New guy checking in

[Steve_Morrison]

Just stopping by to hello.
At the suggestion of Mr Dinger, I thought I would introduce myself and post a few photos of the pistol I built for the Single Stack Classic match in April.

Link to the 1911 Society here: http://www.1911society.org

The base pistol is a Springfield NM frame slide kit with KART forged chromeoly barrel, built into MARS Spartan configuration with a few added cosmetic "niceties".

A few important Spartan features are ultra high quality parts and build quality throughout, composite grips, Integrated Lanyard Attachment point in the mainspring housing, and the fact that the pistols are extensively test fired before leaving my shop.

The slide was flattened (as was the slide stop), a border machined on the shoulder, and the bottom of the slide beveled.
The rear of the slide was blended to the frame and hand serrated @40lpi to match the Heinie rear sight.

About 15 years ago I saw a pistol built by Richard Heinie with a satin stainless beavertail on a black frame and really liked the look of it. Inspired by his work, I made the barrel, bushing and safety matte silver, just to be a little different than my normal "all black". An added plus is those are high wear areas, the matte silver will wear better over time.

http://www.harduseguns.com/Images/SS1.jpg

http://www.harduseguns.com/Images/SS4.jpg

http://www.harduseguns.com/Images/SS5.jpg

All the work was done by me, in house.
Finish is milspec parkerizing on extra fine glass bead preparation.
I also do work on the AR15/M16 weapons, and have some interesting projects to share at a later time.

Hope you like the pistol and that I can make a contribution to the forum.

Steve
MARS Armament, Inc
http://marsguns.com/Home.htm

[-Wes-]

Very nice, and I think I've found where to get my MSH's now too.

[Ice Cream Man]

Very nice and the ones on your website are amazing, nice work.

[VA_Dinger]

Steve, welcome aboard.

This forum will certainly be better with guys like you participating. I personally hold your knowledge and craftsmanship in very high regard.

All we need is more pictures of your Direct Action & Spartan packages. ;)

I hope to see mine up here after awhile. :)

[Dport]

It's OK, but it's not a Glock. ;)



Seriously though, it's a beautiful piece. Welcome aboard Mr. Morrison. I'm looking forward to your participation. :)

[PE556]

That is a really nice piece. I really like the dimpling on the frame. Nice web site, also.

I’m feeling a resurgence in my craving for 1911s as of late. Too bad my budget doesn’t allow complete satisfaction.

[Steve_Morrison]

It's OK, but it's not a Glock. ;)

Now you tell me! :D

If I may make one request- being called Mr Morrison reminds me of being in 7th grade- I spent a lot of time in the Principal's office ;) , so please call me Steve.

"Dinger- I've got a couple Direct Action and Spartan guns that will be ready soon, I'll do what I can to get you some more photos. :cool:

Thanks all for the kind words.

[Hobbes]

Steve,
I'd really like to see some more pictures of the different mainspring housings offered on the website, they sound really interesting but I didn't see any close ups!
Thanks, and nice work.

[CapnCrunch]

Steve, great to have you onboard!

A while back I asked Dinger who was doing his 1911 work, and he highly reccommended you, so... I'll probably be giving you a call early next week ;)

[VA_Dinger]

"Dinger- I've got a couple Direct Action and Spartan guns that will be ready soon, I'll do what I can to get you some more photos. :cool:

Thanks all for the kind words.

Thanks Steve, I look forward to seeing them.

[JFPATCH]

Steve, I was wondering when you'd show up here.

That SSC gun is really nice.

Some pics of a recent Direct Action would be cool.

How is that other project coming along? Have the uppers arrived?

Have a great Independence Day!

Jim

[Dave Berryhill]

It's OK, but it's not a Glock. ;)
DOH!
Nice work Steve!

[M4arc]

Steve and Dave, It's nice to have you guys here!

[VA_Dinger]

I hope Steve doesn't mind me posting this picture. This is one of his Direct Action builds. He sent me this picture a few months ago when we started discussing my build.

Obviously this example has many custom options and a finish specified by the end user.

Mars Armament Direct Action:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v74/va_dinger/MARS1.jpg

[CapnCrunch]

I like that.

[Steve_Morrison]

Hi guys, things are a bit busy here sorry I have not been able to get back to this thread. Thank you all for the kind words, and thank you VA Dinger for covering my back...

