Posted: 8/7/2014 7:04:09 AM EDT
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I just left a gunshop after finger banging different 1911's for an hour. I fell
In love with the simplicity of the S.A. mil spec. What can you guys tell me about the mil spec? Any issues? Problems?? The only thing I would do is get the front strap Done. |
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Not bad as the base for a custom gun that you really just want the frame and slide for, or if you want a plain jane 1911A1. When I went shopping for my first factory 1911 I ended up with a loaded because I wanted the Novak sights and getting a smith to mill my slide and install them cost more than the price difference.
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Novak installed mine and did the mil work, and sight install ... it's dirt cheap and turn around is less than a week. Quoted: Not bad as the base for a custom gun that you really just want the frame and slide for, or if you want a plain jane 1911A1. When I went shopping for my first factory 1911 I ended up with a loaded because I wanted the Novak sights and getting a smith to mill my slide and install them cost more than the price difference. |
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Just found my receipt. Purchased the novak Dovetail direct replacement rear (2 white dot)$39.95, and for the front I got the Tritium $54.95 and mil with installation was $70 and return shipping was $15 and it arrived on a wed, called me Thursday to confirm, and Friday it was shipped back to me with fedex tracking. So $179.90 and the work is professional they didn't even interrupt the nickel boron coating already there, and 3 day turn around.... impossible to beat. |
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Quoted:
Just found my receipt. Purchased the novak Dovetail direct replacement rear (2 white dot)$39.95, and for the front I got the Tritium $54.95 and mil with installation was $70 and return shipping was $15 and it arrived on a wed, called me Thursday to confirm, and Friday it was shipped back to me with fedex tracking. So $179.90 and the work is professional they didn't even interrupt the nickel boron coating already there, and 3 day turn around.... impossible to beat. I would agree with you on this. The GI sights are the worst for aging eyes, and probably don't help anyone else's eyes either. |
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Just found my receipt. Purchased the novak Dovetail direct replacement rear (2 white dot)$39.95, and for the front I got the Tritium $54.95 and mil with installation was $70 and return shipping was $15 and it arrived on a wed, called me Thursday to confirm, and Friday it was shipped back to me with fedex tracking. So $179.90 and the work is professional they didn't even interrupt the nickel boron coating already there, and 3 day turn around.... impossible to beat. I would agree with you on this. The GI sights are the worst for aging eyes, and probably don't help anyone else's eyes either. Springfield Milspecs comes with 3-dot sights, and they're not too bad, although the front is not dovetailed, but rather staked. The Springfield GI models have the tiny GI sights which are pretty tough to use for me. |
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Just found my receipt. Purchased the novak Dovetail direct replacement rear (2 white dot)$39.95, and for the front I got the Tritium $54.95 and mil with installation was $70 and return shipping was $15 and it arrived on a wed, called me Thursday to confirm, and Friday it was shipped back to me with fedex tracking. So $179.90 and the work is professional they didn't even interrupt the nickel boron coating already there, and 3 day turn around.... impossible to beat. When you figure your total investment you could've bought a loaded with lower ejection port, Novak sights, beavertail grip safety etc |
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No.... I got the gun years ago for next to nothing, and the only thing I wanted to do was nickel boron it from WMD. It has stayed like that for god knows how long...I just added sights to it...and the nickel boron coat went on after I did all the trigger and slide work...so having a 1911 A1 with 3.75lb trigger and all internals nickel boron is pretty badass...you can shoot 500 rounds and wipe it down with blue shop towel, I love WMD coatings. I am getting one of my 1974 Remington 1100 3" magnums nickel boron by them in a month. |
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Gavin, your case is different than the OPs as they are looking at buying one from a shop now. If I too picked up a Milspec for next to nothing I would have taken the same route. Armann's point is pretty valid that you can get better sights, beaver tail with bobbed hammer, front slide serrations, and a ambi extended grip safety for less than having Novaks cut and install new sites on a Milspec. Now if you absolutely don't want from serrations look at a range officer model (if you want to buy and not mod much) or get the Milspec and mod it up how you want. For example I can get a milspec for a little under $700 (seen them as low as $650 on occasion). A loaded here locally can be had for $780. For a ~$100 difference the Loaded model is a better buy for an entry platform if you plan on adding the mods it already has. If you want the old school look then the Milspec is the best route. My next build after I finish this one will probably be off a Milspec or colt 1991/s70 gun as that's the look I am going after. <eta> and no arguement from me about the $ and quality of their work. Like the finish on your gun too, going to look into that for mine now too |
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Quoted: Wow when I bought my mil spec the loaded was more expensive than that. That is awesome price on the loaded, and the Range officer is def. awesome gun. I believe the RO here is $840ish. I would have gone that way if it has front serrations.
