A Chow45 that came to Canada

[Dr. Jim]

I recently acquired this pistol, having known about it for over 30 years. This is one of, or perhaps the only, F. Bob Chow accurized 45 to make it to Canada. Certainly it is the only one that I have encountered in the 38 years that I have been shooting handguns. It is evident in the picture that this example lacks the excellent finish that Chow was noted for, but I suspect it was just an accuracy job done on a customer's gun. The serial number indicates that it was manufactured in 1943, and Bob did the work in October of 1962. When I stripped and cleaned the pistol, I noted a few features that were novel, and not ones that I have encountered in any manuals or directions on tuning 1911s. The first of these is that the barrel hood is only welded up on the corners rather than all the way across. This would seem to be a very quick method of achieving a good fit. The second feature is that the trigger bow is fitted snuggly and smoothly into the frame, there is no fitting of the trigger pads as is standard with today's match triggers. Chow also apparently made his own barrel bushings and firing pin retainers. The gun locks up like a bank vault and does not display the slight hesitation sometimes seen before fully achieving battery. The trigger is superb, even after 50 years of use (admittedly that use level was undoubtedly very low) and my trigger gauge indicates a variance of only 2 ounces - I consider myself to have done a reasonable job when I get the variance down to less than 4 ounces on a 1911. I did have to install a trigger shoe to make it comfortable for my long fingers, but I do not intend to do other than admire the accuracy for the remainder of my association with this pistol. A superb example of 50 year old gunsmithing.





Cheers --- Dr Jim

[schatzperson]

Nice !
Fine example of discrete virtuosity.
Bet she shoots like a dream.

[Dr. Jim]

Certainly far better than me!
Did find that it has one peculiarity, it ejects cases almost straight up and back, with about 3 out of 5 landing on my face or neck. Only my Unique 69 has that pattern.

Dr. Jim

[schatzperson]

Re your odd, er... ejections, I just sued my Pardini 45 and it too throws them straight up most of the time.
Maybe we can rig an ejection seat for each case.

[schatzperson]

Please read "used" instead of "sued" Pardini in my last post.
That might come later :-)

[EdStevens]

I like the notice that came with the gun. I'm not young, but I'm young enough that holding down the trigger while chambering a round goes against my training and always feels WRONG, even though I do understand that it's the right thing to do with these types of guns. "Finger off the trigger until pointing at the target and ready to fire" is a mantra that's hard to overcome!

[Dr. Jim]

Yes that " off the trigger" training is hard to break, but when I first started shooting 1911s, the master shooters advised me to load by putting my thumb on the hammer, pull back on the trigger, and with a third digit to release the slide. The "three finger release" became automatic for about two decades. Then one day I realized that simply pulling the trigger put the disconnector into play and was the exact same condition as occurs during the firing cycle. Lot of folk won't believe it though.

Dr. Jim

[wjcksn]

Back then, the triggers and trigger shoes were all made of steel, not aluminum, so not holding the trigger or hammer back when loading could cause the inertia of the heavier trigger to cause the hammer to drop to half-cock, which would do nothing good for the finely polished sear face. A great trigger job could be ruined by an unknowing person dropping an empty slide a few times without holding back either the hammer or the trigger. It was also a practice of many gunsmiths to narrow the hammer's half-cock notch, so that it couldn't contact the sear on either end. I wonder how many half-cock notches failed because of this modification. Lightweight aluminum triggers changed all that, but I still hold the trigger back when I load a 1911; it's a 30 year habit. I've never had an accidental discharge from this practice, but I would never recommend it to a new shooter.

Walt Jackson