Colt "Black Army" by MARS

[TehLlama]

Great work...

I'm now dead set on sending Steve my 1911 to dress up.

[f.2]

Beautiful build.

[The Dumb Gun Collector]

It's Toooo sexy.

[No.6]

Been emailing Steve about building a pistol over the past few months. Gotta agree, he's always prompt, full of answers and always willing to discuss the 1911 and wonderful ways to make it custom. He's really helped me to narrow it down to what I think may be the ultimate (for me at least) iteration of the 1911.

[David Thomas]

Were you able to get to the range yet?

Even though I do not like indoor ranges or public ranges for that matter, I had to break down yesterday and suffer through it. I much prefer to shoot at my private outdoor range at static and reactive steel. However, my schedule has not allowed me to get to my private range, which is 45 minutes away. Nevertheless, I had to put some rounds through my new 1911, so off I went to the dark, dusty, public, indoor range to punch holes in paper. Despite the setting, there was nothing depressing about shooting this 1911. I must say, this pistol flat out shoots and does it smoothly. It is hard to describe, but the normal ka-chug that one feels when the slide release is tripped and the slide slams home shoving a cartridge up the pipe is somehow missing (well maybe not missing but it is reduced) from this 1911. I can barely tell that a cartridge has been stripped from the magazine, yet with every trigger press the resulting loud noise confirms same.

I didn't measure any of my groups, but I am more than satisfied that this 1911 is more than accurate enough. I did not fire more than 200 rounds, but during this shooting session, I did not experience a stoppage or malfunction of any kind.

I have owned 2 Colt WWI repros, and I have handled many others. These guns come from colt very sharp. The gun I received from MARS is not, and the dehorning job Steve did may be my favorite aspect of this pistol. There is not a single edge or corner anywhere that has not been flawlessly smoothed, and I do mean flawlessly. However, the dehorning was not overdone.


Hopefully one day soon I can take it out and make some steel plates sing.

[arbninftry]

That is beautiful work!!

[Bolt_Overide]

very sexy, the man builds some nice blasters.

[David Thomas]

I thought I would update this thread and consolidate some of the pictures, which have been previously posted in the 1911 picture thread, here. Since my last post quite a bit of lead has been launched down range by this 1911 and it has been my daily carry for a little over a year and a half.

as of May 2009:



as of November 2009:

Night shoot in January 2010


March of 2010


[/URL]


April of 2010:





August 2010:
target from a 1st time shooter who shot my MARS 1911. Started on 22lr and switched to the 1911 after about 30 rounds of 22lr and some dry fire practice.

7 rounds of PMC 230gr fmj (sorry for the bad cell phone pic):





This gun continues to be 100% reliable even when it is absolutely filthy like it was in the April 2010 pics above.
It is still my daily carry gun.

more to follow later...

[decodeddiesel]

Damn it dude, I told myself no more 1911s, but that is truely a masterpiece. Growing up 10 minutes from the factory in Connecticut I have always has a soft spot for Colts.

Can I ask, have you done a 2000 round challenge with her yet? I would love to hear the results. I guess I have it in the back of my head that no 1911 will make it through 2000 rounds with no cleaning and no lube without a hitch. Perhaps yours will/has?

The bottom line, Colt + MARS = amazing.

[David Thomas]

Damn it dude, I told myself no more 1911s, but that is truely a masterpiece. Growing up 10 minutes from the factory in Connecticut I have always has a soft spot for Colts.

Can I ask, have you done a 2000 round challenge with her yet? I would love to hear the results. I guess I have it in the back of my head that no 1911 will make it through 2000 rounds with no cleaning and no lube without a hitch. Perhaps yours will/has?

The bottom line, Colt + MARS = amazing.

thanks. I agree that Mars and Colt do indeed make a great combination.
My problem with the 2000 round challenge is that I do not keep up with round counts very well. I have no doubt it would make it even with dirty ammo like my reload or federal American eagle.