Cimarron 1911 nickeled .45-- what do you think?

[Baltimore Ed]

I've been halfway looking for a nickled.45 for a while and just found these on GB. They look to be a faithful reproductions of a 1911 with all the correct roll marks. I posted this here because a nickel .45 is more gangster than a blue or parked one which would be more WB. Frank Nitty in The Untouchables. Anyone have one? What do you think of it? They cost 1/4 of what a genuine 1911 nickled.45 cost. Can't beat that. Thanks.

[Major 2]

I have the high polish Blue.... feeds everything from lead cowboy to critical defense , ball or hollow points
I did get some 7 Rd mag.s  and these are what I use , I don't think I ever loaded the 8 rd mag that came with.

get one and enjoy the extra jingle left in your pocket  

[Baltimore Ed]

Major, I hit the buy now button so I hope you're right. You wouldn't steer a fellow cowpoke wrong. Sounds like the magazine is a joke but I use Chip McCormick mags in my 1911s.

[Good Troy]

A nickle plated in 38 Super would be the bee's knees for a gangster!

[Abilene]

Actually, parkerized would not be period correct for Wild Bunch.  That came a bit later.  Original 1911's were high polish blue, then when war broke out they lessened the amount of polish.  I have the nickled version.  My story on that is it was the personal gun of an army colonel who got injured and I used his gun to save both our a$$es, so afterwards he gave it to me as a gift.   

[Baltimore Ed]

Good story there Abilene but If SASS had done it right then only 1911s or 1911A1s would be WB legit. IMO, if a shooter could afford a 1500.00 plus high end IPSC auto for sure he could afford a 600.00 1911 military clone to play this game with and be TRUE to the movie. But back to my question, how is your Cimarron doing? Any problems?

[Major 2]

I have McCormick mag's I bought on EBay.... I think you will be very pleased 

[Abilene]

Mine has been just fine.  I run 230 LRN through it with zero problems (I did run a few hollowpoints through it with no problem, but not a lot).  The bumper-pad magazine that came with it worked fine when I tried it, but so has every other magazine.  Several lanyard ring magazines from Cimarron, some Chip McCormicks, and seems like something else.  The lanyard ring mags look good but hurt the palm, so I start out a WB stage with the lanyard ring mag installed, and use flat bottom mags for the stage.

Of course when I said parkerized would not be correct I just meant time-wise, not WB rules-wise.

[Baltimore Ed]

If I'm in my Punitive Expedition cavalry uniform I'll use a my lanyard hooked onto my first mag. One less mag to pick up. Here's my frankencolt, holster, web gear and trench gun bayonet. Frankencolt = 1911 slide, HS bbl, 1911 correct controls/sights, distressed grips but an Essex frame distressed to match the Colt slide.

[Pitspitr]

I LOVE my Cimarron. It's Blue, not nickel. After buying and shooting a really nice nickel M&P revolver, shooting a nickel gun just doesn't seem as cool as it used to, but that's me.

Several years ago I received a Cylinder & Slide wide spur hammer and original style safety as a door prize at the AZSA World Championship. I didn't get the hammer in correctly. and was going through Freemont anyway so had Bill & crew do an action job on it while they had it. They kind of sniffed and turned up their nose when they saw the inside of the dust cover as it shows that the frame is cast. They adjusted (among other things) the trigger over travel. Not that there were issues before, It shot really well before they worked on it, but it is sweet now.

I wouldn't be afraid to buy another one even without a action job. To the best of my memory it has never had a failure to feed or any other kind of failure. And it's really accurate.

I was complaining to Niederlander one day about the way my parts 1911 with the Remington Rand slide shot. He said let's see it shoot. After I shot a group with it he asked, "What was wrong with that?"  So I took out Cimarron and shot a group with it. He told me something to the effect that while the Cimarron did shoot a lot better there wasn't anything wrong with the way the Remington shot.

