys

As unlikely as it is that you could wear out the original i would email Gunnar at Armco and check with him about it. He has lot's of parts and barrels around.
 
Today barrels should be good for 80k+ rounds. 50 yrs ago metallurgy was not as good as it is today; even so, if you don't do action shooting sports, the chance that you'll wear it out are pretty nill.

If it was my piece, I'd shoot as it is from time to time, but use something else to shoot regularly, esp if you have an all matching parts/serials firearm.

+1 on Gunnar.
 
saskcop said:
Just buy a Norinco 1911 and shoot the heck out of it.
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+1

In ~ 30 years of owning/shooting 1911's.... and amongst them many, many 'real deal' USGI 1911A1 examples I'd go with the above.

A new replacement GI type barrel, likely Norc mfg is going to run ~ $100. You can get a complete used Norc 1911A1 off the EE here for ~ $350'ish.

Personally, I'd keep the minty USGI 1911A1 "as is" and shoot it sparingly. And get a second 1911A1, likely a Norc, & shoot it a lot.

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NAA.
 
I agree with those who said to buy a used Norinco. I have seen them from $275 to $340 shipped. Or buy new for not much more.

If I had a WWII 1942 1911A1....it will live in my safe and come out only when I watch Saving Private Ryan.:D
 
Those WW11 1911's are great collector guns but during the war they were, for the most part only spot heat treated and the steel in them was not what you get today. 2nd Lt.'s were disposable items during the war and their 1911's were never expected to last long or shot lots, nor unfortunately were their owners.

Keep the gun as a keepsake admire it for what it is. Replacing the barrel and not fitting it exactly could easily end up damaging the slide by using the wrong size of link.

Like others have said, buy a Norinco and shoot the snot out of it. They are built like tanks and can be tuned to shoot with the best 1911's.

Take Care

Bob
 
easyrider604 said:
If I had a WWII 1942 1911A1....it will live in my safe and come out only when I watch Saving Private Ryan.:D
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...lol...

Or 'Band of Brothers'.......:cool:

[youtube]UcMLirFU3Dc[/youtube]

My '42 Colt 'resto' 1911A1....

DSCN0297.jpg


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NAA.
 
I have an older (1917) 1911 and it has little collector value due to modifications made before I bought it, The barrel that came with it was "shot" and the cases were bulging so I bought another barrel from Armco and spent some time fitting it to the gun so that it would feed properly... now it runs like a champ. Fitting the new barrel required some grinding of the lower lip of the barrel to get it so the bullets wouldn't ram into it and jam. It took two trips to the range to tweek the feeding but it works fine now.
I bought another 1911 to take some of the load off of the old timer and now I don't feel compelled to take it out as often, just getting set up to re-load .45ACP and will try some softer loads for the old 1911.

SAMandColt1911008.jpg
 
jackrabbit000 said:
So you're worried about wearing the barrel out, BUT, you're not worried about wearing the slide, frame and other parts on the gun?
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My thoughts exactly. "Wearing out" a gun is much more than just the barrel. If it's a rather minty older gun then you may not want to pump many hundreds of rounds through it per month. But bringing it out to play a few times a year and putting 50 or so rounds through it means it'll last long enough for your grand children to enjoy it.

For heaven's sake! It's GUN. It is intended to contain violent events as part of its nature. If it's been shot at all in the past it won't degrade it's value to shoot a few hundred rounds a year through it. Just handle it with respect and fold it in some sort of padding when moving it around or for protection in the safe. It's at far more risk from poor handling than from shooting a couple of hundred rounds a year.
 
A few years ago, I bought a couple of 1914 Canadian Contract 1911's that had their original barrels replaced some time during their service lives. The replacement barrels left a lot to be desired as they were shot out, so I bought 2 Norc replacement barrels from Armco and they now shoot surprisingly well for old guns. As the original barrels were long gone I had no problem replacing, replacement barrels with new ones. Either way it won't hurt their value.
 
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