These are the only two I own now. Both are project guns.
The first is an AMT (Covina) stainless .45 that I bought from a guy outside of a gun show in Anchorage in 1992. He said it didn't work properly and I got it for $150 with two stainless AMT mags. Got it home, did a function check, and completely disassembled it. Turns out it had a bent sear pin, allowing the hammer to drop when the grip safety was depressed and the . Covina pistols were known be made of softer stainless steel than Arcadia and Irwindale pistols, so I replaced the thumb safety, sear pin, hammer pin, sear, hammer strut, firing pin stop, and extractor with blued carbon steel parts. I also throated the barrel per Jerry Kuhnhausen's bible. I also added the clip draw several years ago because I don't wear a belt (due to back problems) and use suspenders. It works well for me at the 4 o'clock position. It is not a pretty gun by any imagination, but it runs with all manner of ball and HP ammunition. It has been my CC/HD/SD/truck gun for 18 years. Other than sweat equity I have less than $275 invested in it.
In 2013 I decided to create a 1911 .22 using a J.A. Ciener .22 conversion top end with two 15 round mags for which I paid $150 in 1993, as I tired of converting/swapping top ends the other 1911's I had to shoot it. The unit has ample ejector clearance for any .45, .38 Super, or 9mm. Ciener has had a bad rap for his product since ~2000, but this unit runs flawlessly. It has a ramped barrel. I found an Olympic Arms Matchmaster 1911 stripped carbon steel frame in the white at a gun show in Centralia WA for $120, which I thought was a bit much but it was the only 1911 stripped frame available there. It was a factory second as it had gas holes in the investment cast frame under the area where the grips are, and it had a gas hole on the front finger trigger guard "hook", which I removed to form a squared TG front. I ordered parts from SARCO, Numrich, Wolff, and Hogue to complete the fitting. When all was copasetic, I drove up to Olympic Arms in Lacey WA and had them parkerize the frame and the MSH. I received it the next day via UPS at no charge because it was an Oly frame. Parked guns actually hold oil very well and IMO 1911's need to be run wet to function properly.
It runs great and I keep it handy to scare off coyotes on our property, and I aim about 2 feet in front of their noses. It has fixed sights but is accurate to minute-of-soda-can angle at 50 yards. I probably have about $450 into it plus sweat equity but it is probably unique.
Olympic Arms went out of business about 6 months later due to many reasons. Too bad because they bought the rights to produce Safari Arms guns which are very hard to find and are expensive.
This might have caught the fancy of the President. Auto Ordinance actually produced these and I would like to find one just for posterity.
I have previously owned a Colt Combat Commander in .38 Super (but it was not accurate even after installing a Bar-Sto barrel), a Colt Commander in 9mm aluminum frame, and a Para Ordinance P-14 built as a kit gun using parts from a 1911. It had an aluminum frame, double stack mag, and various 1911 parts. The slide was from a Remington Rand. It functioned well but the weight and position in the hand varied greatly depending upon how many rounds were in the mag. I bought it for $400 and sold it for the same a few years later.
That is when I just adhered to a steel 1911 .45 with a 7-8 round mag. To me there is no better defensive handgun. I don't trust 9mm guns with a larger mag. YMMV.
Off my soapbox.
Regards,
Jim
