Berryhill beavertail:







 

sorry, was asking about the work, not the beavertail itself

So I just recently rescued an old NM serialed Springfield Mil-Spec which I plan to turn into a MEU style gun similar to this one:

However, I don't plan to pay a premium for discontinued parts so here's what's rolling in my head
Harrison Retro Rear sight in lieu of PWS
Caspian Ambi Safety in lieu of King's
S&A grip safety in lieu of Clark's

The one thing that eludes me is the front sight...
I don't care if it's a stake on or dovetailed front sight, so long as its serrated and looks reasonably similar to the kind on the variant 1/2/3 guns...
Any suggestions for a decent stand in?

Hey guys...I posted a thread in GD about my $150 M1911A1 garage sale find...and granted, it's an Auto-Ordinance...pretty 'Tier 10'...the bugger shoots GREAT, and has a set of the old millet high rise sights on it.

You can still find millett front sight from Numrich:
http://www.gunpartscorp.com/catalog/Detail.aspx?pid=813990&catid=12294

who here has punched SNs? I am thinking of doing it on an upcoming project, interested in what people used.

Just beavertailed this NM, if I liked ambi safeties and pachmayr's, I'd be close to a version 1.  

Where is the SN stamped on the grip safety?  I havent been able to find the answer.  Thanks.

http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/6259/100822m7708k003.jpg

This photograph dated 22 AUG 2010 from Afghanistan appears to show a Professional, based on the S&A magwell coupled with the "Wilson-style" ambi safety, and distinctive Springfield "delta" hammer and "S&A-style" beavertail.  



What holster is this pictured?

Looks like maybe a blade tech.

On page 4 there is a series of pics of a Dave Berryhill build and it shows the SN stamped on the right side of the grip safety.

Can anyone give me direction on finding a Clarks type grip safety?  My clone is almost complete, but I have a drop-in Pachmayr grip safety taking space waiting for a correct piece.

Fitted my bar-sto barrel and installed grooved beavertail grip safety and hammer.

http://www.readycitizen.com/gallery/meusoc45/grip_safety_mainspring_housing.jpg

http://www.readycitizen.com/gallery/meusoc45/hammer.jpg

It is a G-Code holster I believe.

Dave Williams

for the hardcore meusoc collecter ,not mine,but someone has a surefire 310r listed on ebay and the same seller has 6004 holster with 5 days left

I plan to do it myself. Purchased a set of Young Bros steel stamp 1/16 figure set from eBay. Unfortunately I won't have time until end of the year to get the project going.

http://youngbrosstampworks.thomasnet.com/item/hand-cut-hand-stamps/figure-sets-hand-cut-hand-stamps/01092?

This is my next project, glad to see this thread is still alive!

I actually got a great idea from something I saw in an airsoft pic, don't know if I can or should make it happen but I'll post the pic when I get back on my computer

I know it's not a clone, and I knwo it's airsoft, but I'm seriously considering trying to get this on a real (good) gun

Are you talking about putting custom engraving on slide to look like what's on that airsoft? Caspian provide custom engraving that can duplicate the look you like.
http://www.caspianarmsltd.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=19&Itemid=21

Not trying real hard here.  Main thing is it shoots good.  Picked this up on the EE, late 80's Standard (pre-milspec).  I like the no forward serrations, good sights.  Swapped out msh, put in a longer trigger.  Trigger is excellent. Put in an Ed Brown beavertail (not the best fit with the tangs tho) and a Wilson hammer.

Don't want an ambi safety, but figured for a hard use gun, the Pachmayrs work as good as anything.  


The rear tangs weren't really conducive to using an Ed Brown beavertail, the top needs built up some.  

Best 1911 thread I have ever seen anywhere!

I have nothing to add other than I am saving a lot of this info. I don't want a true replica of one, but it all represents what I want in a 1911. I like the direction they have taken the 1911!

for additional info and other detailed pictures you can also check out MEU(SOC).45 1911 Forum , MEU(SOC).45 pistol , and MEU(SOC).45 Project

Been thinking about getting one of these and re-profiling it to a Millett sight profile so I can install it in a Novak dovetail- I'm itching to do another Variant 3 clone since it looks like my "correct parts" clone isn't going to be ready for a while, I'm thinking of doing a "quick" build with an NM Milspec if I can find one used and cheap.



Would still have to find or make a rear sight- I figure I can modify an Oly grip safety to look close enough to the Clark's, and I still have one King's 201A I've been saving for a rainy day.  

