www.auto-ordnance.com/ao_front_pi.html I looked around for 1911 style pistols and most of them are expensive.   But Kahr had taken over Auto-Ordnance a few years ago and they sell 'em at a bargain brand new.

Duh me! I thought Auto-Ordnance just went out of business and ceased to exist.

" thought Auto-Ordnance just went out of business and ceased to exist"

Well, yes and no.

The REAL Auto Ordnance was started by General John Thompson and investors around 1919, to build and sell the Thompson Submachine gun.

Just before WWII, they sold the company to a man named McGuire, Just in time for HIM to get fabulously wealthy selling Thompson guns to the British and the US during WWII.

In 1945, the Thompson was declared obsolete, and McGuire closed the company down.
In the early 1950's, George Numrich of Numrich Arms and Gun Parts Corporation, bought the company.

Numrich got many of the parts he sold by buying moribund gun companies for their spare parts inventory, and "The Auto Ordnance Company" was just a bunch of crates full of parts, machine jigs, company papers, and some of the experimental and prototype Thompson guns.

Numrich operated Auto Ordnance as really just a brand name, making and repairing Thompson guns, and semi-auto carbines up until the late 1990's when he sold it to Kahr Arms.

So, the Auto Ordnance company really hasn't been a "real" company since about 1945.

The real good news is now they're a viable company and, if Kahr's reputation for quality and customer support is any indication, will put out a decent product.

Quoted: The real good news is now they're a viable company and, if Kahr's reputation for quality and customer support is any indication, will put out a decent product.

I hope so, we could use more manufacturers in the marketplace. Have you seen some of the retail prices of handguns lately? It's worse than housing prices sometimes!