[Major 2]

I had one of those parts bin 1911's A1's   Remington Rand frame, Colt Slide , OEM GI  Trigger, Hammer & Barrel $ some replica lanyard loop Mags.
Don't know what springs were in it ..... paid $375 for it from guy that collected  US issue & rare 1911's  ( he had all the contract makers )
and several guns credited to notable persons....
He had put it together for me.

  It shot more spray & pray , so I understand what you are saying..

" He told me something to the effect that while the Cimarron did shoot a lot better there wasn't anything wrong with the way the Remington shot."

[Coffinmaker]

OK, Baltimore Ed's got me wound up!!  I can't help myself!!

The guys and gals that first started WB, Intended for a SIDE MATCH ONLY that would be a place to play with your Safe Queens.  M1917s, Lugers, Broomhandles, Mosins, 1911s, 1910s and other really fun guns.  It was an absolute GAS!!

Then SASS saw WB as something to stick their collective thumbs in.  Gave their own WB side match at EOT and regulated it out the WAZOO.  Took 90% of the fun out of it.  Then, entirely too many lazy match directors took the easy way out for rules and just adopted SASS restrictions as was.  WB, as originally intended, DIED right there.  Restricting it to "1911s" only ..... killed it.  Most places have turned it into CAS with a 1911.  Phooey!!

Back to our regularly scheduled programming.  Soapbox Mode > > > OFF

[Baltimore Ed]

Coffinmaker, very sorry to have wound you up. But you're so cute when you're hot and bothered. I was aware of the original WB side match only deal but not of it originally having such a broad range of firearms. A cool idea. It's a shame that the powers that were had to tinker with it. I proposed a Classic Military Category about the same time that WB (cowboy ipsc) was being created. It was shot down so hard it wasn't funny. How dare I propose a self loading pistol and double action revolvers for cowboy action shooting!!! And a Military Category that included Pershing's Mexican travels!! Hell, that's not even the right century. Horses AND trucks!  I want someone to show me a real 1800s cowboy who wears what Roy and Dale wore. The only legitimate category is Classic Cowboy if you want to get real. I like shooting my 1911 and DA revolvers and am very blessed to belong to a club with members who don't believe it's 1875 one day a month and don't care if I show up wearing Span Am or Gabby Hayes or Sgt Bourne carrying a brace of Hand Ejectors, New Services, Webleys or a 1911 and a DA. We all have fun, pick on each other, laugh and enjoy the smell of burnt powder and the CLANG of lead on steel which is what this sport should be about.
(If I ever get around to it I have a .45 Broomhandle languishing in my safe that I need to get up and running. Cool but clumsy gun.)

Soapbox mode also off, at least for now......

[Niederlander]

We've always done all of this at our local club.............

[Pitspitr]

Coffinmaker, very sorry to have wound you up. But you're so cute when you're hot and bothered. I was aware of the original WB side match only deal but not of it originally having such a broad range of firearms. A cool idea. It's a shame that the powers that were had to tinker with it. I proposed a Classic Military Category about the same time that WB (cowboy ipsc) was being created. It was shot down so hard it wasn't funny. How dare I propose a self loading pistol and double action revolvers for cowboy action shooting!!! And a Military Category that included Pershing's Mexican travels!! Hell, that's not even the right century. Horses AND trucks!  I want someone to show me a real 1800s cowboy who wears what Roy and Dale wore. The only legitimate category is Classic Cowboy if you want to get real. I like shooting my 1911 and DA revolvers and am very blessed to belong to a club with members who don't believe it's 1875 one day a month and don't care if I show up wearing Span Am or Gabby Hayes or Sgt Bourne carrying a brace of Hand Ejectors, New Services, Webleys or a 1911 and a DA. We all have fun, pick on each other, laugh and enjoy the smell of burnt powder and the CLANG of lead on steel which is what this sport should be about.
(If I ever get around to it I have a .45 Broomhandle languishing in my safe that I need to get up and running. Cool but clumsy gun.)

Soapbox mode also off, at least for now......

