horge
11-18-2004, 17:15
Wokay... I bought an Armscor Practical FS 2T awhile back, after an initial consideration of the GI model. I'm quite happy with the Armscor Practical, but the original lust for a GI-like 1911 never really left me. That old-school cool just tickles the heck out of me.
I wanted a GI, or at least an optional conversion to a GI.
Sooo, stingy codger that I am, I asked EyeCutter to sell me his excess Ranger GI 1911 parts left over from his Ranger STI clone project. For a ridiculously low price I got virtually everything but the frame, MSH, hammer strut pin, grips and mags.
I was particularly interested in the grip safety, slide stop, hammer, trigger, and of course the slide. All of that would go onto the Armscor frame I already had, with a fair bit of fitting. I wasn't going to mess with the Armscor frame, but force the Ranger parts into conformity
Now, EyeCutter had warned me that the early Rangers were really rough.
He wunn't laahn.
Compare the overturned slides of the early Ranger and my Armscor Practical.
http://mabma.thereeftank.com/postpics/armscor_ranger_slides.jpg
A disconnector's business end would have had a hell of a time riding over all those milling marks. I smoothed it out with fine grit sandpaper, and then with fine steel wool --the kind that leaves superfine steel fibres all over the place (thank God for magnets).
http://mabma.thereeftank.com/postpics/armscor_ranger_slide.jpg
I bought a new hammer strut pin from Squires Bingham for P57.00,
and then proceeded to install the Ranger parts into the frame. The Armscor pin was a loose fit for the Ranger hammer and strut, but oil and the frame itself would have to keep the little devil in place.
http://mabma.thereeftank.com/postpics/armscor_ranger_hammerpin.jpg
Overall slide-to-frame fit wasn't.
Meaning it was impossible to get the slide on, more than an inch.
I had to open up and straighten the slide rails, and take a fair amount of metal off the lowermost 'lip' of the slide rails, straightening them especially towards the front. These early Rangers apparently had rails that are milled differently from Armscor's. Different width/depth rail grooves, and those had to be corrected. However, the various compromises in order to get the slide to cycle smoothly left gaps in upper-slide fit:
http://mabma.thereeftank.com/postpics/armscor_ranger_slidefit.jpg
What else?
The thumb safety lug was a little too fat, and I had to file it down at the 6 to 9 o'clock portion. The slide stop lug was also relieved a bit, to allow the plunger to ride up and snap over it during reassembly. I'll get a nicer 1911 (not 1911A1) trigger, a parked mag catch, and a parked MSH some day, maybe have the slide de-logo'ed and reparked.... but so far, here it is.
http://mabma.thereeftank.com/postpics/armscor_ranger_1911_1.jpg
http://mabma.thereeftank.com/postpics/armscor_ranger_1911_2.jpg
It's coming along nicely, and I have to thank EyeCutter for such an inexpensive way to satisfy my need for a GI-style 1911.
Yesterday, I tested the new Amrger/Rangescor at PB Dionisio Firing Range, and found that it wouldn't extract at all .... so I have to take a hard look at the Ranger extractor. My wife had a lot of fun with our Bersa while I reassembled-disassembled (not just field stripped, heck) the Armscor into an Armger/Rangescor and back).
We ran into EyeCutter at the 'lounge'.
He got to see the reasembled Practical, and admired its grips.
I then offered to show him the Bersa grips.
Man, I could have just handed him the cold piece, but oh no...
Butthead that I was, I juuust had to show him what the wood grips looked like beside the complementary black of the magazine bottom. So I slapped in what I thought was my 'snapcap' mag.
It wasn't.
Alarmed, I tried to clear the weapon, but instead of just dropping the damned mag, somehow I reverted to
"malf-clearance mode" and racked, effectively chambering a live round.
The pipe was loaded, the safety was off, and a 3 pound single-action trigger was just a quarter-inch movement away from disaster, for about a second.
;P
All the while, my wife had been alerting me to my idiocy.
With my eyes bugged out, I ejected the mag and racked the round out, checked and double-checked that the weapon was truly empty, and then finally handed the Bersa to EyeCutter.
Even though the table we were seated at was blocking part of what I was up to, I'm pretty sure others present had perceived it and were merely too polite to give me a much-deserved yelling-at in front of my wife.
I wasn't man enough to apologize right there and then, to everyone present.
Nooooo, I had to pretend no one caught it, kidding myself that
the muzzle was pointed in a safe direction (log-panelled wall),
that my finger wasn't near the trigger, that I spotted the danger immediately, blah blah blah
Horsepoop.
You just never know what can happen next in a series of tragedy-enabling mistakes.
'Nearly Shooting EyeCutter' might be an exaggeration. Or not.
Because the bottom line remains: My weapon went hot,
and it happened in the course of trying to hand it to him.
Safety. Safety. Safety. Safety. Safety. Safety. Safety. Safety.
Safety. Safety. Safety. Safety. Safety. Safety. Safety. Safety.
