It’s NICE being the old guy…
Spent most of the day at a liquidation auction for a gun store, watching prices fluctuate all over the place… Glocks for $600, USED Sigs for $450! Henry Big Boys for $725! Sig Suppressors were all over the place, well under MSRP to at MSRP. When you figure in buyers premium of 10%, these are at or over retail!!!
But… There were TWO count ’em, TWO real 1911s in the entire auction, there were a few Kimbers, but I don’t count them… And all the Kimbers went for ‘MSRP’, why I don’t know…
Both real ones were Springer Range Officers, one in 9mm and one in .45.
They followed me home, so I guess I gotta keep ’em…
And they were ‘significantly’ under retail! I was the ONLY bidder on the 9mm, and only 1 other guy bid once on the .45! The auctioneer saw me out in the hall as I was paying for them and he grumbled, “You stole those! Be glad I couldn’t bid on them.”
I smiled politely and thanked him for not bidding… 🙂
Hey, what have you got against Kimbers? I’ve got three, and love ’em.
Maybe it’s like the Ford versus Chevy thing?
Are they now adopted or just fostered?
Excellent buy Jim.
I have a Springfield Range Officer Compact in 9mm. (officers aluminum frame, Commander 4″ barrel) that has been stone cold reliable. It conceals well and shoots quite nicely. Probably the best 1911 for concealed carry if your hands are afflicted with arthritis.
One cannot have too many 1911s.
Congratulations, they both look very nice, almost too nice to shoot 😉
Keep trying to convince the wife that we need to move to TX, so far not budging, but we have not yet begun to fight…
My Kimbers work just fine, thank you.
Very cool! It feels great to get a deal on something you want!
And the ghost of Browning is smiling!
RS- Too much MIM stuff… The OLD Kimbers are okay, but the new ones, not so much, IMHO 🙂
WSF- Adopted…LOL
Roger- Thanks!
Terrapod- I don’t believe in or have ANY safe queens. I’ll be breaking these in, hopefully this coming week!
Skip- You must have some of the original ones! 😀
DLG- It did, and honestly I was amazed!
John- Yep! 😀
Me neither … the only gun I have that I haven’t fired (yet) is Civil War revolver – it is in rough shape and was cheap, so I may end up firing it at some point.
Good for you! A few decades back, I was most annoyed to discover that I had become wrinkley enough to get bit by the hammer-grip safety tang pinch on a standard 1911A1. My temporary fix was a short piece of duct tape on the web of my hand. Obviously, I needed (another) 1911 with an extended grip safety.
After we moved here to DFW, I went shopping for a Range Officer. Went to a couple of different shops to examine different ones for fit and finish. Finally settled on one at Cabela’s, a .45 like the top one in your photo (if that one is in .45). The grip panels on mine are not engraved with “Range Officer”.
I’m all for matching slides and frames during manufacture. That’s why I checked out different guns. My only minor gripe is that Springfield stamped the last four digits of the serial number right into the disconnector track on the slide. I stoned the ridges down smooth, but you can still feel them when you cycle the slide. Other than that, the gun runs great and is superbly accurate.
A nice brace o’ pistols ya got there. Well done!
My favorite 1911 is my Series-70 Mk-IV in 9mm. Just for giggles I bought the bits and pieces(all Colt marked) to let me convert it to .45ACP, .38 Super, and of course .22. And it all fits in a case with 2 mags in each caliber.
And yeah, a 1911 in 9mm is a joy.
Side bar – sending you $$ for the last two Grey Man books. Any idea when the dead tree on the later books will be out?
Thanks
nice!
Besides the MIM parts, Kimbers aren’t Real 1911’s.
Scwartz safety and all that.
And the S&W?
Easier to work on than a Series 80.
And MIM parts? Meh. If they worry you, they’re pretty easy to replace, and not very expensive. Mine have *several* thousand rounds through them with no problems.
Did you buy lottery tickets on the way home?
Or did you use up all your luck at the auction?
Hey Old NFO;
You did very well on that bid, normally auctions don’t yield good deals like that. Buck fever grips a lot of people.
I’ve been to a few plant auctions, hoping to snag some tools or equipment.
I guess I don’t understand the whole auction thing. Do people really have no idea of the street price of something before they bid on it? Particularly now, where they can find it in seconds on their phone, standing right there?
What I found boggling was that any kind of arc welder went for crazy prices. A plain Lincoln AC “tombstone” welder, $250 new from anywhere, except beaten half to death, knobs broken off, and no cables, *always* went for at least $400.
I’ve seen similar things before, especially with online auctions – why would people pay more for a used item than they could for the same item brand new (items with no historic or collector value).
I’ve watched some items recently at RIA go for more than elsewhere and more than new and haven’t been able to figure out why.
Of course, I frequently see items on Gunbroker LISTED at well above prevailing retail, but they get few to no bids and sit for a long time – fortunately those bidders are willing to compare prices and shop around. I would have thought they would be similar to the online bids at RIA, but apparently not …
ah those are really nice. i think you are really gonna like those