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Many of you know that I'm primarily a collector. As such I buy a lot of guns that I don't shoot. But back in 2010 I decided I wanted a high end 1911 that I could shoot. I went to the local gun store and "ordered" a customized Wilson. As the year went on I started to get the feeling that either the gun was not ordered or that the shop was having difficulty getting Wilson to accept a custom order because of the roster. Despite the shop's assurances I was pretty certain that the gun was not ordered (no record at Wilson, no order #, etc).
Ultimately I gave up on this route and started to look at alternatives for a high end 1911 shooter. Calguns member "Shenaniguns" turned me on to Heirloom Precision. I took a look at their work and was immediately impressed. It was just the gun I wanted -- a classic styled gun with modern upgrades and accuracy.
The way that Heirloom Precision works is that you send in a base 1911, and they completely rebuild it. They even go so far as to weld and straighten out the frame to get super tight tolerances. My original idea was to use a US Government issued World War 2 mixmaster to serve as the base gun. I wanted the classic Colt roll marks (slide markings). However, when I spoke to the shop they recommended an alternate route. Several years ago Colt issued a World War I reproduction. It had the looks and markings of a Colt via WWI but was made from modern techniques. Heirloom stated that the modern reproduction gun has much better metallurgy to work with.
So the hunt began to find a Colt World War I reproduction, which was no easy task as the gun had been out of production for quite some time. After a few months of searching I finally got one (had to go through the whole SSE process). It was in my hands for exactly one day before being shipped off to Heirloom to secure a place on the waiting list.
This is what the gun looked like before Heirloom did their magic.
After the gun was sent off I put it out of my mind for awile and went through the rest of 2012. In late December I got a call from the shop saying the pistol was done!
Ooooo pretty box!
what's in the box? an object of pure beauty that's what!
This gun was modeled after a 1918 Colt World War I pistol. Pictured here with the gun that inspired it, an all original Colt. Notice the same roll marks and stylized "JMG" acceptance stamp (John M Gibert).
The gun is a modern interpretation of the classic gun, but with all the modern goodies!
Ultimately I gave up on this route and started to look at alternatives for a high end 1911 shooter. Calguns member "Shenaniguns" turned me on to Heirloom Precision. I took a look at their work and was immediately impressed. It was just the gun I wanted -- a classic styled gun with modern upgrades and accuracy.
The way that Heirloom Precision works is that you send in a base 1911, and they completely rebuild it. They even go so far as to weld and straighten out the frame to get super tight tolerances. My original idea was to use a US Government issued World War 2 mixmaster to serve as the base gun. I wanted the classic Colt roll marks (slide markings). However, when I spoke to the shop they recommended an alternate route. Several years ago Colt issued a World War I reproduction. It had the looks and markings of a Colt via WWI but was made from modern techniques. Heirloom stated that the modern reproduction gun has much better metallurgy to work with.
So the hunt began to find a Colt World War I reproduction, which was no easy task as the gun had been out of production for quite some time. After a few months of searching I finally got one (had to go through the whole SSE process). It was in my hands for exactly one day before being shipped off to Heirloom to secure a place on the waiting list.
This is what the gun looked like before Heirloom did their magic.
After the gun was sent off I put it out of my mind for awile and went through the rest of 2012. In late December I got a call from the shop saying the pistol was done!
Ooooo pretty box!
what's in the box? an object of pure beauty that's what!
This gun was modeled after a 1918 Colt World War I pistol. Pictured here with the gun that inspired it, an all original Colt. Notice the same roll marks and stylized "JMG" acceptance stamp (John M Gibert).
The gun is a modern interpretation of the classic gun, but with all the modern goodies!
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