Kahr/Auto Ordnance pakerized milspec 1911

[Rick McC.]

Here's what I found in working on Brownie's AO 1911 A1 today.

First, I was shocked at the minimal amount of MIM parts I found in the gun. In short; the hammer. If there were more, they were final finished such that I couldn't find any of their normal "sprue like" identifiers. As most of you know, MIM parts are usually popped out of the mold and used as is; so I really think a decision was made by the manufacturer to use some good quality parts in this pistol.

The quality and fit of the internals was surprising. Barrel fit to bushing and slide, both barrel hood and lugs, was better than many more expensive 1911's I've had on my bench over the years. Lockup of the barrel at both ends is very tight. No end play, side play or barrel springing at the hood at all.

The two series 80 levers, like most, did benefit from polishing on one side. That said, both the plunger and hole in the slide were polished nicely, and the system was timed very well, with no peening of the firing pin evident.

The extractor, while tension was set too heavy, was otherwise fit very well. There is no clocking, and the bottom edge of the extractor groove behind the claw had been perfectly radiused and was highly polished; more evidence of hand fitting by someone who takes pride in their work.

Both the frame ramp and break over angle (often referred to as the "barrel ramp" by many) were well done, and highly polished.

The back side of the slide stop was a bit rough, as were the edges. These days, that's more often found than not, and a bit of judicious stoning ensured that any futher wear of the frame was at an end.

Stoning the trigger bow tracks in the frame was next, working through 220, 320, 400, and 600 grit stones.

Moving on to the upgrades; the new sear, disconnector, and hammer fit very well, though a bit of fitting between the new hammer strut, strut pin and hammer were needed to get things sorted out.

As happens more often than not; the installation of the new ignition set required that the original thumb safety be refitted to the new parts.

Next, the new short trigger had to be fitted, as the trigger pad is left over size, so it can be fitted to the pistol with no top, bottom or sideplay.

After all was complete, an average of eight trigger pulls provided a pull weight of five pounds even, with no creep, grit and minimum overtravel. It also provided a very nice reset; so we decided that no adjustments to the sear or disconnector legs of the sear spring were necessary.

Over the next few days, I'll function test the pistol with a variety of 200gr LSWC, 230gr LRN, 230gr ball, 230gr JHP, 230gr JTCHP, and and even some of the old Speer "flying ashtrays." A variety of magazines will be used; including Mecgar, Colt, CheckMate, Tripp Cobra mags, and Wilson 47D eight round mags.

When the pistol makes it through all that with NO malfunctions; I'll return it to our "little old snake oil salesman" at our early April class for his daily carry.

This pistol is a real "sleeper," and I intend to buy one myself in the near future; it really is "that good."

[Rick McC.]

I gave the Auto Ordinance 1911 A1 a good workout today, shooting a variety of 200gr LSWC, 230gr LRN, 230gr ball, 230gr JHP, 230gr JTCHP, 230gr hydro-shok, and some of the old Speer 200gr "flying ashtrays."

I used a variety of eight round mags, including Colt, CheckMate, Tripp Cobra, Wilson ETM, and Wilson 47d eight round mags. I also had a Mecgar, but forgot to try it.

Approximately 200 rounds in total were fired, with absolutely NO malfunctions of any sort experienced.

I shot double taps, triple taps, full mag dumps, strong hand only, weak hand only, freestyle, from retention, 1/2 hip, 3/4 hip, the zipper; and the gun just ran and ran.

It shot where I was looking, both with the little sights, and threat focused (no sights, for the "unenlightened"), from six feet to 10 yards.

I'm definitely getting me one of these!

[brownie]

Thanks for the report on it's function testing Rick, looking forward to checking it out when I get back from next weekends pistol course in Daytona.

Thanks again,