[ptrthgr8]

Had the Springfield Armory Inc. 1911A1 out of the safe yesterday afternoon. This pistol is more than 23 years old - purchased it on my 21st birthday back in 1993. I haven't touched this pistol in years... probably 10 years, I bet? That's a pitiful shame. This pistol will see some range time soon.

It's a standard Gov't Model. Many years ago I added an Ed Brown s/s match barrel, Wilson s/s match bushing, Wilson s/s full length guide rod and spring, and a Wilson s/s competition match trigger. The Pachmyar rosewood wraparounds looked pretty cool back in 2000 (or whenever I got them), but this pistol deserves better. I adore the G10 grips on my P229 Legion, so I ordered a new set of VZ Operator II black/grey G10 grips for this 1911A1. I was toying with the idea of updating the color with a new Cerakote finish of some sort... but after going over the pistol yesterday and giving it a quick cleaning (didn't need it, but I thought she deserved it), I think I'm pretty well in love with the original blued finish. The wear marks, scratches, and other blemishes were all put there by me, so I may just leave the finish as is. Besides, there aren't enough proper blued 1911s out there anymore. Now she sorta stands out in a crowd.

Cheers,

~ Greg ~

 

[ptrthgr8]

Sorry for the massive image sizes. The vBulletin image resize code [resize=xxx] [/resize] does not seem to work. Boo.

 

[Mills]

1911s deserve a large picture.

Nice, now go forth and shoot.

 

[Papa Sig]

Very cool Springfield!! Looks beautiful!!

 

[ptrthgr8]

Nice, now go forth and shoot.

The snow is finally starting to melt around here, so I'm adding this 1911A1 to the list of items I acquired over the winter (so, since November here in ND) that I've not yet shot:

P226 Mk25
CZ 75B Urban Grey
P320 full size 9mm (technically an x-change kit for my Compact .40)
IWI Galil ACE pistol
Glock 17 (new Wheaton Arms threaded barrel)
MPX (new 4 1/2" barrel and SBT collapsible brace)

The first range day of 2017 is going to be long and expensive. Just the way I like 'em.

Cleaning everything afterwards will be lame, though. Ain't gonna lie... that's my least favorite part of gun ownership. LOL

 

[jkao42]

Best part of that Springer? Even though you haven't touched it in a looooong time, I guarantee their CS will still be more than willing to help you out if anything is wrong with it. BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE EVER, and i'm not just talking about gun manufacturers.
If anything, and i mean anything, is wrong with it, call their cs and ask for Deb. She's the best.

 

[ptrthgr8]

There... I scoured the web trying to find a way to resize the images using vBulletin code, but it seems like nothing's out there. So, fine, I just used my photo editor to reduce the sized and uploaded the smaller images to my photo hosting site, then tossed the new URLs into my post. There's more than one way to skin a cat.

Cheers,

~ Greg ~

 

[ptrthgr8]

Best part of that Springer? Even though you haven't touched it in a looooong time, I guarantee their CS will still be more than willing to help you out if anything is wrong with it. BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE EVER, and i'm not just talking about gun manufacturers.
If anything, and i mean anything, is wrong with it, call their cs and ask for Deb. She's the best.

I would be particularly surprised if anything ever went wrong with this pistol, but it's great to know that if it did, SAI would have my back.

 

[jkao42]

Quick story, when I got my Springer 1911 it came with a couple scratches on it. Pistol was brand new, but got dinged up at the store. Waited about a year, then called Springfield to see how much it would be to get it refinished since the pistol was still under warranty. Sent them a couple pictures to make sure none of the scratches were too deep. Here is what they responded:

"We would more than happy to refinish that for you for free, including paying for s+h. However, if it does not bother you that much, wait until it has more scratches as you can only get it refinished so many times since we will be taking some material off. Even if it is 10, 20, 30.... years off, we'll still refinish it for free, regardless of who and how the scratches got there."

As far as I'm concerned, the Springfield warranty period never expires. If you research online, you will find similar, if not more outrageous stories, of Springfield going above and beyond for their customers

 

[ptrthgr8]

Quick story, when I got my Springer 1911 it came with a couple scratches on it. Pistol was brand new, but got dinged up at the store. Waited about a year, then called Springfield to see how much it would be to get it refinished since the pistol was still under warranty. Sent them a couple pictures to make sure none of the scratches were too deep. Here is what they responded:

"We would more than happy to refinish that for you for free, including paying for s+h. However, if it does not bother you that much, wait until it has more scratches as you can only get it refinished so many times since we will be taking some material off. Even if it is 10, 20, 30.... years off, we'll still refinish it for free, regardless of who and how the scratches got there."