I was going to say, You'd like what we do but Niederlander beat me to it...

We've always done all of this at our local club.............

[pony express]

We do a military class at our club too. Mostly just Me and Drydock shoot it. Gonna be French day for me tomorrow. Have a Berthier Carbine and long rifle, Lebel, and a Kropatchek. Ok, the Krop is Portuguese, but the French Navy used a Krop in 11mm, instead of 8mm. And my 1892 French Ordinance Revolver to round it out. No shotguns. Might do a little Italian too, Drydock has some 10.4X47 ammo I may try in my safe queen Vetterli. If I had one, I'd match up one of the Berthiers with a Ruby .32 auto.

[treebeard]

I have recently acquired a Cimarron Nickel plated 1911 and have become most fond of it. I quess I have about 150 rounds thru it with no malfunctions. I shoot 230gr FMJ ball type ammo( what it was originally designed for) which may not be OK for WB. 1911's were my first handgun  acquired 50 years ago and is still my favorite after many thousand rounds. Great pistol and if you get it I am confident you will enjoy it.

[Drydock]

I'm doing one stage with a Vetterli-Vitali and a Bodeo revolver.

[Coffinmaker]

Getting back to our regularly scheduled programming >> > >

I think the 1911 was best Combat/Defense handgun ever designed by ANYONE!!  More "modern" KRAP included.  The absolute BEEZ KNEEZ is a Nickel 1911.  Matters not.  Zoot Shooters .... Wild Bunch ..... Nickel is just too KOOL FER SKULE!!  My personal carry gun is a Kimber short barrel 1911.  During a stint in Law Enforcement, my choice of a duty arm was the 1911.  Cocked and locked there is nothing faster to get into action including a Rebel Blaster !!

A Nickel 1911 will be absolutely KOOL!!  Ya should see one running on BP.  Caused ROUND EYES and DROPPED JAWS.  Really FUN!!

[Baltimore Ed]

My pretty nickled Cimarron 1911 arrived late Friday and then I shot my WASA /CAS clubs monthly match yesterday so I finally got to try it out today. First thing, I swapped out the light colored grips for black double diamond horn grips. Much nicer. I put 50 rds of my standard .45 acp handload through it with NO problems, duelist of course. ( 4.5 gr Red Dot x 200 gr RNFP lead cowboy bullet ) Used McCormick mags, didn't even mess with the import mag. There appears to be some marks on the feed ramp from the lead bullets. No misfeeds or ejection issues. Ejected the brass at about 4-5 o'clock. The mag release was very
tight so I cut off a couple coils. Still plenty strong but a lot easier to operate one handed. The recoil spring feels stronger than my other 1911s which worried me that my hand loads would have feed/ejection problems but no issues. I didn't put it on paper just steel but it feels like it's poi is left of poa. With those bright sights it's going to be interesting. I'll have to put it on paper and from a rest to see for sure. The slide release feels hard to operate but before I mess with it I need to remove the detent pin spring assembly and check for burrs. Cosmetically there are fine scratches in the finish but I intend to WB shoot this and carry it in a holster so I don't really care. It's not going to be a safe queen by any means. I'll see what mothers polish will do.  It has what I'd call an intermediate length trigger, not the real short one but not the long one. I prefer the long triggers but I might be ok with this one. I also like a 1911 wide spur hammer, the one on this Cimmaron looks awful small. I might try to find a nice blued wide spur for it eventually. My only other bitch is that I wished that the thumb safety and slide release were of the fine checkered 1911 style instead of what's on the gun. All in all not a bad investment for a non Colt.
Update--8-30 I found a 1911 safety, slide lock and wide spur hammer on eBay. See what they look like when they get here next week.
Update--9-4 got the safety and hammer installed, waiting for the slide lock.
Update--9-8 got my slide lock installed, and they match, now to finish my project and get the 3 blued parts nickled.
Update-10-14 should mail my 1911 parts to Fords next week along with my HE to nickle.