AAR: Vickers Pistolsmith Course Feb/2010 - Omaha

[R.E.Schoening]

The bench at the end of one of the days...


Working on the grip safety...


Working on the thumb safety...


My assitant...

[Ttwwaack]

This will be brief since Rob has already covered a great portion of it.

Prep: This is a fast paced course. It is not course to decide to attend 6 weeks out as there is alot of stuff to do prior to attending. Parts and tools need to be ordered, and as usual, sometimes vendors are out so alternative vendors need to be sourced. There are specific tools and parts to be ordered for the class. Additionally, both of Kuhnhausen's 1911 books need to have been read, Book I understood and comprehended. The second volume is more of a reference.

This was my first class with Larry. He is experianced as a user, a builder and a teacher from his military background. He is blunt and to the point. As was said in class and so fitting, "It's like drinking from a fire hose for 5 days". Waterboarding appears meek in comparison. When students ran into a problem he wasn't the 'Shell Answer Man'. Instead, he would prod the student along in a manner that they would trouble shoot the part, sub-system and system till they had the answer, like they were alone. It will be valuable in the future.

A Brief Daily Overview:

Monday: Parts Inventory, Fit Slide to Frame, Fit Barrel Hood to Slide

Tuesday: Complete Barrel Fitting and Recoil System, Install Trigger

Wednesday: Reliability Work, Grip and Thumb Safety and Mag Catch

Thursday: Grips, Plunger Tube, Ejector, Extracter, FP and Stop.

Friday: Disco, Sear, Hammer, Sites, Function Tests and Test Fire.

Saturday: Function Tweeks and Class Review.

M-F were basically 10 hour days at the bench. My evening were spent thinking of questions to ask concerning various manufacturers and parts and writing detailed notes of the days activities.

The 'classroom facilities' were great, hard to believe it was a finished garage. I had some apprehesion about working in a garage in February in Omaha but Rob spent the time finishing it with good lighting and insulation. We were very comfortable, even the folks from TX and FL were warm. Good lodging was close by along with the usual eating establishments.

I used this class as my vacation, go figure, Omaha in February. All kidding aside I had a blast. Would I do it again? Yes, I'm planning on attending next year. Greg

Although mine ran OK during the test fire a few problems arose. They were diagnosed (Extractor and overly sensitized Thumb Safety), corrected on Saturday and have 1250 additional rounds without a problem. It is the best running 1911 I own.

[R.E.Schoening]

Greg - Good stuff, thanks for posting!

I wanted to post a pic of the finished product, carbon parts were done in IonBond's DLC...aluminum parts were done in hard anodizing with teflon from Springer Precision!

[David Thomas]

Greg - Good stuff, thanks for posting!

I wanted to post the finished product, recently back form IonBond...

Wow, that looks like a great blaster!

[R.E.Schoening]

Thanks David!

[controlledpairs2]

wow that sounds like an amazing experience. i hope to attend one someday soon.

[tobasco]

wow. looks very good and hope you had fun

[R.E.Schoening]

Thanks guys...

Ran this one through LAV's Pistol I class last week. Roughly 1,000 rounds over three days with some rain thrown into the class just to remind all of us that we were in Iowa!

I cleaned the pistol after the first day...roughly 300 rounds. Over the next 2 days I did not clean the pistol at all...just added oil.

Overall this one ran great! In the 1,000 plus rounds I fired, I had 5 malfunctions...

The 1st and 2nd malfunctions...I use Wilson Combat 7 round mags with no problems! But, during one of the drills I decided to try some Chip Mcormick 10 rounders...pistol fed the first 2 rounds and then the slide locked open...I examined the slide quickly and threw in one of my Wilsons...no problem for the rest of the drill. It was then time to repeat the drill...tried another (different) Chip 10 rounder...same problem...dumped the 10 rounders for the rest of the class...problem never repeated!

The 3rd, 4th, and 5th malfunctions...during weak hand only drills I shot the pistol empty...dropped the mag...placed the pistol between my knees and loaded another mag with my weak hand...released slide...round partially fed...I slammed the bottom of the mag with my knee and the round fed...this happened three times in a row...on exam I think I was running it a little light on the lube side...I ensured I had the pistol lubed up and had no more malfunctions the remainder of the class.

IonBond held up great and as expected...the anaodizing offered by Springer held up great as well...so far, I would go this route again if I work on another aluminum frame!

Total round count is right around 1600 or so since completion...

- Rob

A couple more pics...