The JMB Collection

Braved the cold to show off the "Touched by JMB" collection.

L->R

Colt 1908 Pocket Hammerless (.380 ACP)

Colt 1908 Vest Pocket (.25 ACP)

FN 1905 Vest Pocket (.25ACP)

Colt Challenger (.22 LR)

Ithaca M1911A1 (.45 ACP)

Colt Gov't Model (.38 Super)

FN Hi-Power (9x19mm Parabellum)

Not A Woodsman

The tempo of things finally slowed down so that Harvey and I could hit the range.

She knocked the rust off and I tried something new with the Colt Woodsman Challenger.

9 circles?  9 cartridges?

Seems like an exercise pre-made!

I went as fast as I could, but that wasn't really fast.  Happy it went as well as it did.  Definitely have to do more of this.

Missed It

I forgot John Moses Browning's birthday.

Again.

It's more post-worthy if I remembered.

My .380 Pocket Hammerless is just about my favorite JMB design.

Hand Cannon

.357 SIG is about as identical to .38 Super, ballistically, as you can get.

The gigantic difference is the pistol.

My .38 Super 1911 Gov't Model shoots a 5" group centered around the point of aim at 25 yards.

Harvey's .357 SIG Sigma shoots a 6" tall, 3" wide group 4" below the point of aim at 7 yards.

I can shoot that Colt all day and am done with the Smith after 20 rounds.

Oh, don't get on my bad side when I'm carrying that Colt because my splits are insanely small.  I have been asked to stop bringing it to two bowling pin events.

Shocked I Tell You

I bid $500 on a brand new Colt Python 2020.

I was high bidder for several hours!

Which is hours longer than I expected to be.

I expected that one of the other bidders to have already have staked out a higher position and were just waiting for someone like me to jack up the price.

In fact, my initial winning bid was more like $250, it took them hours to bid past my max of $500.

I knew that $250 wouldn't win.  I knew that $500 wouldn't carry the day.

But I've seen people forget to come back to their watch list and outbid my low-ball before.

No-stakes gambling in a way.

Ain't Gonna Win

There's a penny start auction for a Colt M1894 on GunBroker.

It's going to go for a price that well exceeds my max bid, but it's fun to be in the lead for a while.

I've no idea where one would come up with .38 Long Colt anyway.

Besides, I'd need ANOTHER holster.

One Oh Eight And An Update

Did some tinkering with the New Service.

First I replaced the grody plastic, checkered stocks with a nice set of repop smooth wood.

Then I replaced the missing lanyard loop.

Finally took some pics of the markings.

This is a big gun, by the way.  2 lb. 14.5 oz. loaded.

Everyone knows how big a 1911 is, right?

Other .45's

Colt.

Double Action.

Gate Loaded.

.45 Colt.

M1902.

Teaser


More complete.

Mystery Holster

While at the local pawn shop ogling an all original 1944 Remington-Rand M1911A1; Willard laid eyes on an old leather holster.

"What's that for?" he asked.

"A gun!" I, helpfully, suggested.

"We don't know." the Pawn Mistress said.

But for $10 how far wrong can he go?  So he purchased it; hoping it would fit his .30 Carbine Blackhawk.

It's a Hunter Holsters 1100P-22.

They no longer list the #22 size.

Through the magic power of Bing, after Duck-Duck-Go failed, I was able to determine that it's for a Colt Woodsman.

The near identical Colt Challenger fits right in there!

The threads in the seam had failed, so I sewed them back up.  Before the repair, it didn't seem like it was the correct fit.

Before And After

The camera on my Motox is insufficient.

Canon SX20IS:

Before pic.

After pic.

A Dab Will Do

With the fresh carving on the inside, I felt it prudent to put some nourishment on the wood.

I think I even mentioned it was a bit dry.

Linseed oil is just amazing stuff!

Got Wood

The stocks for the Challenger arrived today.

You can see from the half-moon cut-out on the passenger side that these grips are really for a Woodsman.

The driver's side needed some minor fitting to clear a screw on the gun and to clearance for the magazine follower button.  I have a good sharp chisel and files, no problem!

It's handsome wood, if a trifle dry.  The ziplock they came in was yellowed from age!  Who knows how long they've been sitting on them?

Sight Unseen

There's a company in Carol Stream, Illinois, who claims to make stocks for the Colt Challenger.

I made a couple of inquiries about them and got to a point where they needed information about my specific gun to decide if they actually stocked the stocks.

The Challenger is a variation of the Woodsman 2nd Series.

In theory, any grip stock that fits a 2nd Series Woodsman fits a Challenger.  That's the theory, but nobody who makes the damn things seems to know for sure.

One of the main differences between the grips stocks appears to be if there's a cut for the magazine release and if there's a thumb rest.  The Challenger had neither.

It's been months since I sent the requested information to the company in Illinois.  No response.

I've even fired off a couple of emails asking if they got the information they requested.  No response.

I guess they don't want my business.

