Posted: 8/20/2009 11:29:48 AM EDT
 Discuss. Glockteen-eleven? |
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From the linked thread:
I probably know more about the Spectre's than anyone other than the manufacturer... I'm also the person that took the photo of the 2 pistols in the first post for Alchemy's marketing and publication purposes. Those 2 belong to me (I sold the black one), and as they were photographed, I was showing off a .40sw and a .45acp as signified in the 2 clusters of ammo. A little about them: * Frame is milled T6 Aluminum which is then anodized * Slide is Stainless Steel - available in polished or anodized * Adjustable 1911 style trigger * Magazines are modified double stack Witness mags * Key lock is for the magazine block safety When Alchemy Arms first arrived on the scene at Shotshow in 2001, my partner and I fell in love with their concept, and placed an order for 27 to be custom built, engraved, and serial numbered specifically for us. Since we were having Richard Heine install his Straight-8 night sights on them, our Serial numbers all began with "CAH-xx" to signify Castle Arms / Heine. The "xx" was a number beginning with 01. Number 26 was given away at Pasa Park's 26th Annual Meeting by Dick Metcalf, President of Pasa Park and editor of Shooting Times magazine. Unfortunately, Alchemy wasn't quite as far along in their QC as we had all hoped, and their tooling left a bit to be desired. Most of what we initially received had to be shipped back to be reworked or completely scrapped, and then they were slow as molasses in getting a quality final piece to us... They finally began trickling in at a rate of 2-3 per month. During all of the time that had elapsed between when we initially placed the order, and when we actually began receiving acceptable quality pistols, I had taken to doing a bit of R&D on these myself, and had actually done a much better job of honing them than Alchemy did. 98% of the problems were related to the slides, so that's where I started. To back up a bit and provide a bit of history; Alchemy was a sideline startup that was a spin off from an aerospace manufacturer that did a lot of Boeing contract parts. Because of their primary industry, they were used to very tight manufacturing and parts tolerances, which is pretty much the opposite of what we need in firearms, because tight parts have the uncanny ability to bind. Their foray into the firearms market began with manufacturing Glock accessories, and they grew from there... Back to the faulty slides - Being primarily an AR collector that also really liked 1911's, I began looking at the friction areas within the slides, and discovered that their tooling had left burs at the base of the feed ramp and also in the recessed in cut that allowed the barrel to move independently within the slide. I polished the hell out of these areas with a special 1/2 belt air-driven grinder/polisher, and resolved those issues. Then I discovered that the ejector was too soft and would often begin to deform after a few hundred rounds, so I let Alchemy know that as well, and they began having them hardened to a different Rockwell rating which resolved that issue as well. –– I began all of this by duplicating the way I polish AR & 1911 actions to a mirror finish with 600 & 1200 grit Black Oxide sandpaper. The earliest magazines were iffy at best since they were hand modified EAA Witness mags, but that too was resolved once they started having their own mags stamped out by the same folks that make Witness Mags... The modification was nothing more than a side cut that allowed for the Mag Catch. It got to the point that William (CEO of Alchemy) would send me pistols to "play with" in regards to finite polishing when he was at a point where he was banging his head against a wall trying to figure out why something wasn't working. They had replaced a lot of their bad tooling to alleviate the problems that they were having, and eventually got to a point where they had run out of money for continued R&D and production, so they began courting some of the biggest names in the industry in hopes of a merger which apparently never happened. The last I spoke w/ William was during the summer of 2005, and I knew he was really struggling to stay afloat at that point. Now for the good stuff! While I knew that he was working on a 9mm version to compliment the .40 and 45's, I don't believe that it ever materialized beyond a few prototypes, or I'm sure that I would have received one... eventually. With all of the honing and polishing that I had done to my pistols, they are absolute tack drivers. I also have a number of additional slides & barrels that I had worked on at different times, and most of them are also well refined. Some were beyond repair, but I kept them for the internal spare parts. For the guys talking in terms of these basically being a single stack Glock, you're dead wrong. While the grip frame is machined to the same dimensions as that of a 1911, the mag well is machined to accept the double stack Witness mag. The biggest thing that people tend to question is the Beaver Tail Grip Safety. Well, it is what it is and I love having it there. The biggest gripe that I've always had in regards to double action pistols, is that the slide has the ability to remove flesh from your thumb if your not careful. These not only alleviates that potential issue, but it's a 1911 grip safety. Recoil is nearly non-existent, with the 45 having the recoil of a very light 40 load, and the 40 feeling like a 9mm... I can only imagine that a 9mm version would have the felt recoil of a 32. Because of the extremely low amount of felt recoil, double and triple taps were much quicker and far more accurate than with any other pistols I've owned... Had Alchemy been able to resolve their financial and R&D issues before their demise, I could see where these would now be standard issue with many LEO's and even Military. My trigger is refined and adjusted to a #2.75 pull. The Spectre frames were available in Stainless, Black or Greenish Bronze (my favorite), with any combination of Black or Stainless slide. Being fully interchangeable, you could have any possible color combination, though the Bronze/Black and Black/Stainless as pictured in the OP seemed to be the 2 favorites. In an attempt to get some Military exposure, I was sent a pistol to give to my brother-in-law (as a gift from Alchemy) who at the time was pretty far up the food chain at Ft. Benning. He passed it around to several Range Officers who fell in love with it, as well as some of the Brass that he worked with. I had received several phone calls with questions from several servicemen on the base, and the ones that I was unable to answer, I forwarded on to William. My brother-in-law was then transferred, so I have no idea if anything transpired from the exposure at Benning. I do know that of all of the firearms that my brother-in-law owns, the Spectre is by far his favorite pistol and he had attempted to get clearance to take it with him to Iraq. I don't know if that ever happened or not. I've owned dozens of pistols, and once properly honed and polished, the Spectre is without a doubt my absolute favorite! I've read everything from "it's the best" to "it's the worst", yet oddly enough never anything in between. You either love it or hate it, and I can only guess that the hate is based more upon either never having fired one, or having received a lemon that needed serious work. Had They (Alchemy Arms) not had to endure the issues they had, I honestly believe that the Spectre would have swept the market in unprecedented numbers, because it's truly everything that you would ever want in a defensive handgun. Seriously, imagine an ulta-lightweight 1911 that accepted double stack mags, and had the ability to change calibers in a matter of seconds with a quick slide & magazine change. The front end sported a mil-spec tac rail for a light or laser, and it accepted Glock sights. Another very feature is the nothced "index safety" on either side of the front of the trigger guard... This is designed to keep your finger off the trigger until you're ready to fire. I'm so used to it, that it just feels weird to not have it on any of my other firearms. Nearly everyone that handles mine wants to know how they can get one, but sadly unless you're lucky enough to find one on Auction Arms or Gunbroker, chances are that you'll never have an oppoortunity to own one. The only positive that can ever come from Alchemy going out of business, is that the value of MY pistol will only continue to go up. Couple that with the fact that mine is setup for both calibers, and the serial number is actually my name, and I truly have an absolute one-of-a-kind custom setup. BTW: On multiple occassions I had placed these in the hands of both Richard Heine (mastor pistolsmith) and Dick Metcalf (Shooting Times), and they both really seemed to like them, even though they are both very much 1911 guys. -Tim Seems pretty cool. |
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I just bought one of these Spectres. Came across it on Gunbroker and thought it was unusual and neat. Can you tell me anything about it ? Link to auction below.
http://gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=136594615 http://www.tonezone1.com/A_guns_26/Alchemy_01.jpg http://www.tonezone1.com/A_guns_26/Alchemy_04.jpg |