~Augee

not mine ,but if anyone still needs a kings 201a ambi safety to complete their build ,there is one for sale over at 1911forum.com

Here is my half assed attempt. Wilson Drop in Grip Safety, Ambi Safety and flat MSH. I don't remember who made the Hammer and Mag Catch.





And here she is with my early '44 Remington Rand.

So who bought the Clark's grip safety off the EE, and more importantly, when're we gonna see it?

~Augee

Any more pics of them with Gunner grips?

I ordered a pair of dark earth Gunners for my parked Loaded and some grip tape for the fronstrap.
Need MSH with lanyard loop and will probably get a set of Pachmyers also.

This one is pretty close.

Springfield Custom Carry, Ed Brown wide safety but single side and the mainspring housing is a Kimber- 20LPI w/ lanyard loop.

I'm gonna try a Harrison medium trigger because the C&S that's on it just feels a little too long and a short is way too short.  If I like it, so long MEUSOC!

I also have an identical gun but in 9mm.

http://i851.photobucket.com/albums/ab76/sammuse/Springer%20custom/100_0845.jpg?t=1317593009

http://i851.photobucket.com/albums/ab76/sammuse/Springer%20custom/100_0847.jpg?t=1317592982

http://i851.photobucket.com/albums/ab76/sammuse/Springer%20custom/100_0846.jpg?t=1317592996

Seeing these pics over on the 1911 Forum prompted me to order a Custom Carry last week.  

Damn. MEUSOC-ish or not, that is one fine looking pistol.



 

i dont think id admit to paying that much for it lol..

Glad I could be of some assistance!

Where does the Kimber ICQB fit into all this? Is it purely a Det-1 sidearm?

The Kimber ICQB does'nt have the Ed Brown memory grove beavertail. Yes, the Kimber ICQB was a DET-1 handgun besides the M4.

Nowhere, really.  The Kimber ICQB is not a MEU(SOC).  Too bad that whoever wrote the blurb for the insert of the photo you posted didn't know what he was talking about.  The sidearm pictured in the insert is a MEU(SOC)....not a Kimber.

The Kimber ICQB was an *interim* (that's what the "I" stands for) pistol to outfit the new Det. 1 because PWS could not supply enough MEU(SOC) .45s to outfit the new unit.  

Once PWS caught up and was able to push more MEU(SOC) .45s, the need for them disappeared.  I suspect some may still be in service floating around with the MEU(SOC) .45s - however my understanding is that the Dawson rails became unsatisfactory after continued use and they may have been pulled.  I have yet to see a confirmed photograph of a Kimber in service since the original Det. 1 which has since been disbanded.  More recent MSOB and FR photographs show MEU(SOC) .45s and Springfield built pistols, but no Kimbers so far.  

The ICQBs were delivered without the Dawson rail and with the Kimber OEM grip safety by Kimber - then modified by armorers after delivery with the Ed Brown (spec'ed) or Smith and Alexander beavertail, which the armorers found easier to install than the Ed Brown in the Kimber frames.  

The Gunner Grips, again, though "spec'ed" many early ones had Pachmayr grips installed instead - probably a combination of user preference and waiting for the Coyote Gunner Grips to be produced (the originals were black Gunner Gips painted coyote).  

Not sure who wrote the captions - but that article was written by Pat Rogers.  I'm fairly certain he knew what he was talking about at the time the article was published.  As I've said - some ICQBs had Pachmayr grips installed versus the Gunner Grips, and the Safariland 6004 holster pictured is for the Surefire IPML which the ICQB was spec'ed and equipped with.  

~Augee

The pistol in the insert does not have the Kimber grip safety.  As far as Pat Rogers, his credibility has been much debated on the internet and I don't know the guy.

ATB a Kimber grip safety to me, does not look anything like a Clark, and has no speed bump like a Brown or SA.  That coupled with the woodland Marpats and the tri-color 6004 that was a Det-1 issued item leads me to believe it's an ICQB as first procured with the Pachmayr grips.  The pic is too small to tell for sure, but those are the clues I picked up on.

Beavertail is too pronounced, to my Mk. I eyeball anyway.

I've also read that DET-1 armorers added the Ed Brown memory grove beavertail after they recieved the IQCB Kimbers.

Either way, the photo doesn't add up IMO.

I don't know a lot about these guns but I do know Pat and he is an honorable man and an outstanding gentleman....!

I didn't mean to dump on Pat Rogers, but word around the campfire goes both ways with respect to his credentials.

Please don't take this the wrong way, but your campfire is surrounded by idiots.



