1911_purview

I frequently get asked what is my favorite 1911. Now I can answer that question. This one. This pistol was crafted by the venerable Mr. Ted Yost. So what makes it so special? Well, let’s start with rarity. Remember how Hoag and Clark used to weld up Colt slides to make them 6 inches? Well they did that out of necessity, because Colt never made a 6 inch slide. They still don’t. But, a few years back, after a lot of cajoling, they made three of them for Ted, with slant groove cocking serrations! I know the owners of the other two, and this one was supposed to be Ted’s personal gun, so why did I get it? I don’t know, but I’m positive it was born out of friendship, so I aim to be a proper steward of this 1911 for the remainder of my life. Every sharp corner is meticulously radiused. Parts were not purchased and “dropped in” they were precision machined from billet bar stock and beautifully mated to the gun. Where did he get that gold line front sight from? Proprietary—he made it. Where did he get that magwell? He blacksmithed it in his backyard barn. Who did he source the grips from? He made them out of a block of ivory, purchased from some Amish guy down the street. Who did the checkering and slide work? He did, arthritis be damned. Somebody must have made those ivory clad tools in the Macassar case. Yea, that somebody was Ted. Fine he must have bought the actual case on Ali Baba. Nope, he bought an English watch case and ripped out its guts. Next he jig sawed a bunch of black locust from his yard, and wrapped it in red felt, morphing it into the custom masterpiece you see before you. It’s all there —custom made parts, hard fit Kart barrel, serrated rear at 50 LPI, French borders, master grade 1200 grit (hand polished) blue, juxtaposed against matte rounds, flattened and arrow-lined top of the slide, checkered hammer, low mount Bomar–I could go on for days. My daughters have strict instructions to never ever ever sell this gun. This page is followed by a lot of active and retired pistolsmiths. So I ask all of you: Who alive today (or in the 115 year history of this platform) could have made this?