1911 Service Pistol

[AxeHandle]

Back before the DCM became the CMP and our military pistol became a 9mm Beretta the 45 ACP 1911 configured like this with a 4 pound trigger was the required gun for Service Pistol and Excellence In Competition (EIC) matches. GI hardball ammo, sometimes match, was issued on the firing line. Pretty much leveled the playing field to shooter against shooter. This one was built on caspian frame and slide with a Kart barrel and Bomar sights. Life was good... Heard lots of old heads remark that the distinguished badge won with the 9mm should be smaller than the badege won with the 45. Mine would be the larger one...

[2 Dogs]

I had a FBI SWAT member show up at my indoor range one day with a brand spanking new custom 45 auto one day. Seems like he had a box of Remington ball ammo. We sat down and shot that thing and it was like 10 inches at 25 yards for both of us. I knew something was wrong and went back into my Armory and brought back 50 rounds of Winchester White Box 45 ball. Funny thing, it shot the White Box into little tiny groups.....

[nicholst55]

I built and shot many a pistol very similar to that one, back in the day. I also had all the free ammo that I could shoot at the time...

[AxeHandle]

Had this one built when I retired in '95 and had to turn in all my government guns. Unlimited free ammo went away with the guns.
I've seen some questionable commercial 45 ACP in recent times. Hold the bullet in the light so you can see the surface well and the bullets are obviously plated. The pray and spray shooters like those things because they don't cost like a quality jacketed bullet and don't smoke like a cast bullet. They don't care that they won't shoot..

[AxeHandle]

Here is what you got with this type gun... Service specific, the AF Pistol and Rifle Distinguished badges are the same size, the Army makes the pistol badge smaller than the rifle badge. Civilians got similiar badges through the DCM and now the CMP. Points (6, 8, or 10) are awarded to the top 10% on the nondistinguished shooters competing in the match. Military shooters only win points at specific level matches. Three matches allowed per year. This whole thing in recent years has drastically changed with the CMP. My badges are AF. The bronze badges are awarded for your first points. The silver comes when you have 20 points. The serialized gold badge comes after 30 points. Mine is serial number 231. Got it in 1984. Some good shooters spend a lifetime and never get 30 points. The same gun is shot in Service Pistol. The Service Pistol team match is a big competition between military teams. My coach recognized this and required all his team shooters to shoot the Service Pistol in the centerfire and 45 Match where most shooters were shooting lightly loaded wadcutter guns until we shot expert (90%) scores. He developed a lot of shooters who won their distinguished badges pretty quick.

[awp101]

Jan 23, 2018 14:22:53 GMT -5 AxeHandle said:

GI hardball ammo, sometimes match, was issued

So the hardball and match were both full power and not lightweight loads?

[ericp]

Very cool, not something one gets to see every day!

Eric

[magnumwheelman]

Trigger was solid with no holes on the service auto???

[gunzo]

I had an old Remington Rand that had been built buy an Air Force armorer. Tall partridge front sight & I think a Micro for the rear. NM barrel & bushing. The thing was a good shooter.
To get the gun, the seller required me to buy his ammo & brass. One opened spam can with empty brass all neatly packed back in the brown cardboard boxes. One unopened spam can with the key still on top, thinking 480 rounds. That was about 30 years ago, still can't bring myself to pop the seal.

[AxeHandle]

The DCM and now the CMP define "Service Pistol" for civilians. The services have their own definitions of "Service Pistol." I've been out of the system since '95 and don't know what the services have done with service pistol now that the CMP has introduced so many changes. The holes or no holes in the trigger was not in the definition. The 45 ACP pistol ammo we saw was brown box (ball) and white box (match). They were both 230 grain FMJ. The white generally ran a little faster and recoiled harder than brown box. Also the brown box was Mil Spec so it had crimped primers. The white box did not.