45acp with Essex Frame

[6bg6ga]

Anyone have any knowledge of a 45acp that has a Colt slide with adjustable rear sight and a Essex Frame? From what I am able to gather so far the number on the Colt Slide is a common number for the slide and the number on the frame is a 5 place 400** serial number?

[BCgunworks]

It's a parts gun...someone put together

[6bg6ga]

141561

[6bg6ga]

It's a parts gun...someone put together


If you google the item you will find reference to a Colt Target with an Essex frame. I found one with a ramp on the slide. Supposed to be an old Colt.

[M-Tecs]

Essex http://essexarms.com/ is a commercial manufacturer of 1911 frames and slides. Essex was one of the first manufactures of cast steel 1911 frames back in the mid-1970's. Very spotty quality control issues. Some are OK and some are junk. I stopped working on Essex parts in the mid 90’s so I can’t comment on the current ones.

The Colt NM slide was sold to the military teams for their NM pistols builds. We used to get them through the supply systems. I don’t know if they also sold them to the civilian market.

Just a parts gun with the slide having the most value.

[bob208]

as others have said put together out of parts. back in to day when the army went to the Beretta form
the colt there were tons of parts at the gun shows and they were cheap. so buy a Essex frame do to some gun shows do some fitting and you had a 1911 for half the price of a colt. this was before every body was making 1911 like today.


now if it shoots good and they don't want a collectors price. it could be a good buy. just remember it is not a colt so don't pay colt price.

[nicholst55]

Later Essex frames are pretty decent; the earlier ones were rather spotty. I built up a bunch of them back in the 80s and 90s - I still have one of them now. They can be very decent guns, depending on who built them and the quality of the parts used. They can also be dangerous junk, not worth the sum total of the parts. I would be very cautious about buying one without knowing the detailed history of the gun and who built it.

[6bg6ga]

I guess I can't believe what i pulled up on the internet. The gun had belonged to an shirt tail family member so its seen a lot of use an has funtioned normally. The problem was it was stored improperly and was rusted so it wouldn't move. After a considerable amount of effort the gun is workable now. The barrel might have a tiny bit of surface rust that may leave a little slight pitting. I'm into it for $100 so I don't think I am hurt too bad.

[M-Tecs]

I guess I can't believe what i pulled up on the internet.

What are you finding that you can't believe?

[pjames32]

I have one built from parts in the early 70's with a NM slide. Shot Bulleye pistol with it for years. It's been a good reliable gun.
PJ

[DougGuy]

I have built a few with Essex frames, you need to be there with your slide in hand in person to really know what you are getting. Had some issues with one where the frame was too thick for the thumb safety to operate properly, they are hit or miss for sure.

[Bob Busetti]

I had any early Essex 1911. About the 6 or7 magazine of ammo the frame broke at the bottom of the grip leaving the grip safety and all on the ground. Needless to say Essex would not fix it because it set unfired in a warehouse for 2 years voiding the one year warranty. Nuff said.

[Dale53]

Back in the 70's, I was married (still am) with a young family and a bit short on cash. I DID have access to a REALLY good pistolsmith (Harold Johnson, a retired Marine Gunnery Sergeant who built McMillan's guns when McMillan "owned" Camp Perry. I used a new Essex frame. Harold gauged it, pronounced it good and I, over the next few years put in excess of 100,000 thousand rounds of full power cast bullet loads through it (IPSC when the power factor was 180,000). I had the frame Electroless Nickled and it shows hardly any wear at all. It is now my Bullseye gun with a Red Dot.

Essex had good material in their frames but machining could be amateurish. Mine happened to be a REALLY good one:
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj80/Dale53/4DalesPistolsRevolversSelects-3328.jpg (http://s269.photobucket.com/user/Dale53/media/4DalesPistolsRevolversSelects-3328.jpg.html)

It will still do, at demand from a rest, near 2" at fifty yards.

FWIW
Dale53

[Tackleberry41]

Pretty common thing, I traded for a 1911 in 1989. Colt slide, Essex frame. Pretty much everything on the gun has been replaced except those 2 parts since then. Perfectly functional and accurate gun. Never put any research into Essex to know they were good at times or not.

[BD]

To stir the pot I would point out that the essex frames can't be any worse than the original Colt frames, given the number of Colt uppers around on Essex, or Caspian frames. (The original colts frames having failed). I have a commander on a Caspian frame which I built after spending years looking for a used Colt frame to put under it. Found hundreds of uppers for sale, but not a single surviving colt frame.

[Mtnfolk75]

I bought a GI Spec Colt/Essex in San Marcos, CA in the late 70's. It was a reliable and decently accurate shooter. In about 1986 I had it Hard Chromed and fitted with Fixed Millet sights, I carried it as a duty gun until late 1989. I traded it for a Glock 19 when I started having trouble with hands & right wrist, later ended up retiring after a couple of hand surgeries ..... :x It was a good gun and if I was again in the market for a 1911 I would consider an Essex after a thorough inspection.

[TCLouis]

I have one of those and the Colt slide is so nice I do not want to shoot it much.

A friend (into USA militaria) that was wanting the slide and so All I wanted was a decent shooter replacement and like most things, he took it under advisement.

[M-Tecs]

To stir the pot I would point out that the essex frames can't be any worse than the original Colt frames, given the number of Colt uppers around on Essex, or Caspian frames. (The original colts frames having failed). I have a commander on a Caspian frame which I built after spending years looking for a used Colt frame to put under it. Found hundreds of uppers for sale, but not a single surviving colt frame.

The older Essex had both tolerance and casting issues that the Colt frames never had. I can't comment on the current Essex frames since I won't work on them anymore after I got burned on a couple. I have built some very nice hardball and wad guns on Essex frames. Just to many quality control issues with Essex's for me.

I don't believe Colt ever sold frames but they sold a boat load of slides. This is the reason you see Colt slides on non-Colt builds.

I have seen a couple of GI 1911 frames cracked by the slide release but these stayed in service. I have seen far more slides with cracks. These came out of service.

[6bg6ga]

I would say its running about 50/50 for the Essex frame. Some have commented about tolerance problems with the Essex frame. My experience as follows.... I have owned a number of 1911's. Some have been Government models some National Match 70 Series Gold Cups and several Officers models just to name a few. I will say this...the fit on this particular gun is great. It is far tighter than ANY of the Colt 1911's I have owned including several Cups. This particular gun has had thousands of rounds thru it and still no cracks or fractures. I will also point out that operator error can play a part in some of these failures in my opinion. Any frame can crack when exposed to overloads and abuse.