The gun was ultimately purchased for a fraction of its retail price and I went to work on it shortly thereafter. The extractor wobbled around like a loose tooth. The thumb safety was all but inoperable, requiring two hands to get it into the вЂњsafeвЂќ position. The finish bore a few handling marks and the barrel was nothing to write home about, with вЂњchatter marksвЂќ plainly visible in the rifling ahead of the chamber. This particular dealer knows me well and has no problem with me tearing down a prospective purchase. Then I found a local dealer with a new вЂњWWIIвЂќ model, which had seen some rough handling by prospective customers. The apparitions of these problem guns haunted me. I had owned one of the early guns, and worked on several more that were owned by law enforcement acquaintances. Prior to Auto Ordnance being acquired by Kahr in 1999, A/OвЂ™s 1911вЂ™s garnered a checkered reputation. I wanted a gun that I would take pure-GI parts scavenged from gunshow tables- including barrels & firing pins. The fact that they are one of the few 1911 makers who, by their own account, work off pre-war blueprints was another significant factor. The fact A/O guns are American made was a substantial consideration. After pricing various guns, and reading of significant QC improvements by Auto Ordnance since вЂњthe Kahr changeвЂќ I decided to add them to the list of possible base guns for the project. The finished product was to be reminiscent of the old вЂњhardball gunsвЂќ of the вЂ™70вЂ™s maybe high-profile fixed sights, basic accuracy and reliability work, and not much else. and wanted the base gun as GI as possible. I get the urge to do a 1911 вЂњsemi-buildвЂќ every so often.

1911 auto ordnance