Safety. Safety. Safety. Safety. Safety. Safety. Safety. Safety.
I need to go soak my head in Hoppes.
I wanted a GI, or at least an optional conversion to a GI.
Sooo, stingy codger that I am, I asked EyeCutter to sell me his excess Ranger GI 1911 parts left over from his Ranger STI clone project. For a ridiculously low price I got virtually everything but the frame, MSH, hammer strut pin, grips and mags.
I was particularly interested in the grip safety, slide stop, hammer, trigger, and of course the slide. All of that would go onto the Armscor frame I already had, with a fair bit of fitting. I wasn't going to mess with the Armscor frame, but force the Ranger parts into conformity
Now, EyeCutter had warned me that the early Rangers were really rough.
He wunn't laahn.
Compare the overturned slides of the early Ranger and my Armscor Practical.
http://mabma.thereeftank.com/postpics/armscor_ranger_slides.jpg
A disconnector's business end would have had a hell of a time riding over all those milling marks. I smoothed it out with fine grit sandpaper, and then with fine steel wool --the kind that leaves superfine steel fibres all over the place (thank God for magnets).
http://mabma.thereeftank.com/postpics/armscor_ranger_slide.jpg
I bought a new hammer strut pin from Squires Bingham for P57.00,
and then proceeded to install the Ranger parts into the frame. The Armscor pin was a loose fit for the Ranger hammer and strut, but oil and the frame itself would have to keep the little devil in place.
http://mabma.thereeftank.com/postpics/armscor_ranger_hammerpin.jpg
Overall slide-to-frame fit wasn't.
Meaning it was impossible to get the slide on, more than an inch.
I had to open up and straighten the slide rails, and take a fair amount of metal off the lowermost 'lip' of the slide rails, straightening them especially towards the front. These early Rangers apparently had rails that are milled differently from Armscor's. Different width/depth rail grooves, and those had to be corrected. However, the various compromises in order to get the slide to cycle smoothly left gaps in upper-slide fit:
http://mabma.thereeftank.com/postpics/armscor_ranger_slidefit.jpg
What else?
The thumb safety lug was a little too fat, and I had to file it down at the 6 to 9 o'clock portion. The slide stop lug was also relieved a bit, to allow the plunger to ride up and snap over it during reassembly. I'll get a nicer 1911 (not 1911A1) trigger, a parked mag catch, and a parked MSH some day, maybe have the slide de-logo'ed and reparked.... but so far, here it is.
http://mabma.thereeftank.com/postpics/armscor_ranger_1911_1.jpg
http://mabma.thereeftank.com/postpics/armscor_ranger_1911_2.jpg
It's coming along nicely, and I have to thank EyeCutter for such an inexpensive way to satisfy my need for a GI-style 1911.
Yesterday, I tested the new Amrger/Rangescor at PB Dionisio Firing Range, and found that it wouldn't extract at all .... so I have to take a hard look at the Ranger extractor. My wife had a lot of fun with our Bersa while I reassembled-disassembled (not just field stripped, heck) the Armscor into an Armger/Rangescor and back).
We ran into EyeCutter at the 'lounge'.
He got to see the reasembled Practical, and admired its grips.
I then offered to show him the Bersa grips.
Man, I could have just handed him the cold piece, but oh no...
Butthead that I was, I juuust had to show him what the wood grips looked like beside the complementary black of the magazine bottom. So I slapped in what I thought was my 'snapcap' mag.
It wasn't.
Alarmed, I tried to clear the weapon, but instead of just dropping the damned mag, somehow I reverted to
"malf-clearance mode" and racked, effectively chambering a live round.
The pipe was loaded, the safety was off, and a 3 pound single-action trigger was just a quarter-inch movement away from disaster, for about a second.
;P
All the while, my wife had been alerting me to my idiocy.
With my eyes bugged out, I ejected the mag and racked the round out, checked and double-checked that the weapon was truly empty, and then finally handed the Bersa to EyeCutter.
Even though the table we were seated at was blocking part of what I was up to, I'm pretty sure others present had perceived it and were merely too polite to give me a much-deserved yelling-at in front of my wife.
I wasn't man enough to apologize right there and then, to everyone present.
Nooooo, I had to pretend no one caught it, kidding myself that
the muzzle was pointed in a safe direction (log-panelled wall),
that my finger wasn't near the trigger, that I spotted the danger immediately, blah blah blah
Horsepoop.
You just never know what can happen next in a series of tragedy-enabling mistakes.
'Nearly Shooting EyeCutter' might be an exaggeration. Or not.
Because the bottom line remains: My weapon went hot,
and it happened in the course of trying to hand it to him.
Safety. Safety. Safety. Safety. Safety. Safety. Safety. Safety.
Safety. Safety. Safety. Safety. Safety. Safety. Safety. Safety.
Safety. Safety. Safety. Safety. Safety. Safety. Safety. Safety.
I need to go soak my head in Hoppes.