Well Jack, here’s the long and short of it, as I can remember:
The fellow that did the work for me, many moons ago, was a friend but had moved a couple states away. When he found out I purchased an old 45 he offered to set it up for combat type shooting for me, all I had to do was buy the parts and send them to him and he would install them and set it up. (He had opened up a gun-shop/gunsmithing business)
After he had all the parts I told him he had plenty of extra time to do it but he said it would be ready by such a date so that’s how it was left. After a month or so he stated that he’d have it back to me in less than a week. It didn’t arrive so I let it go another week, or more.. This kept happening time and again with the “NEXT WEEK”. Finally I just said please send it back with what I owe you for labor and if it isn’t right I’ll just give it to a gunsmith down here if I couldn‘t get it working myself, no hard feelings just send it back, please.
That’s when he admitted to me that he couldn’t get the gun back together again after installing the parts I‘d sent to him! (lessen learned: a reputable gunsmith is a good thing) I was trying to help him out a little by letting him work on my gun seeing that he wasn’t getting much work. In turn he was going to cut the labor cost to me. Live and learn, he never really became a profitable gunsmith and had to abandon his business eventually.
When I finally received the gun it was in pieces of course. I tried to assemble it myself a few times and had no luck at all, but noticed he didn’t have a lick of oil on anything. I oiled it up and gave it another try. It went together but it took much too much effort and force to do it. I removed the oil I put on it and then worked the hell out of the slide and frame for weeks, hoping to wear it in a tad before giving it a range test. Using dummy rounds and working the action it fed fine and ejected okay too, but how will it do at the range?
Man, it looks like I’m turning a one question thread into a book here! What the heck, NES is the forum for this sort of thing, right?
I was more than a tad apprehensive, let me tell you, when I raised that anchor 1911 up to fire the first round. It worked fine, as far as I could tell. I must have shot a couple hundred rounds through it that day and again the same or more rounds a couple days later. I’ve had no problems with it except when I try to take it apart to clean, it’s still real tight. Getting it back together is a battle, I believe the barrel bushing is too tight because it’s a war trying to get it locked in. I don’t know how gunsmiths do it but I’m thinking of getting some emery cloth, wrap it around a wood dowel with some kerosene and lightly remove a bit of the bushing at a time till it isn’t quite so tight. Is this a decent way of doing it?
Now that I think of it . . . I’m wondering if he put one of those “springy” barrel bushing in there. If I remember correctly he mentioned that the Colt Gold Cup used that type bushing and it works as well as one of the “solid” ones that’s fitted for the gun by a gunsmith. It’s been a long, long while since I’ve had it apart. Just now ( 5:45AM) I snuck up and grabbed the 45 in question without waking the loved one. I also grabbed the box of Silica Gel out of the gun cabinet, two of the three circles have turned pink. Time to reactivate that sucker in the oven for a few hours.
As you can see in the photo above, the bushing is indeed the “springy” (tension?) type. I’m pleased to say that it disassembled easier than it ever has, perhaps it’s breaking in, finally.
I must have ordered and sent him up the wrong ejector part because it seems a bit long and protrudes behind the slide. It also has a shiny tip on it where it must have been rubbing something. It doesn’t seem to be hitting anything now though. I’ve got to get the old anchor to the range sometime soon to see just how accurate it is. I don’t remember how accurate it was when I tried it out after having the work done on it . . . just happy that it functioned properly I guess.