The Great Bob Chow rebuild.

Greg Derr

Gun Smith
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Born in 1911 Bob Chow was the first Asian American gunsmith of any renown. He was American born in California and became proficient in target shooting. In 1948 he was on the US Olympic Team competing in London in the rapid fire event. In the 1950's thru the 80's he was the go to guy for west coast bullseye shooters. This project came in as just an upper. The Colt Commander slide was fit with a S&W K frame rear sight nested nicely in the slide. The front sight is custom made and silver soldered in place. Bob refit the Colt barrel using a lock up tab on the inside of the slide similar to what Swenson did. I don't know who did it first. Maybe Chow. He fit his own bushing to the barrel. For my part I built a lower from a Colt Commander frame. Checked 30 LPI by Pete Single after I fit a Stan Chen Gen 2 mag well. The internals are all bar stock from E2. I made a custom grip safety using our blank. The grips are ebony cut to fit the shortened frame. The original slide was blue so I just reblued it. The lower is hard chrome for a nice two tone finished carry gun. I would have liked to have met Bob I'm sure I could have learned a lot from him.

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Wow. Nice build!

Ya think the photos a just a tad stereotypical though? Lol
 
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Wow. Nice build!

Ya think the photos a just a tad stereotypical though? Lol
You could call it stereotyping, or you could call it a respectful and appreciative nod to Bob Chow's Chinese heritage. I choose the latter.

I do not know Greg personally but from all I have seen and heard about him I would have to go with qqac on this. An eloquent and and well presented photographic display which paid homage to another great gunsmith.
 
Perfect I really like this one. With kids in college I'd probably have to hit the number to buy a gun like that.

So I'll keep playing.:) Your photos are always top notch also.
 
You could call it stereotyping, or you could call it a respectful and appreciative nod to Bob Chow's Chinese heritage. I choose the latter.
One thing I enjoy most about Mr. Derr's posts is that Greg always pick visually stunning and context-appropriate props to photograph his work and this one is no different. It's nice for me to learn that a fellow ethnic Chinese occupied a sliver of American gun culture.
 
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