54 pages soft cover
12 inches high by 18 inches long
Price: $45 which includes 1st class U.S. Postage
Please reference “M1911A1 Blueprints” on order
Available from:
John Baum
5678 State Rt.45
Lisbon, Ohio 44432
This is a most essential reference for anyone working on a M1911A1 and needing a part that is not available fast.
The U.S. Military Mil-Spec blueprints for the M1911A1 are here. Various drawings date from 1928 to 1961. Now you know exactly what to make and you know that it will fit.
In WWII the military used to take guns from a contractor’s batch and detail strip them. The parts were then mixed at random with marked parts from control guns. If the reassembled guns did not work perfectly the problem was isolated and the offending parts of that lot brought to Mil-Specs so that all the guns in that lot could pass the test. Total and complete interchangeability of parts was the standard rigidly adhered to.
There would be no highly trained armorers hand-fitting and timing parts in individual guns like there was when revolvers were used. Any part that met the drawing’s specs was guaranteed to work and any ordnance man could make the installation as needed. These are the drawings that John Baum has cleaned up and reproduced. They are plastic spiral bound so they will lay flat when they are being used.
If you suspect a part on your gun is faulty you can now check it to see if it is within specifications or not. Not all parts sold are anywhere near these specs.
I remember years ago when you could not buy a complete stainless steel M1911A1 but all the parts in stainless steel were available. I knew a man who decided to use these to build his own stainless steel .45 automatic. He gave up the project when he found that the slide could be lifted off the frame vertically. If the manufacturer had used these drawings that could have never happened.
Magazine feed lips damaged? Here you can see their correct dimensions. No more guessing. Barrel bushing too tight? Now you can see what the dimensions should be. Make the parts fit the Mil-Specs and it will work.
Once you have a perfected design like the M1911A1 pistol you have to have strict adherence to the design’s specifications in its manufacture.
In WWII, Army Ordnance inspectors carefully insured every part made was perfectly matched to the production drawings insuring that the guns worked to their full potential in the worst combat conditions. That is why I only carry a WWII G.I. issue M1911A1.
When this country was first settled, the pioneers had to “Make do or do without” and this often meant guns made from scratch at a local blacksmith shop or the user of these guns making his own parts. Men like Daniel Boone could and did make complete rifles. The same skills that worked on the frontier still work today on modern guns. Hard times and natural or manmade disasters can quickly put you back in the same boat as that frontiersman having to make what you need or do without. These drawings are indispensable then.—Jim Dickson