Gunbroker to the rescue!

They're not going to be correct.  They're walnut.

The correct stocks for the gun are these hideous dark brown plastic monstrosities.  They genuinely look like something that the cheap Chinese knock-off company would sell when they farmed out the job to someone who doesn't care as much as they do about QC.

After all, you bought the Challenger instead of the Woodsman, you cheap bastard, what did you want, burled maple?

So, soon the Challenger will be sporting better grips than it ever had and the black plastic things what make the OEM stocks look good will be tossed into a hole which will be limed and salted and sealed for a 1,000 generations with eldritch enchantments to prevent them from being used again.

Something Stupid I Got Away With

In the way back days when Colt still made Anacondas I bought a brand new in box 4" barreled .45 Colt version.

Being the tinkering kind, I also bought a set of Hogue grips for it.

Because it was a super-tight fit there was much wrestling with the gun and am certain I pointed it at various parts of my anatomy more than once.

When I finally got them on the gun I noticed two things.

First, I'd managed to cock it.

Second, I'd forgotten to unload it.

Who knows how close to shooting my dumb ass I'd come.

It's sobering.

Not Quite What It Appears To Be

Willard is the proud owner of a genuine M1911.  Note that there's no A1 there.

If you look on the slide you see:

And:

No Springfield Eagle on this side.

But the serial number says it's a Springfield National Armory gun made in 1915.

It's definitely a refinished gun, with the barrel having marks that date a refurbishment near WW2.

We've several theories and no facts.

It could have been arsenal reworked and parkerized for WW2, then released to civilian hands where someone put it back to blue.

The Colt slide could have been added during an arsenal rework because the original was out of spec somehow; or it could have been added by a previous owner to enhance the value of the gun.

Or a dozen other likely possibilities.

It'd be ironic if the refinishing owner did slide swap to increase the value since a complete Springfield made gun is now more valuable than a "commonplace" Colt, because they made many fewer examples.

Spot the differences!  Willard's Springfield/Colt M1911 and my Springfield Armory M1911A1 clone.

Shootin'

One of the things I enjoy about hitting the range is sharing.

A fellow regular shared his .500 S&W today.  While not my cup of tea, it's fun to pop a couple of rounds with a muzzle brake that causes an orange curtain of flame.

I almost even hit the target too!  The sights were regulated low for how I was shooting it.

The owner, however, is completely comfortable with it!





Compared to Willard's 629PD (.44 Magnum) this gun isn't that bad!  It's not-bad enough that I think I could learn where to hold it to hit was I was aiming at.

I shared Laverne, my Savage 99EG in .300 Savage.

It shoots!

$2 a round, it'd bloody better shoot... mutter mutter...  Even with the hated buckhorn sights, I did OK.

I zeroed the new peep sight on Connie, the Marlin 30AS.  Forgot to take a picture of the target.  I'm far happier with her now that I can actually use the sights.  So far only my Remington 341 and Savage 99 have buckhorns that put the round where I think it should go.

The Colt Challenger, not-Woodsman, is also a fine shooting thing.

All three of these guns are pawn-shop finds.  Well under $500 invested.  I guess you have to see diamonds in the rough.  Because we like shooting, it's not such an issue to have a gun that's pristine, some honest wear and tear is OK, even a bit of neglect is tolerable if it still shoots.

Beware Of Willards At Pawn Shops

Not a Woodsman.

2 lb. 1.8 oz. of JMB Goodness.  It appears to be a 1954 made gun.

As compared to the gun that supplanted it.  The stocks on this Challenger are wrong, those are for a Woodsman.  Got to fix that!

Top Shelf Hand Cannon

Blued, wood stocks, .44 Magnum, 4", Smith and Wesson; 3 lb. loaded.

Stainless, rubber stock, .45 Colt, 4", Colt; 3.3 lb. loaded.

As different as you can make two guns and still have them come out almost the same.

I still think Colt is the better looking gun, but that's because I like vent-ribs and full length under-lugs.

Both have a nigh-telepathic single action trigger.  Both have a smooth as glass double action trigger, with the S&W edging out the Colt because it's slightly lighter.

Recursively Retro?

That is NOT an M1911.

Model 1902 Military in .38 ACP.

There's a property master story that goes with this gun, I am certain.  Will we ever hear it?

Sizes

The pretty one was made in, going by the serial number and making a couple of specious assumptions about production rates, 1925.

That makes it near contemporaneous with my Colt 1908 Pocket Hammerless in .380, made in 1926.

Time marches on, though...

The ugly one was made, using the same assumptions, in 1922.  But look at how similar in size a SIG-Sauer P238 is to it!

The size of the Mauser is a little inexplicable.  The fact that the design was tweaked slightly and successfully made into a .32 ACP version says something about it being a tad oversized.

The little FN debuted in 1905, so they did this deliberately.  Were they genuinely thinking that this would be a good service pistol?  Possibly, since a pistol is most often a badge of rank with lots of armies.