Brolin Arms?

[KYCaster]

I was cruising the local gun/pawn imporiums kinda looking for a project gun to turn into a backup for USPSA Single Stack division. Saw a used/like new Rock Island for $425 and came real close to leaving with that one, but decided to look a little further...I'm glad I did.

Found a Brolin Arms L45. I remember seeing the name way back in my early IPSC days, but haven't seen any reference to it in many years. A little internet research shows they went out of business sometime in the 1990's. Looks like somebody bought the assets and assembled some guns from remaining parts and sold them off at much reduced prices.

This one looks like it has had moderate use...some visible wear on slide/frame rails and barrel hood. Some holster wear. Slight bit of play in the slide/frame fit, but none at all at the front or rear of the barrel.

It has the GI grip safety (that's gonna change), Commander hammer, under cut trigger guard, flared ejection port, flat main spring housing, aluminum adjustable trigger (7lb 12oz :x), atrocious red ramp white outline sights (black sharpie cured that), and those gawd-awful Hogue finger groove rubber grips.(why would anybody do that to a perfectly good gun?)

So can anybody tell me about the history of Brolin Arms? Does anybody have production numbers or date of manufacture info? How can I tell if this one is one of the post-production models?

On the right side of the frame, right above the SSN is: JPE...the next line says...Pomona, CA and the third line is the SSN...JPE11XXX. What does JPE mean? Is that a custom SSN for John Paul Edwards?

Anybody know the book value? Did I get screwed at $375 out-the-door? [smilie=1:

Talk to me.....
Jerry

[Phillip]

Brolin Arms was like Mitchel arms, they were an importer. They went out of business around 98/99.

There 45's were OK, but a bit rough. With some hand tuning and elbow grease, they can be a nice shooter. There parts are interchangeable with other 45's that copy the colt design..BTW

As for the JPE markings, this I do believe, was the manufacture initials in the Philippine's that made and assembled the gun for Brolin Arms.

Any how, for 375 smackers, you did pretty well.

[H-Marlin]

According to the Blue Book, these pistols were made for Brolin by FEG. FEG is a Hungarian manufacturer in business since 1900. In 95% condition it shows a price of $325, 98% is $365. This is the 2009 edition, by the way, I don't have the 2010.

[KYCaster]

Well, I've had a chance to shoot this one some and look it over real close.....if I had paid better attention in the shop I probably would have passed on it.

It had feeding issues right off the bat. H&G 68's hanging up on the feed ramp. On closer inspection I found that someone had "polished the feed ramp". He must have thought if a little bit is good then a lot is great! He obviously used his trusty Dremel tool with a 1/2 in. dia. sanding drum. (60 grit) I don't recall ever seeing a ramp straight from the factory as rough as this one. (He must have been a navy armorer in a former life...he added a few waves to the ramp) He also rounded off the top edge where it meets the horizontal surface where the bottom of the barrel makes contact. That's what caused the hang ups...bullet slides up the ramp and runs into the edge of the barrel throat.

OK, I'm going into rant mode here...you can skip this part if you want to...:popcorn:
FOR GOODNESS SAKES PEOPLE, they've been making this design for ONE HUNDRED YEARS. They know how to finish a feed ramp. If your 1911 doesn't feed properly, look at your reloads...look at the magazines...look at everything else....but DON'T TOUCH THE FEED RAMP!!! 99 times out of 100 THE FEED RAMP IS NOT THE PROBLEM!!!

And while I'm at it...LET ME TELL YOU WHERE TO PUT THAT DREMEL TOOL!!! Yes, it is a useful tool, but there are VERY FEW situations where it is the best tool for the job. It takes at least ten strokes of a file to equal the damage of one slip of a Dremel tool...and no amount of filing or sanding will undo the damage once it's done.

There...I feel better now. [smilie=s: Sometimes I just have to get this stuff off my chest.

Anywhooooooo..........I worked on the barrel and throat, and it's hand-cycling dummy rounds OK now. Maybe it'll work like it should, but it'll be a long time before I can trust it.

Oh, and that 7 3/4 lb trigger...I think he just kept bending the sear spring to add pressure till it quit doubling. It looks like he did the trigger job with a ball peen hammer and horse shoe rasp. New hammer, sear and disconnecter and I have a pretty nice 3 1/2 lb let off.

And one more thing...it had a Commander length recoil spring, and the heaviest mag release spring I've ever seen. I put a reduced power mag release spring in it and it was tap, rack, bang...tap, rack, bang...

SoOOooooo....my pawn shop find didn't turn out to be the bargain I thought it was. Hammer, sear, disconnecter, extractor, sear spring, recoil spring, S&A mag guide/main spring housing, reduced power main spring, extra power firing pin spring, mag release, reduced power mag release spring, an ancient King's beaver tail grip safety I had in the parts drawer...and about ten hours of labor (or more) and I have a race-ready single stack 1911 that should compare favorably to the current crop of $1000+ guns on the market...

We'll see...........

Jerry