Any past attendees and have any feedback on the 1911 Armorer's Course? I'm going in July down at Gunsite and this will be my first 1911 armorer's course. Did you think the course was worthwhile?

Well, no one responded, so for posterity, just in case anyone IS interested: The course was excellent. I had already had some relatively minimal training on-the-job when I was a small arms repairman in the military, but the 1911 was almost completely out of our inventory, so I never got to play with them much in any official capacity. Anyway, I went to the two-day course at Gunsite in AZ. Primary instructor was Dean Caputo and the assistant instructor was Mike Winter. Both of them were extremely helpful and knowledgeable.

Day #1 was a brief history of the 1911, and genius John M. Browning. Following that was issue of SS government model .45s (Series 80) and disassembly to field strip, followed by detail strip and inspection of parts and function checks of operation and safety functions. Throughout the class there were applicable and informative stories of issues encountered with the platform from the perspective of LE armorers at VERY large departments that still field 1911s as an officer carry option.

Day #2 was almost all disassembly to detailed, complete strip and practice with tuning extractors, fitting thumb safeties and grip safeties, etc. At the end of day, we were evaluated on disassembly to a complete strip, reassembly, function checks of all of the 1911s safety features, and a written test. I learned a lot and have zero regrets. The facilities at Gunsite were fantastic and I definitely recommend the course to anyone that wants a more in-depth understanding of the 1911, how it was designed and intended to operate, troubleshooting, fitting of parts, etc.

Would love to take that someday.
They provide a 1911 and tools?
What's the cost?

I am currently attending the gunsite 150 with a colt rep. Greattime, I highly encourage anyone to take a gunsite class!

$575 for the course. All tools and guns provided.

Thank you for the report OP!

Thank you, OP.  $575 is a great price for the class.

Did you have the option to buy the 1911 and tools?

No sir, no option, but you'll get a lot of good information on what tools to buy and from where. I wish I could have kept (or bought!) the Gov't Model I worked on in class! I felt like I got to know it pretty well in class!