1911 NM 38 special

[cj3a]

Hello, A few years back I bought up a collection on guns from a bullseye shooter. In the sale there was a pair of 1911 NM in 45 and 38 special. I was talking about the 38 with someone recently and they got hot and bother about it. The serial number is under 3000. Did a blind pig finally find a nut? I planned on burning up the 4 milk crates of wad-cutters that came with it. Is it rare? Shoot it or not? It came with a pair of 52's so the ammo won't go stale.

[jonilynn]

Colt made the 38MR from 1960 to at least 1971. They shoot pretty good and are operating on blow back only, no locking lugs.
If you're shooting factory power level wadcutter ammo in one use a 16 pound recoil spring.
If it tosses the empty cases very far you can adjust with a stronger spring or handload to a slightly lower level.
The MkIII version is most easily identified by the rings it will have in the chamber which are meant to delay the action of the gun to increase accuracy.
When the gun is set up properly for the ammo they shoot quite well.
With a serial number of under 3000 it was probably made in 1961 and is not a MkIII although a lot of these guns had MkIII barrels installed at some point.

[AxeHandle]

Sounds like jonilynn provided the numbers for you... I remember someone talking about these things... From what I remember they looked like the pre Gold Cup NM 1911s... Don't ever remember seeing one on the firing line... The usual 38 Special 1911s were built on the 38 Super and had the standard 1911 lock up.. We had 38 Specials that were built for the Air Force by Jim Clark most likely in the 60s. .... The Army MTU played with something they called a 38 AMU that was virtually a rimless 38 Special

[cj3a]

Thank you Jonilynn and axehandle for the information, Here is the pictures of the twins. The 38 is on the bottom.

[jonilynn]

Looks pretty nice.
When you take it apart there's a small spring on the rear side of the barrel, it might be difficult to replace if it wanders off on its own.