Auto Ordnance 1911A1

[dwd]

I happened across a deal on a parkerized Auto Ordnance 1911A1 for $375 shipped. Sounded like a good deal to me, what do you think?

[wyo-man]

I would guess that any .45 in that price range would be a good deal (especially with shipping included).

wyo-man

[dwd]

I guess I bought this .45 for $350, I sent him the money anyway. We'll see what I've got when it gets here.

[juniustaylor]

They're not terrible. My father has one and I have done a bit of work to it. It was a series 70 design and didn't work right. When put on half cock, it was still possible to pull the trigger even though it had a detent on the hammer that the sear was supposed to rest in. I experimented with it one day and put it on half cock and pulled the trigger with a live round in the chamber. Didn't go off, put it on half cock to try it again, this time the round went off. Didn't much seem safe to me. I replaced the sear and it didn't help. Tried modifying the hammer, didn't work. So, finally I just acquired a series 80 hammer and put it on there. Those just have a "shelf" at the half cock position but it's in such a way that the amount that it falls is so minute that there's not enough inertia to drive the firing pin. Anyway, other than that small discrepancy, the gun is a good gun and shoots very well.

[dfunk]

The series 70 shouldn't fall at all when on half cock. Is there an overtravel screw in the trigger?

[juniustaylor]

Yeah, I knew it wasn't supposed to fall. So, it was just a piece of crap (hammer that is). No overtravel screw just a barebones, stock 1911 copy. I wonder if someone monkey'd with the original hammer. I ended up just taking the 70 hammer out and putting in an 80. Works good now and shouldn't have any safety issues.

[dwd]

Well, I got it this morning and I would say it is excellent! I thought I would post a pic for y'all.
I do have a question, or two. On dis-assembly I accidentally dropped the spring and plug. I didn't get to see which end of the spring went where. One end has a "closed loop," the other end has an open loop(like maybe it's been cut?) Which end goes on first?

[dfunk]

Nice gun! The closed end goes on first. The open end fits into the plug.

[dwd]

Thanks, I had it on backwards. After I posted the last post I found the manual online and the picture looked like the the closed end was towards the muzzle(open end on first) Who knows, the picture might be wrong.