Another MEUSOC 1911

[D. Christopher]

Beautiful piece of work as always. I would really love to have that pistol. Wouldn't change a thing.

[Ned Christiansen]

Lookin' good, Dave. Having the SN stamped on all the parts gives it a real aura of "worker bee" and not "safe queen bee".

I have not seen the specs for a MEUSOC 1911 for a while-- can you share them or give a link? Just wondering if and what they spec for a barrel..... was there a brand specified? Seems like maybe it was Storm Lake?

[VooDoo6Actual]

Nice SA blaster !

[Turnkey11]

Ive got a pistol that could seriously use that treatment.

[SeriousStudent]

And of course, the mandatory "pistol and knife" shot:

And anything other than a Ka-Bar would be sacrilege.

Beautiful work, as is your norm. Thanks for the photos.

[Wally]

Dave, I thought you were not building the "Old Version" anymore because of parts availability. Has this changed or is this a build you had in progress prior to the parts change? Only reason I ask is that I would love to have one of these, but the BFP is close but just not the same as the MEU....Awesome job. Wally GO TROJANS!

[Norinco]

Looks like Ill be selling a kidney....

[Dave Berryhill]

Thanks for the nice comments guys! Here are the specs for this pistol:
Springfield Armory GI Mil Spec frame, Caspian slide
Match barrel and bushing
Berryhill Ultimate ring hammer, sear and disconnector
Greider 3-hole trigger
Ed Brown wide ambi reshaped to "tactical" width
Les Baer flat serrated MSH with GI lanyard loop added
Millet front sight that is silver soldered to the slide
MEUSOC-style rear sight made from hardened 4140 steel
Bar stock plunger tube and mag catch
Last 4 digits of the serial number stamped on the barrel hood, slide, both halves of the thumb safety, ambi safety and MSH.
Blackened manganese phosphate finish

I found a Clark grip safety that I had stashed away so I used it for this pistol. The finish came out jet black and the photos don't do it justice.

[Dave Berryhill]

Because several of the key parts are no longer available, I'm not taking any more orders for this pistol. I have several orders on my waiting list and I'm going to build those. The Kings ambi, Clark grip safety and Millett front sights are all discontinued.

I have several Millett front sights stashed away to build a few more pistols. I've made some grip safeties that are very close to the Clark by re-shaping the Olympic Arms "retro" grip safety. I have 1 Clark that I'm saving to use as a reference for this but it takes a lot of work. I'm actually glad that the Kings ambi is no longer available. It was a good design but poorly made and took a lot of work to fit. They usually didn't stop against the frame when you push the safety down to the "off" position so you'd feel two clicks. They would first stop when the plunger clicked into the safety detent and if you continued to push them further, they would move a little more until the safety lug rested on the frame window. These two events should occur at the same time. The USMC Armorers at PWS are now using an Ed Brown ambi so that's what I'm using as a substitute for the Kings.

I've kicked around the idea of building a pistol similar to the MEUSOC "old version" but with some changes to the parts that are no longer available but I'm not sure that I will. I've got some new pistols in the works.

infidelprodigy - although you need to look at each pistol individually, the Springfield frames are generally good. I have used quite a few Springfield Armory GI pistols as base guns for the MEUSOC and BFP pistols but usually toss just about everything but the slide and frame.

Ned - I appreciate your comments! Many of the parts that are currently being used such as mag catches, plunger tubes, extractors, etc. are just aftermarket parts that the Marines buy commercially or through the Government bidding process. Some of the parts, such as the Pachmayr grips, thumb safeties and sights are specific and I think these all now have NSN numbers. They have usually used Bar Sto barrels but have also used a few others over the years.

The current MEUSOC pistol is now known as the M45 CQBP (Close Quarters Battle Pistol) and it has:
Ed Brown grip safety
Ed Brown ambi safety
Pachmayr wrap around grips
Novak black rear sight
Dovetail front sight
C&S oval commander hammer, sear and disco

If anyone on the forum has any first hand knowledge of the pistol, please feel free to comment.

SeriousStudent - I may be struck by lightning but that isn't a Ka-Bar. It's a Mk II Navy knife made by Camillus, which is similar to the Ka-Bar but has a hard sheath instead of a leather one.

[SeriousStudent]

Mr. Berryhill - lightning is the last thing I would wish for you, sir. Thanks for letting me know.

I really do enjoy your MEUSOC pistols. I actually got to fam-fire one off the fantail of an LST on a Med float many, many moons ago. So it's a fun trip down memory lane.