JFP- just waiting on the VISs, all the other items are here ready and waiting. Will comm you on the back channel.

Cap'n Crunch- It was great meeting you on the phone the other day, still waiting on that PM with all the gouge in it and my new barrel... ;)

Hobbes, I'll see what I can do about some more photos for you, until then here is a Gen 2 I did for one of the LF brothers.

http://www.harduseguns.com/Images/GEN2ILAP

[VA_Dinger]

Nyeti asked me to post of up some pictures of his Mars Armament (M4C member Steve Morrision) ThuG/Spartan pistol.

Marsguns.com

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v74/va_dinger/ThugDBL001.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v74/va_dinger/NyetiThuG.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v74/va_dinger/ThugDBL002.jpg

[nyeti]

Just an update on this gun. I FINALLY got it back from Ichiro Nagata after its studio photos were done. At this point I could now beat the rear sight over to where my vision needs it (all my guns have the rear sight towards the right side of the gun.....ageing eyes). After the beating guesstimate, it was off to a quick trip to the range today while the kidlet was at school. I only had a short time, so I was loading mags and shooting 7 and 10 yard failure drills at my normal 2.5 second pace as fast as I could.

There was a group of younger guys shooting in several lanes next to me (with less than stellar results) and I could hear them start in with the "holy crap", and check this sh*t out" as their shooting tapered off and it was obvious that they were looking at my miniturized B27 target. Pretty soon there was a group standing behind me and it was now a spectator event. I was rewarded with a 420 round group that you could drop a styrofoam coffee cup over dead center in the target where the 5X was totally cut out and a dixie cup sized group where the 5X was in the head. Talk about perfection. The sights are now perfect to my eyes, not a single hicup from the gun, and standing in a little sea of Winchester brass. I can't emphasize enough how happy I am with the THUG. I am not the 1911 guru that many of my circle of friends are (mainly because I never got to carry one as a patrol gun, and I was just geared more towards the D/A autos), but I do love them. My THUG has become one of my absolute favorite pistols in the highly competitive world of "my safe". It lives in some wonderful works of art from Milt Sparks holsters, and my world is grand.

To add to all this, I was able to test fire some new custom loads for my 3.5" barreled custom Ruger Sheriff's Vaquero. 250 gr. bullets at 900-1000 ft. per second with BLACK POWDER................talk about smoke, thunder and lightning.....WOW.:D

[C4IGrant]

Good to see you Steve!

C4

[VA_Dinger]

Just an update on this gun. I FINALLY got it back from Ichiro Nagata after its studio photos were done. At this point I could now beat the rear sight over to where my vision needs it (all my guns have the rear sight towards the right side of the gun.....ageing eyes). After the beating guesstimate, it was off to a quick trip to the range today while the kidlet was at school. I only had a short time, so I was loading mags and shooting 7 and 10 yard failure drills at my normal 2.5 second pace as fast as I could.

There was a group of younger guys shooting in several lanes next to me (with less than stellar results) and I could hear them start in with the "holy crap", and check this sh*t out" as their shooting tapered off and it was obvious that they were looking at my miniturized B27 target. Pretty soon there was a group standing behind me and it was now a spectator event. I was rewarded with a 420 round group that you could drop a styrofoam coffee cup over dead center in the target where the 5X was totally cut out and a dixie cup sized group where the 5X was in the head. Talk about perfection. The sights are now perfect to my eyes, not a single hicup from the gun, and standing in a little sea of Winchester brass. I can't emphasize enough how happy I am with the THUG. I am not the 1911 guru that many of my circle of friends are (mainly because I never got to carry one as a patrol gun, and I was just geared more towards the D/A autos), but I do love them. My THUG has become one of my absolute favorite pistols in the highly competitive world of "my safe". It lives in some wonderful works of art from Milt Sparks holsters, and my world is grand.

To add to all this, I was able to test fire some new custom loads for my 3.5" barreled custom Ruger Sheriff's Vaquero. 250 gr. bullets at 900-1000 ft. per second with BLACK POWDER................talk about smoke, thunder and lightning.....WOW.:D

Sounds great, I cannot wait to see the photos and read the article.

When is it going to hit the news stands?

[C4IGrant]

Will you sign the article for me? :D


C4

[Lawdog-1]

Can someone post some photo's of Steve's Thug gun?