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Back in July 2020 a Texas gentleman contacted me about making a set of Colts for him that would feature similar style and details. One was to be a Colt Commander .45 the other a Colt 1908 .380. We discussed the project and he gave me a lot of latitude. One thing was that he was left handed and wanted the 1911 to be left hand friendly. In the past I had made a few left handed friendly 1911's. This time I wanted to mirror a lot of the features on the 1908. Which is a very elegant pocket pistol. One of Colt's best designs. For the 1911 I fashioned a barrel bushing that looked similar to the front end of the 1908. Then I fabricated an EGW ambi safety left side paddle to look like the distinctive 1908 thumb safety . Both slides were ball cut. I went with a short beavertail and a Harrison Design hammer for less print for conceal carry. Checkering is 30 lpi. All the internals are barstock with a Kart barrel. The 1908 he sent had a lot of issues which required I source a new donor. For this one I coaxed good friend Ted Yost into checkering it by hand at 50 lpi on the front and the grip safety. For both I wanted a retro looking set of sights. I went with Yost gold lines up front and Turnbull retro rear on the 1911, factory Colt on the 1908. The rears I "U" notch to make them easier on the eye. The 1908's had a great finish which I wanted to duplicate on the 1911. So full polish blue with nitre blue accents on both brought the metal work together. For the grips I called on Sean McSheehy of Sean's Ugly Grips- that are anything but ugly. Sean was the only one I knew who could make the 1908 and 1911 with the classic look I needed. My son Nick did all the nitre bluing which adds a little bit of attraction for the eye.
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