Thursday, February 04, 2010

GI .45

I've been looking for a plain-jane 1911 pistol and today in my travels I stumbled across one. No, it's not an original GI .45, but it's close.



It's Springfield Armory's rendition of the classic GI 1911A1 pistol. Of course, it's parkerized and chambered in .45 ACP. It's got the low-profile GI sights and the wooden US grips. It's a lot like the one I used to carry when I was a young lieutenant, except this one is a lot tighter than the one I was issued.

The first GI .45, nay, the very first pistol I ever fired was a 1911A1, made by the Ithaca Gun Company, probably during the Second World War. It was issued to me in 1976 at Fort Knox, KY, and I remember wondering if the slide should rock side to side like it did. I sat through several hours of instruction on the care and feeding of the 1911 pistol and then a very senior NCO gave us a quick course of instruction on firing the little pistol. We were issued two magazines and a box of ammo. I walked out on the line and fired expert with that old rattle-trap pistol. I had to turn that pistol back in to the school, after a thorough cleaning. I thought I was a hell of a warrior, firing expert with that old handgun.

Beginner's luck. I've been forever since smitten with the 1911 and ... well... sometimes I can't help myself. I'm not going to keep this one. It'll be gifted to a son who's been drooling over the 1911 I carried on duty for the past several years. I promised him I'd look around and today the stars aligned.

If he doesn't like it, he can give it back.

3 comments:

The Displaced Louisiana Guy said...

Too awesome for words. Can't wait to hear a range report.

Anonymous said...

I have one of those John Moses Browning's Masterpieces. Those small black sights are problematic for my old eyes but I can still shoot it well enough. (I'm betting your son won't be giving it back........)

CU74

Old NFO said...

After it bites him, he might :-) I too fired expert with 1911s that shook, rattled and rolled, but they put the rounds down range!!!