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I've got the mil-spec, a 1990s model. The things I changed on it: sights (this was before 3-dots came on them), trigger, grips & bbl/bushing.
The mil-spec bbl is a two-piece unit & isn't as accurate as the better one-piece barrels found on the better SA 1911s. As the others say, the mil-spec is a great base for building on. But for someone just wanting a knock-around 1911, I'd opt for the Range Officer or a Loaded model, IMO. My .o2 |
I have one. I'm with what other people are saying, I would've rather opted a bit more money for a loaded. But it was my first 1911 and looked a lot like a USGI gun. Which is why I wanted it. It was before I knew of all the little details that makes it NOT like a USGI model. Like slanted serrations, etc. But it's a good gun. Mine runs really well. No malfs. Well once when someone else was shooting it. But I think he was limpwristing. And it was only once. Otherwise it's been flawless. Oh, I did change the rear sight on mine because the thing hit really low when I first got it.
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I dig my mil-spec stainless. I really like the simplistic look. I normally carry a Baer when I concealed carry a 1911 but every now and then I carry the mil-spec for some odd reason. I like it 
I only have around 700 rounds through it but it doesn't even hint at being a reliability issue. Only thing I wanna change is to get a set of black slim VZ grips. Old VZ setup 
I guess I don't have pictures of the black grips I have on it now. This is my primary Baer 
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I'd suggest the 10-8 NM rear sight before I went with the GI. OK, here are some glamour shots of my MilSpec that I was going to sell, and decided to hold onto. The rear sight is the 10/8 as stated above and all work was done my me for around $200. I was going for the MEU(SOC) style of build. 
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Just found my receipt. Purchased the novak Dovetail direct replacement rear (2 white dot)$39.95, and for the front I got the Tritium $54.95 and mil with installation was $70 and return shipping was $15 and it arrived on a wed, called me Thursday to confirm, and Friday it was shipped back to me with fedex tracking. So $179.90 and the work is professional they didn't even interrupt the nickel boron coating already there, and 3 day turn around.... impossible to beat. Nice, but it would look a lot better with a proper Novak rear sight dovetail. 
The front and rear cuts cost $70 plus shipping from Novaks, and the sights are Trijicon tritium 3 dots, take offs from Springfield Loaded with an 08 date code, were $100 from a guy online, can't remember who but he had a site where pretty much all he sold were take-off sights. My range had a sight jig that they let me use for free to install them. SA Loaded hammer CMC thumb safety Wilson Combat recoil & mainspring Ed Brown grip safety (used their jig to cut it, pretty easy) Smith & Alexander magwell Cylinder and Slide trigger I believe everything else is stock. I have more money in it from trying out various parts, grips, etc. Fun little gun, very reliable and dead nuts accurate. |
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Nice, but it would look a lot better with a proper Novak rear sight dovetail. I'll get a pic of mine up in a sec... Quoted:
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Just found my receipt. Purchased the novak Dovetail direct replacement rear (2 white dot)$39.95, and for the front I got the Tritium $54.95 and mil with installation was $70 and return shipping was $15 and it arrived on a wed, called me Thursday to confirm, and Friday it was shipped back to me with fedex tracking. So $179.90 and the work is professional they didn't even interrupt the nickel boron coating already there, and 3 day turn around.... impossible to beat. Nice, but it would look a lot better with a proper Novak rear sight dovetail. I'll get a pic of mine up in a sec... No kidding. No offense, Shooter, but that sight just looks like an after thought. Which it is. The price was great, but while they had it chucked-up, they should have just made the cut for you. |
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I say get the Mil-Spec and use it as-is. All the frilly stuff is nice, but shooting a bare bones 1911 is just 'right'.
