Any thoughts on this pistol, good or bad?

I purchased a Deluxe model made shortly after Kahr took over.  

I was fairly happy with it at first.  It shot well, and never jammed, even when new, and when feeding JHP's (Hydra-shoks at the time).  

However, the fit and finish wasn't terrific.  The safety did not snick up and down reassuringly - it could be knocked off very easily.  The slide/frame fit, particularily at the rear, was not very good.  The finish was sort of blotchy.

However, the kicker came when I was out shooting one day.  The (staked on) front sight flew off.  Understandably, I was upset.  I sent in the slide to Kahr to fix.

However, it took them forever to fix the front sight - I think they had it for at least a month, possibly two months.  They never contacted me, anything.  I finally e-mailed them to ask what was going on, and they returned the slide shortly after.  The invoice they sent showed that they spent 1/2 hour working on the sight.

I was irritated, but happy that I finally got my slide back.  I took it out shooting.. and the front sight fell off AGAIN, the very first shot.  I was not pleased.

I had a local gunsmith put on a new sight.  Unfortunately, he put on a standard 1911 combat sight; the deluxe model AO I had had high profile sights.  Since then, I've sort of been fed up with the pistol.

Still, aside from the safety and the front sight problem, it has been reliable (more so than my Kimber) and fairly accurate (not as much as my Kimber).

I've heard bad things, one shop I used to buy from regulerly told me he didn't want to special order one for me because he gets tired of trying to fix'em when the people bring them back, so I bought a Springfield instead.

Second issue is that they are not cheap any more, in fact I just looked them up on Davidsons and the Springfield "G.I." was approx. $462, I can't remember how much the AO was, but it was more.

So I'm going to buy the Springfield G.I. I have a "loaded" Springfield now and its great, I've carryed it to the point it has little finnish left, but never a problem.


YMMV

The "Bad days"no longer exist.When they were out of west hurley New York quality was hit or miss.Now they are under auto-ordnance based in massachusetts.The mil-spec clone they make here is great quality identical to a GI pistol except has a series 80 firing pin block to be legal in Massachsetts and a rectangular cut in the top of the hood for a loaded chamber indicator..rectified by a new barrel.I paid $482 tax included here.I rebuilt it with the wilson combat parts on my colt series 80 and they all fit no problems.So dimensionaly its perfect too.I dont know the kind of steel used but it weighs the same as the Colt.

Quoted: The "Bad days"no longer exist.When they were out of west hurley New York quality was hit or miss.Now they are under auto-ordnance based in massachusetts.The mil-spec clone they make here is great quality identical to a GI pistol except has a series 80 firing pin block to be legal in Massachsetts and a rectangular cut in the top of the hood for a loaded chamber indicator..rectified by a new barrel.I paid $482 tax included here.I rebuilt it with the wilson combat parts on my colt series 80 and they all fit no problems.So dimensionaly its perfect too.I dont know the kind of steel used but it weighs the same as the Colt.

ALL of these West Hurley pistols were only assembled there,they were made in Spain and machined in Vermount by Caspian Arms!!!


Even the first Thompsons were made in Spain,Machined by caspian arms then assembled in New York!!!


There is nothing wrong with Thompson(auto-ordinance)firearms!!!!


Everybody that knocks them has never owened one,just has heard about this an that!!!

Bob

Hmmm, there's a Auto Ordnance .45 Gov't in the paper tonight for $295.

I wonder if I should jump on it.

WIZZO

I was fiddling with one of these yesterday and would also like to hear about people's experiences.
How does it stack up against the Springfield GI?

Cheers

Quoted: Everybody that knocks them has never owened one,just has heard about this an that!!! Bob

not quite.  My first 1911 was an AO, and it was only suited for paperweight duty.

soft steel--the slide stop notch peened over enough to be useless in less than 1000 rds.  Hammer pin holes out of alignment.  Finish was poor--purple in places, blotchy in others--I had it refinished, and I will admit that it took the new bluing VERY well....it was a very pretty POS.  My front site popped off too.   I spent entirely too much money on that pistol (not knowing 1911s at the time), a whole lot more to make it run, (and it never got through more than a mag or 2 without a failure).  I didn't feel bad selling it at a loss 2 yrs later.

Well guess what my first AO w as a 10 mil and shot just great with the first really High powered 200 grain rounds(guess what they were CMI)  and at 100 yards you could hit what you aimed at!!!

I bought a secound barrell (an oly arms match grade .40 S&W) just in case I couldn't get any more top grade 10 mil ammo!

Maybe you had a bad one(there are many here that post that they got a bad Kimber)  any body else got a bad AO?

They and all the old thompson machine guns were made from investment castings from ECRIMESA  FEINGUB of Santander Spain,then machined by Capian arms ,then assembled at West Hurley New York!!!

Remember that Investment castings is much ahead of MIM!!!  Much like A good Damascauss barrell is as good as many modern barrells!!


Or not  Buy it or not  I still stand behind my AO and it is what I keep right next to my computer!!!


I have many auto pistols and my AO is just another that goes bang everytime!!!


Bob

I had a HORRIBLE AO. It took months to get it to work OK. I had problems with peening also. While I have seen some work, I have seen just as many that were pretty poorly assembled, parts seemed soft to me. Cast frame also. Heard the new ones were supposed to be better but I'll let someone else take the chance because I HAD one.

IM sent Cody, I had to buy books, so $300 is about $300 too much at this time.

WIZZO

I like mine its in the middle of its face lift; but I bought it for $300.00 got it for a beater but it works grate so much I decided to go thru with the face lift and trick it