We had another MEUSOC 1911 thread some years ago, and Pat Rogers himself posted in it, until some drooling idiot of an Arfcommer started to give him shit. Its why we can't have nice things around here.

From where I stand, everything about that photograph says "Det. 1" to me, from the M4A1 to the cammies to the obscure Safariland holster with the obscure Surefire light, and the obscure camouflage pattern - all "known" elements of MARSOC Det. 1 kit.  

Given how small and grainy that picture is I'd say it looks pretty close to a Kimber OEM grip safety to me.  It's awfully hard to tell, too, with the shadow and angle but it looks pretty consistent with the Kimber GS I've got.  I will agree both that it's almost certainly not a Clark, or an Ed Brown, or anything that has a "hump."  

Again, the difference in grips, in my eyes, is a non-issue, early ICQBs used Pachmayrs, and most of these users came from backgrounds where they had been using MEU(SOC) .45s anyways and it's in no way unreasonable that they as individuals may have preferred them to the Gunner Grips.  

As I said earlier - Kimber ICQBs were delivered with Kimber OEM GS and no Dawson rail - unit armorer's installed the GS with "speed hump" and the Dawson rails.  If you go a couple pages back there are photos of a member's "Det. 1" pistol, which shows its configuration as "clean" and what more, it has Kimber Custom rubber grips, not Pachmayrs or Gunner Grips.  Those were delivered direct and installed as "aftermarket."  The "spec" for the ICQB was the Ed Brown Memory Groove grip safety - but armorer's found it easier to install the S&A grip safety - remember these aren't perfectly fitted and cosmetically beautiful display pieces, MARSYSCOM and PWS list the Brownell's catalog a parts provider.  As long as it's a beavertail with a hump, it'll work.  As such the Variant 5 & 6 MEU(SOC) .45s built by Springfield seem to use the SA OEM grip safety.  

The ICQB is really nothing terribly special, either - as delivered, it's a Series 1 Kimber Custom with Novak night sights, a GI recoil spring assembly (flat plug), and a Kimber ambi-safety, and S&A MASH with lanyard loop.  It would be pretty quick and dirty to just buy a Custom II, send it to Novak's to get their night sights installed - buy a Warrior recoil spring plug and guide, and a Kimber ambi-safety and new MSH.  VZ has brought back the original "golfball" style Gunner Grips, and you can either get them in coyote already - or get black and hit them with coyote Duracoat.  Install an Ed Brown or S&A GS and MSH and viola!  The Dawson rail and the Surefire IMPL are discontinued nowadays anyways and nearly impossible to get - even if you're willing to pay obscene amounts of money.  

~Augee

Not idiots, vets......

http://www.pownetwork.org/phonies/phonies408.htm

oh yeah, veterans can't be idiots.

Interesting stuff.  Had never heard any of that, but then again, I've never been the type that "hero-worships" any trainer, regardless of claimed credentials.  I've met and worked with enough "verified" SOF guys from various components to know that they're not all "legends in the flesh," they don't all know what they're talking about, and even SOF has minimum standards - and with that, people that just barely meet them.  On the other hand, how often do you see "real" operators winning various "top" whatever competitions?  They're usually cops or other kinds of professionals who spend lots of time and money training.  Kinda hard to work on your shot split times when you're in Afghanistan half of the year on deep recce patrols where if you're doing you job right, it's going to be the most boring week of your life.  

Nevertheless, several things in that photograph independant of Pat Rogers and his reputation point to it being a Kimber ICQB.  However it is, and regardless of whether or not he told any lies to get there - the photos in the article  seem to be pretty genuine and exclusive information on the ICQB.  

~Augee

Well said, Augee.  I didn't mean to piss in anybody's bowl of corn flakes, but I'm not one who takes every word that comes out of his mouth as gospel....unlike some around here.

As I mentioned earlier in the thread, there is an excellent reference on the formation of the US Marine Corps US Special Operations Command Detachment One available here.  There are some photos, but only a few that show 1911s in use.  Pages 26-27 discuss the ICQB procurement.  

Patrick J. Rogers appears in a picture on page 23 instructing one of the Detachment One members in the use of the Kimber ICQB pistol, and is credited with assisting the author on page 27.  (ETA - he also appears in a photo on page 60, also instructing a Det One member on the ICQB).  The photo on the cover is actually credited to Patrick J. Rogers, as are several that appear elsewhere in the book.  This book is published by the History Division of the USMC and authored by a Marine Corps Historian.

Photo from DoD imagery