Grummz’s Springfield 1911 GI-Spec
It was Grummz who first got me interested in pistols, particularly the venerable 1911. He’s been buying all kinds of tools and reference materials to pistolsmith the 1911. This is his guinea pig, a Springfield Armory GI-Spec.
I was lazy and bought a nicely-used Kimber TLE II a while ago, so I was a little spoiled by the features that were already included: lowered ejection port, meprolight sights, front checkering, skeletonized trigger and hammer, ambi-safety, full-length guide rod, frontstrap checkering and the extended beavertail. Grummz’s GI1911 had none of that, so it’s ripe for modifyin’.
His GI-Spec hasn’t had its ejection port lowered yet, and on the range it tended to jam every dozen rounds related to failure-to-extract. He did replace the grips with some nice wood ones he had (a good bit of filing was required to get them to sit tight on the frame). The sights are horrible, but he’s got a mill now and will put his own sights in sometime. I don’t think there’s any checkering yet on the gun, but I’ve seen Grummz’s practice checkering so I’m sure he’s got that planned. He already replaced the ambi-safety, but it’s really really stiff…I needed both thumbs to put the damn thing on safe, which sort of defeats the purpose.
I’m looking forward to seeing how this gun progresses through its lifespan. Even now, it is looking pretty cool. I should pick up another 1911 cheap and start messing around with it.