Unless you get hammer bite, then it's a solid shooter out of the box. The ONLY thing I'd do to one is to get rid of the ILS. I'd throw in a Colt plastic MSH, ISMI 22lb mainspring, ISMI 16lb recoil, ISMI firing pin spring and an EGW steel firing pin. Or a Wolff or Colt standard firing pin spring if you're gonna use the titanium one that's in there. Solid as a rock. |
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No kidding. No offense, Shooter, but that sight just looks like an after thought. Which it is. The price was great, but while they had it chucked-up, they should have just made the cut for you. Quoted:
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Just found my receipt. Purchased the novak Dovetail direct replacement rear (2 white dot)$39.95, and for the front I got the Tritium $54.95 and mil with installation was $70 and return shipping was $15 and it arrived on a wed, called me Thursday to confirm, and Friday it was shipped back to me with fedex tracking. So $179.90 and the work is professional they didn't even interrupt the nickel boron coating already there, and 3 day turn around.... impossible to beat. Nice, but it would look a lot better with a proper Novak rear sight dovetail. I'll get a pic of mine up in a sec... No kidding. No offense, Shooter, but that sight just looks like an after thought. Which it is. The price was great, but while they had it chucked-up, they should have just made the cut for you. I actually like the blade sight better. |
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OK, here are some glamour shots of my MilSpec that I was going to sell, and decided to hold onto. The rear sight is the 10/8 as stated above and all work was done my me for around $200. I was going for the MEU(SOC) style of build. http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af207/dirtyone04/IMG_5515.jpg http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af207/dirtyone04/IMG_5522.jpg http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af207/dirtyone04/IMG_5523.jpg http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af207/dirtyone04/IMG_5518.jpg Quoted:
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I'd suggest the 10-8 NM rear sight before I went with the GI. OK, here are some glamour shots of my MilSpec that I was going to sell, and decided to hold onto. The rear sight is the 10/8 as stated above and all work was done my me for around $200. I was going for the MEU(SOC) style of build. http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af207/dirtyone04/IMG_5515.jpg http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af207/dirtyone04/IMG_5522.jpg http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af207/dirtyone04/IMG_5523.jpg http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af207/dirtyone04/IMG_5518.jpg that is hot |
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Quoted:
OK, here are some glamour shots of my MilSpec that I was going to sell, and decided to hold onto. The rear sight is the 10/8 as stated above and all work was done my me for around $200. I was going for the MEU(SOC) style of build. http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af207/dirtyone04/IMG_5515.jpg http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af207/dirtyone04/IMG_5522.jpg http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af207/dirtyone04/IMG_5523.jpg http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af207/dirtyone04/IMG_5518.jpg Quoted:
Quoted:
I'd suggest the 10-8 NM rear sight before I went with the GI. OK, here are some glamour shots of my MilSpec that I was going to sell, and decided to hold onto. The rear sight is the 10/8 as stated above and all work was done my me for around $200. I was going for the MEU(SOC) style of build. http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af207/dirtyone04/IMG_5515.jpg http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af207/dirtyone04/IMG_5522.jpg http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af207/dirtyone04/IMG_5523.jpg http://i1008.photobucket.com/albums/af207/dirtyone04/IMG_5518.jpg 
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The Mil-Spec is one, tough sumbitch. I've shot mine in competition for the past five years, and it just gets smoother and smoother. No excessive wear.
Plan on changing out the mainspring assembly so you can substitute different weight springs for different missions. Plan on having a front sight dovetail cut performed at some time. Get a 10-8 National Match rear sight. Do a trigger job. But, the gun works great right out of the box and only gets better with time. It will not wear out like the cast frame gunz. |
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Just bought a stainless mil spec, the fit is nearly perfect. I have never seen (locally) a milspec that didn't have slide overhang or a protruding extractor, but this one's slide fit is perfect and just a bare hint of extractor protrusion.
I really didn't need another gun with a 4 month at home now, but this will be the perfect candidate for some SACS loving. |