1943 Ithaca 1911 loading question

[Burnt Fingers]

so if I decide to get another slide so I can shoot it with impunity would I look for on that is specified "mil-spec"? Based on y'alls responses and the level I intend to use this gun I don't even know if this is needed but I like to be prepared.

Good luck finding that slide. I've got a Colt S70 frame that needs a slide. None of my other 12 1911 slides will fit one that frame. Even my other Colt slides.

https://www.brownells.com/handgun-pa...%7CMake_3=1911

[Texas by God]

Be very,very careful or you will be addicted to these pistols. I remember the very first magazine I put through a Rem-Ran 1911A1 on the banks of the Rio Grande River in 1961. I caught the bug that day and still have it in my system 58 years later.

So true. A RemUMC 1911(not A1) was the first one for me. My uncles buddy let me shoot two bullets at a coke bottle. I hit it! I've had a 45 auto or two ever since.

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[gnostic]

It's all about the recoil spring. I'd install a new Wolf 18lb spring and start with a 230 grain cast and 3.5 grains of Bullseye. It may not function with that starting load, just raise in 1/10 grain increments until it's working reliably...

[Green Frog]

I don't know whether it was just an urban legend, but back in the '70s when I first got interested in the infamous "slab side" we were told to look for Ithaca guns to start with on Hardball builds. supposedly they were built from somewhat tougher, stronger steel and therefore held up better to heavy usage with hardball ammo. I don't know what believe, but that was the story back then when lots of 1911-A1s were available on the market. Did anybody else hear the same tale?

Froggie

[Der Gebirgsjager]

I don't know either, but that's about when I acquired this one as shown. It shoots very well. A customer traded it in on something else....the details of the transaction are no longer in my memory bank.
Attachment 247337
Click to enlarge.

[9.3X62AL]

I love the Old Slabsides, in just about all of its less-customized ideations. I am among the less-enlightened curmudgeons that believe John Moses Browning knew what the H--l he was doing, and I have little patience for gadget-makers that (figuratively speaking) take spray paint and paintballs to the Sistine Chapel.

The current safe occupant that gets some range and field time is a Series 80 Gold Cup NM with that Elliason rear sight that likes to break and fall off. For some odd reason, I have developed a hankering for a 1911-series in 9mm of late, though I haven't plunked the cash down for one (yet). A Commander-length 45 ACP would be nice, also--though with a SIG P-220 in the safe such a buy would be more vanity than necessity.

The Gold Cup runs like water down a drainpipe, but that target sight's attitude annoys me some. I have an OEM replacement unit in the garage, and an idea about how to make its attachment less likely to be temporary while reserving the option to remove it easily. Adjustable sights on autopistols--especially service autopistols--are an ingenious solution to a non-existent problem. Fixed sights work fine and don't fall off or come out of adjustment once set.

It is hard to fault the load using Lyman #452374 seated at 1.272" OAL atop 5.0 grains of Bullseye. My most-used load these days has the Lee 230 grain TC seated over 5.5 grains of WW-231 and the bullet seated with .020" of front drive band exposed past the case mouth.

[Green Frog]

I don't know either, but that's about when I acquired this one as shown. It shoots very well. A customer traded it in on something else....the details of the transaction are no longer in my memory bank.

Very nice indeed. Other than the grips and the Commander hammer it looks like a hardball gun of the era. I don't recognize the grips... are they Herrett's? Also, what brand of adjustable rear sight is it? About that time Triangle, Micro and a couple of others were popular. Overall it pretty much shouts "1975!" Thanks for sharing.

Froggie

[T-Bird]

Shot it again today niice!

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Very nice indeed. Other than the grips and the Commander hammer it looks like a hardball gun of the era. I don't recognize the grips... are they Herrett's? Also, what brand of adjustable rear sight is it? About that time Triangle, Micro and a couple of others were popular. Overall it pretty much shouts "1975!" Thanks for sharing.

Froggie

Don't know for sure about those grips, Froggie -- they were on the pistol when I acquired it -- but I think Herrett is a good guess.
Rear sight is a Micro.

[Green Frog]

Thanks, DG. If, back in about 1974 I had a financially sound job instead of being a second year public school teacher, I would have had a hardball gun that would have looked just like that, only with standard wood grips.

Froggie

[T-Bird]

Niice looking peestol!