My First 1911 Wilson Combat

Spurshot · September 15, 2016

I had been shooting handguns lately, after having laid off for decades. Those self-defense classes had me shooting my two 70 Series Gold Cups quite a bit. I put heavy recoil springs and new buffers in them and was shooting ball ammo. Big difference between a target load 185 gr SWC going 750 fps and a 230 gr RN going down the barrel at 850 fps. But I've been getting a handle on the rapid fire of that load.

It really got my juices going on another 1911. I pulled out a project gun and looked it over. Some decent parts in the lockwork, but the frame and slide are crap. I'm going to replace the frame and slide with 1911Builders.com parts (80% frame). The mill and drill work is simple stuff. I owned a machine shop in a past life. 1911Builders.com parts are extremely well machined, based on the sample slide I bought.

But back to Wilson Combat. I was getting an itch for a custom/limited run gun. Looked at Wilson's first, of course. Then all the others: Ed Brown, Les Baer, Nighthawk, Kimber Super Match, etc.. I'm in CA, so it's very limited in what is legal to bring into the state. Eventually, I came back to a Wilson Combat Classic listed on their guns in inventory page. I wasn't waiting 3 years for one. The extras above the base Classic model are: SS frame, ambi safety, mag well.

Saw and held it today. A real sensual experience. It'll be in CA lockup for 10 days. I'm itchin to shoot it. Back in the late 70's, I almost sent my Gold Cup to Bill Wilson to hop it up. He was just gunsmithing back then.

Chris · September 15, 2016

I had been shooting handguns lately, after having laid off for decades. Those self-defense classes had me shooting my two 70 Series Gold Cups quite a bit. I put heavy recoil springs and new buffers in them and was shooting ball ammo. Big difference between a target load 185 gr SWC going 750 fps and a 230 gr RN going down the barrel at 850 fps. But I've been getting a handle on the rapid fire of that load.

It really got my juices going on another 1911. I pulled out a project gun and looked it over. Some decent parts in the lockwork, but the frame and slide are crap. I'm going to replace the frame and slide with 1911Builders.com parts (80% frame). The mill and drill work is simple stuff. I owned a machine shop in a past life. 1911Builders.com parts are extremely well machined, based on the sample slide I bought.

But back to Wilson Combat. I was getting an itch for a custom/limited run gun. Looked at Wilson's first, of course. Then all the others: Ed Brown, Les Baer, Nighthawk, Kimber Super Match, etc.. I'm in CA, so it's very limited in what is legal to bring into the state. Eventually, I came back to a Wilson Combat Classic listed on their guns in inventory page. I wasn't waiting 3 years for one. The extras above the base Classic model are: SS frame, ambi safety, mag well.

Saw and held it today. A real sensual experience. It'll be in CA lockup for 10 days. I'm itchin to shoot it. Back in the late 70's, I almost sent my Gold Cup to Bill Wilson to hop it up. He was just gunsmithing back then.

I get a cheap shield and you go buy something nice

Spurshot · September 15, 2016

I get a cheap shield and you go buy something nice

Hey, I'm old. Old guys need guns that can hit a target by themselves, with our bad eyesight... and I just got a nice bonus that covered it.

grampadirt · September 15, 2016

Now I know why I can't hit squat with my S&W,surely it's not me.....lol

Nice gun you have there

Chris · September 15, 2016

Hey, I'm old. Old guys need guns that can hit a target by themselves, with our bad eyesight... and I just got a nice bonus that covered it.

Im going to try my hand at some minor gun work Saturday. If i somehow screw it up, ill be in LA on tuesday

dcheeseman · September 15, 2016

I had been shooting handguns lately, after having laid off for decades. Those self-defense classes had me shooting my two 70 Series Gold Cups quite a bit. I put heavy recoil springs and new buffers in them and was shooting ball ammo. Big difference between a target load 185 gr SWC going 750 fps and a 230 gr RN going down the barrel at 850 fps. But I've been getting a handle on the rapid fire of that load.

It really got my juices going on another 1911. I pulled out a project gun and looked it over. Some decent parts in the lockwork, but the frame and slide are crap. I'm going to replace the frame and slide with 1911Builders.com parts (80% frame). The mill and drill work is simple stuff. I owned a machine shop in a past life. 1911Builders.com parts are extremely well machined, based on the sample slide I bought.

But back to Wilson Combat. I was getting an itch for a custom/limited run gun. Looked at Wilson's first, of course. Then all the others: Ed Brown, Les Baer, Nighthawk, Kimber Super Match, etc.. I'm in CA, so it's very limited in what is legal to bring into the state. Eventually, I came back to a Wilson Combat Classic listed on their guns in inventory page. I wasn't waiting 3 years for one. The extras above the base Classic model are: SS frame, ambi safety, mag well.

Saw and held it today. A real sensual experience. It'll be in CA lockup for 10 days. I'm itchin to shoot it. Back in the late 70's, I almost sent my Gold Cup to Bill Wilson to hop it up. He was just gunsmithing back then.

Beautiful....just beautiful, nobody makes a bad looking 1911.....I'd like to have a nice Colt 1911 if I could find one with a reasonable price lol.

Daniel

Spurshot · September 15, 2016

Im going to try my hand at some minor gun work Saturday. If i somehow screw it up, ill be in LA on tuesday

Avoiding using a hammer, pry bar, file, or grinder, will increase the odds it'll be fixable.

Chris · September 15, 2016

Avoiding using a hammer, pry bar, file, or grinder, will increase the odds it'll be fixable.

What I am doing somethibg that requires a 5/64 roll pin punch.

Spurshot · September 16, 2016

What I am doing somethibg that requires a 5/64 roll pin punch.

Use a 1/16" pin punch so the punch doesn't swage out the hole.

Spurshot · October 3, 2016

I have 350 rounds thru the Wilson now. It seems to handle every type of load without problem. No malfunctions at all.

It's reall a sweet gun to shoot. Nice trigger.

Delta Hotel · December 15, 2016

Super nice blaster Spurshot!

That pistola will just run and run.

Have a couple of CQB's myself.

Enjoy and keep up the T&E reports !

Spurshot · April 20, 2017

I've put another 300 rounds downrange with the Wilson. It did have a failure to fire a few times. I traced it to the trigger overtravel screw being set too shallow. Possibly a little powder debris between the overtravel screw and the magazine catch. A quarter turn on the overtravel screw and not one hiccup. Never had a fail to feed or extract yet.