[ZoidMeister]

Well, it arrived and I'm pretty sure that I know the answer to that question, but there are quite a few "features" that give me pause and make me wonder. I'm sure those who have been around longer than I may be able to offer more insight. @Uncle Bob for one.

Odd Duck Colt with the thumb guard is definitely an unusual bird. Here are the photos I had pre purchase.

Obvious features are; Swenson ambidextrous thumb safety, checkered front strap, checkered trigger guard, bobbed hammer, beaver tail grip safety, Bomar rear sight, Kart barrel, serrated rear of slide, checkered arched mainspring housing, three hole trigger, hard chrome finish frame, and that infernal thumb guard.

My initial thoughts were to see if upon inspection all this work could be attributed to a notable Smith. That would determine if I let Phineas C. Zoid have a whack at it or not.

Where to start? The Good, the Bad, or the Ugly?

I'll start with the ugly. The checkering and serrations - "Bubba's Not-so-finest."

I could probably lay claim to this as Zoid's first checkering job and get a pass, but I'm not so sure this work stands up to "notable Smith" level work. Notorious, maybe.

It looks like whoever installed the Bomar rear sight let his mill get away from him and removed an extra chunk of the slide right above the FPS.

Fortunately the FPS is fitted fairly well and the extractor doesn't clock easily. This is something that I need to keep an eye on as I take it out to the range.


More to follow, it won't let me add more pichers. Hold for the next post.

 

[HooDoo Man]

That is defiantly a unique Beavertail.

 

[ZoidMeister]

The "Bad" or should I say "Unusual" . . .

I've never seen anything like this custom thumb guard before. I was thinking it would be an easy take off, but that's not the case. This infernal thumb guard has the plunger tube built in. Remove the guard, you loose the plunger tube.

Has anyone else ever seen anything like this?

@Uncle Bob ?

This gun had to have specialized grips modified to fit around and hold the thumb safety into place. They are fairly nice hand checkered grips, but run a little small for my liking. As you can see, the plunger tube parts are totally enclosed within the thumb guard. I thought from the photos pre purchase this would be a cheap plastic guard, but it is actually machined out of steel and is powder coated or cerakoted.

It fits around the upper bushing tightly, has two pins that fit into the plunger tube holes, and is held in place by the grips.

There is no maker identification or model numbers on it anywhere. It looks too finished to be a one-off piece. @pistolwretch have you ever seen one of these before? Who made them?

More Unusual.

I dry fire tested the function of this gun at the FFL before taking it home.

Rut roh - the hammer fell when pulling the trigger but NOT actuating the grip safety - warning Will Robinson!

Actually, upon further inspection, the grip safety wouldn't move. It was frozen into place.

I decided to take it home with me anyway. Upon disassembly I found that the grip safety was actually pinned into place by a steel pin drilled into the mainspring housing.

Need to upload more pichers, more to follow.

 

[ZoidMeister]

Some of the Good.

Okay, I now know what you guys are talking about when you speak if a "hard fit barrel." I damn near destroyed my bushing wrench trying to get this barrel out. It doesn't help that it has a full length guide rod in it either .

Many band-aids, busted knuckles, and swear words, and it came out

This old gun, built in 1982, has been hard fitted with a Kart national match barrel and Kings barrel bushing. The ejection port has been seriously lowered and flaired. I'm not sure what finish the slide has been given, but it doesn't look blued. It is really black, and is not a coating. DLC perhaps?

With that infernal thumb guard in place, racking the slide is darn near impossible. The only way I can figure to do it is to press the front sight against a hard surface such as a table top. The sight, an MMC, is really stout and machined flush with the front of the slide. Until the thumb guard comes off and I can replace it with a proper plunger tube, that is my only real option.

Bad angle, but the only photo I have right now.

More to follow.

 

[ZoidMeister]

So, anyone have any insights on who may have created this monster? Should I leave it as-is, or change it up to make it more Zoid friendly?

Any insights on that no name thumb guard? I guess it's time to buy a plunger tube staking tool.

I know all of the above work was done to this gun in stages. For example, the frame beneath where the original plunger tube would have sat is still blue, meaning the plunger tube was removed and the thumb guard added AFTER the frame had been hard chromed with the original plunger tube still staked in place.

The front strap and trigger guard checkering were clearly done pre-hard chrome application. The frame and gun dates to 1982, but some of the work and features have been seen on similar earlier builds. When was the emergence of customized 1911's. I was thinking the genesis was in the mid '70's

What are your thoughts on this one Addicts?