As far as I'm concerned, the Springfield warranty period never expires. If you research online, you will find similar, if not more outrageous stories, of Springfield going above and beyond for their customers

Well now... that is interesting indeed. Perhaps I should reach out to them and see if I can still get this one refinished. Would be nice to dress 'er up in an original blue that's fresh and new. (And it rhymes, too!)

Thanks for that suggestion!

~ Greg ~

 

[Willard]

It's interesting that you picked that up in '93, was it used? The reason I ask, as it appears to be an early one, showing Brazil on frame, and the serial number missing from the normal location...

I've got 3, from back in late '80s, 1 blued, other 2 parkerized. I have modified all of mine over the years, mostly back when I got them.
One of them to the point, I had to replace the slide, as I "overcut" my sight dovetail, for a "Low Mount Bomar"... at the time had to settle for a replacement GI unit.

 

[ptrthgr8]

It's interesting that you picked that up in '93, was it used? The reason I ask, as it appears to be an early one, showing Brazil on frame, and the serial number missing from the normal location...

Yep, it was brand new, in the bright blue plastic box. (Pretty sure I still have that in the gun room, too.) The frame does say Brazil on it. The S/N is in the same place - I just removed it for photo purposes. I don't have the sales paperwork for this gun any more, so no documented means of proving I own it (if it ever came to that), so in those instances I remove the S/Ns from the photo. But it's still there. Promise. S/N N303XXX Do you think it was old stock?

 

[Papa Sig]

The dust cover on those older springers looks squared off more than my newer Springfield's.

 

[jkao42]

My 2 queens get lonely without eachother

 

[ptrthgr8]

Yep, knew exactly where the box was. Catalog number PB9608. No born-on date like a SIG might have, but the orange sticker reads 100893, so I'm assuming that's 10/08/1993, or ~2 weeks before I purchased it from Wade's Eastside Guns in Bellevue, WA. (Back at their *old* location, if anyone here knows of them.) I'm not sure if that 10/08/1993 date is a factory sticker showing the born-on date, or if that's just a distributor/dealer inventory date or something along those lines.

 

[jkao42]

Yep, knew exactly where the box was. Catalog number PB9608. No born-on date like a SIG might have, but the orange sticker reads 100893, so I'm assuming that's 10/08/1993, or ~2 weeks before I purchased it from Wade's Eastside Guns in Bellevue, WA. (Back at their *old* location, if anyone here knows of them.) I'm not sure if that 10/08/1993 date is a factory sticker showing the born-on date, or if that's just a distributor/dealer inventory date or something along those lines.

Call'em and ask

 

[Willard]

Yep, it was brand new, in the bright blue plastic box. (Pretty sure I still have that in the gun room, too.) The frame does say Brazil on it. The S/N is in the same place - I just removed it for photo purposes. I don't have the sales paperwork for this gun any more, so no documented means of proving I own it (if it ever came to that), so in those instances I remove the S/Ns from the photo. But it's still there. Promise. S/N N303XXX Do you think it was old stock?

Very good possibility! When they first offered the 1911s, the frames were imported finished from Brazil, and assembled here, hence the markings as you have. Then they imported the raw forgings, and finished them here, along with assembly, and the Brazil annotation was deleted.

You may be able to contact their Customer Service, and get a release/ship date, as I would expect sometime around '85, but I could be wrong. I bought my three between late '86 and '88 IIRC.

 

[ptrthgr8]

Call'em and ask

Very good possibility! When they first offered the 1911s, the frames were imported finished from Brazil, and assembled here, hence the markings as you have. Then they imported the raw forgings, and finished them here, along with assembly, and the Brazil annotation was deleted.

You may be able to contact their Customer Service, and get a release/ship date, as I would expect sometime around '85, but I could be wrong. I bought my three between late '86 and '88 IIRC.

I just tried calling them a few moments ago (4:45pm Central), but the message I received indicates their business hours end at 4:30pm Central. So, I sent an email instead. I will report back once I hear from them.

Thanks!

~ Greg ~

 

[jkao42]

You should ask'm to send you a new "tacticool" case as well with the pic rails on the side. Never know when you need to drop a scope on the side of your case haha

 

[Willard]

ptrthgr8, did some more checking, on some other sites. From what I can gather, Springfield Armory continued to import "Finished" frames from Brazil, while they were also finishing the raw frames here. So it is possible that yours wasn't necessarily "New Old Stock"

Just for you information, if you are ever interested in installing tritium sights, Fusion Firearms has Trijicon lamped front sights with the "Medium Tenon" that SA used to attach their front sights. Previously, I has to narrow the wide Colt tenons to fit, which was a pain. I can't recommend their rear sight, as it was too narrow for the dovetail, even with its setscrew, I didn't feel it was acceptable. I ended up using it with a Meprolight rear, and the height was appropriate... it should also work with a standard Trijicon rear.