In answer to a couple of emails; yes, I got the .45 and no I haven’t had a chance to shoot it yet… dammit…
A bit of history here- Jim Clark Sr. was not only a top notch gunsmith, he was also an outstanding pistol shot, and one of the few to shoot over 2600 in a match back in the day. Jim also built pistols for, among others, the Army Marksmanship Unit (AMU) starting in the 1960s. Examples of his work can be seen in Bill Jenkins fine book on US Military Match and Marksmanship Automatic Pistols. Jim Sr. was also one hellva nice guy, always willing to help out a dumb young shooter (me)… And he did a trigger job on my Ruger MkII back in the day to help me ‘improve’ my scores.
This pistol is a mid-1970’s example of Jim Sr. and Archie’s work at Clark’s Custom Guns. It is a .45 that was reconfigured for bulls-eye matches with a number of Jim’s custom touches. It was built for a gent over in Dangerfield, Tx, and was apparently was only shot in one match in 1977 before the range at Jacksonville, Tx closed. Since that time, it must have resided in a safe in the owner’s house. Jim Jr. got it as a consignment sale, along with the matching 1911A1 .38 special long slide, but I could only afford this one… And it DID bring back some memories… sigh…
Anyway, the pistol is an older issue version, it was re-blued and has the extended Bomar rail/sights. If you look at the front strap, you can see some detail of the stippling, I have more detail on that in a later pic.
This is the other side of the pistol, here you can see the cut out in the Bomar sight rail for the ejection port and the adjustment for the rear sight. It did have the original steel short trigger still installed, but for safety and to keep from getting thrown off the range, I asked Jim Jr. to put a short aluminium trigger in (but I do have the original trigger). And the inscription on the slide… 🙂
And a lousy pic, but you can see the polished throat on the barrel here. You can also see the thickness of the Bomar rail and this helps explain why these were called ‘heavy’ slides…
This is something that Jim Sr. did that I have not seen on any of the competition pistols I ever shot, and that is a flattened crosshatched hammer that is MUCH easier to cock than the issue hammer (note- this one is cut for a right handed shooter).
And here is the stippling on the front strap, and yes, it IS as nasty and sharp as it looks. BUT, you need to understand this was commonly done back in the 60’s and 70’s to prevent the pistol from shifting in your hand when shooting in hot weather or when you were sweating out that last X. In bullseye, you shot single handed, so there was not an option of bracing with the weak hand. You can go HERE and read the AMU manual on bullseye pistol shooting (this manual is TRULY the Bible of bullseye shooting)!
And I REALLY want to go to the range… I know I’m not good enough anymore to shoot this pistol at it’s real capability, but I ‘think’ I can shoot it without embarrassing myself.
I’ll offer a dollar three nighty eight fer that ol’ hogleg.
So git on out here this next Friday or Saturday…I keep telling ya that my range is your range.
Holy balls, but that’s a sexy lookin’ gun NFO…
Interested to see how she shoots. I always thought my Gold Cup shot well – until I brought my new (to me) SW1911 to the range…
Skip, add a few zeros and ‘maybe’ we can talk… 🙂
Me- I’ll give you a call
Jay- Me too 🙂
http://racinefontenele.blogspot.com/2010/11/natal-2010-espalhe-essa-ideia.html
That’s a beautiful gun
No much of a 1911 kind of guy, but that is one nice looking pistol.
The Hell you say! A Jim Clark with the tiger-tooth stippling? You know he did that by hand, with a chisel and hammer.
That one is a keeper, my friend.
DeanO- Thanks!
CS- It is 🙂
Paw- Yep, I know, either he or Archie did it. I knew immediately what I had in my hand, trust me…