Z

 

[HooDoo Man]

I've seen that Thumb guard before. I think it was taken from an Abrams M1A tank. Bulletproof.

 

[rmac]

So, anyone have any insights on who may have created this monster? Should I leave it as-is, or change it up to make it more Zoid friendly?

Any insights on that no name thumb guard? I guess its time to buy a plunger tube staking tool.

Z

Gary, the beaver tail grip safety is the old Clark 180/ Wilson 66. Currently it is being made by K.C.Crawford (K.C.’s Kustom Creations) for his MEUSOC Guns. Google him and check them out Not sure if Jim Clark made the thumb rest but in the 70’s they were for sale in his shop.
I have several Clark guns with this beaver tail. Can dig one out for a picture if you want.

 

[HooDoo Man]

A work of Modern Art.

 

[pistolwretch]

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1005686687?pid=622096

EGW

 

[ZoidMeister]

Gary, the beaver tail grip safety is the old Clark 180/ Wilson 66. Currently it is being made by K.C.Crawford (K.C.’s Kustom Creations) for his MEUSOC Guns. Google him and check them out Not sure if Jim Clark made the thumb rest but in the 70’s they were for sale in his shop.
I have several Clark guns with this beaver tail. Can dig one out for a picture if you want.

I would love to compare this one against other guns from the early '80's with similar features.

@Jimhoag ? @limbkiller ? I know this is a stretch, but @Alpina9 ? @TheCollector ? @Joe C @Justin_Pelletier ? Hell, what about THIS one @bladeandbarrel ?

 

[ZoidMeister]

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1005686687?pid=622096

EGW

Well damn, not much mystery there . . . .

I'll need to give them a call to see when they stopped making those.

 

[41 Charlie]

Riding along for the education...

 

[rmac]

Gary, here’s that grip safety on an old pin gun that Jim built for me in the mid 80’s.
About 10 years ago I gave it an update. The Tiger Tooth stippling was filled off the front strap and still haven’t gotten around to having it checkered. Moved the front sight fr

om the end of the comp to the end of the slide and installed a new Cylinder and Slide 5 piece ignition set. Had Bob Kreiger Accu-Rail it before he died. Still, it’s one of my best pin guns.

 

[ZoidMeister]

@rmac ,

Have you seen photos of the Travis Strahan gun I have coming in? I am hoping it will be here the middle of next week.

BTW, if that's a Jim Clark grip safety, was there any chance that he would have sold those on the open market or would he only install them on guns he built?

G

 

[jcc7x7]

I haven't read all the other posts.
So I may be repeating here. that is definitely someone's old IPSC gun.
Done on the cheap but probably worked well enough.
I've seen bunches like that back 30 years ago when there was only two divisions Open and Limited.
Back them an open gun was a Single stack 1911 with a comp and Iron Sights.
If you were really up to date you had one in 28 super and could load 10 rounds vs 8 in the 45.
I've still got a couple of those around and use them for Steel Challenge occasionally!

Looks like a cool find.

BTW just pull the thumb guard and install the plunger tube.

 

[rmac]

@rmac ,

Have you seen photos of the Travis Strahan gun I have coming in? I am hoping it will be here the middle of next week.

BTW, if that's a Jim Clark grip safety, was there any chance that he would have sold those on the open market or would he only install them on guns he built?

G

They were sold by Jim and Bill Wilson sold some at shoots early on. Kings Gun Works sold a very similar one. I believe K. C. told me that the early MUESOC Guns used Kings.
They were referred to as ‘Duckbill’ safeties back then. They had a huge bill and you trimmed it to the size you desired.
The old Pin Gun pictured has an extended slide release on it that was sold by Bill Wilson back then. Think he still stocks it

 

[Jimhoag]

It's hsrd to tell who made it.has swenson safety older style grip safety. Definitely a latev70 to mid 80s build. I fell the kart barrel is a new addition. As Batstow was the first match after market barrel made in thatvtime bbn period.

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

 

[Jimhoag]

you can see Jim Hoag grip safety angles down

 

[Uncle Bob]

Zoid, sorry weekends aren't great for me, but I will come back to this. Yes pinned grip safeties were common at one time, including on mine. Yes, I've seen those slide blockers before. I'll look closer at the pictures first of the week. I'm on duty.

 

[Jimhoag]

Packmyer made slide protecters. The for people who ride the thumb safety.

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk