Project COBRA, '80s Action Movie Homage

[Big Boss]

For probably as long as I can remember, I've been a strong aficionado of the so-called "Reagan era" of American cinema, specifically the action films. Let's face it, they were cheesy, over the top, overly violent and macho, and often had bare bones or extremely childish stories and premises, but that's exactly why I love them. It was just a simpler time in a movie goer's life, but you had so much to choose from.

Nowadays, action movies of this caliber are few and far inbetween, with everything else being CGI-filled snorefests starring whatever flavor of the week leading men. There's no Schwarzeneggers , Stallones, Willises, Van Dammes, or even Jackie Chans, with these aging guys obviously slowing down (except for Stallone, who is fresh off his '80s action homage, The Expendables, which was awesome by the way). Eventually these guys are going to completely fade away though, leaving us with very few even remotely capable of filling their void.

Back in the '80s, there was no shortage of action extravaganzas. Arnold was on a solid film-a-year click, as was Stallone, and by the late '80s Jackie Chan's movies were starting to gain attention in the States, and Bruce Willis was quickly becoming a rising star in the genre with what may be the most perfect '80s action film- Die Hard. Van Damme and Seagal were also starting to catch up (though I'll always say that Seagal's movies were always a bit too stupid for my tastes, with the exception of Out For Justice, which is so stupid it comes full circle to being awesome).

Even with Die Hard being a legitimately good film, one film from this era has always stood out in my mind as the king of the Reagan Era. One film that so encapsulated the essence of '80s action flicks so well that its like immediately stepping back in time in your Delorean time machine to a time when new episodes of Miami Vice were being advertised. A film that pretty much completely sheds any notion of having any sort of story for the sake of extreme, wanton violence, with a very black and white idea of good guys vs bad guys ala Dirty Harry. As a matter of fact, this film could be considered an even more testosterone-driven, chest-thumping remake of the intelligent, original Dirty Harry film from the early '70s.

This movie is 1986's Cobra, and as the poster for the film indicates, it does not fuck around.



Reaganites creamed their pants the second they laid eyes upon this poster.

This single picture sums up '80s action films perfectly. Short on words, big on BADASS.

Like Dirty Harry, Cobra attempts to showcase that an inflexible criminal justice system is law enforcement's Achilles heel. Unlike Dirty Harry, however, the approach largely fails, since Lt. Marion "Cobra" Cobretti is AT LEAST as violent as the criminals he kills for no other reason than him being a ridiculous musclehead, versus Dirty Harry's questioning of the justice system and the limits of due process as he hunts down an obviously deranged serial killer who uses the system's flaws to his advantage (played by Andrew Robinson, who coincidentally appears as Cobretti's rival on the LAPD, Detective Monte). While Cobretti openly questions the due process of law enforcement (calling it "play(ing) by these bullshit rules"), its mostly because he's not a very good cop and can only be relied on for straight up killing, whereas "Dirty" Harry Callahan questioned the law while somewhat sticking to it unless he felt he had to deviate from it. Cobra constantly kills people, with much zeal, whereas Callahan is shown to have been a decent cop that had recently been having doubts about the justice system he has been abiding by.

In other words, Dirty Harry was an action film/drama/thriller that cleverly sneaks in some political musings in an era of rapidly expanding civil liberties, whereas Cobra clumsily shoehorns these ideas in a near-non-stop kill-fest that would have been the same with or without these concepts in place. Hell, they could have made Cobretti a private eye, a security officer, or an ex-military goon and the film would be 95% the same. Cobretti does almost ZERO actual police work throughout the film, only showing up at the precinct to get yelled at by his bosses on occasion or practice on the shooting range, and only shows a hint of real police work when he attempts to ID the Night Slasher back at his apartment via his personal files. He never once attempts to actually arrest anyone, and very quickly throws the law to the way side as it suits him (kinda like the real LAPD of the era). Yeah...He's a pretty awful cop, to say the least.



At the very beginning of the movie, Cobretti confronts the "Supermarket Killer" during a hostage situation. He refuses to negotiate with the Killer, instead producing a folding knife that he tosses into the Killer's chest, and then gives him .0001 seconds to surrender before shooting him six times in the chest. I can only imagine what his incident report would have looked like.

Come to think of it, Cobra operates almost exactly like how the Mechanical Maniacs operate on the RPD in the epilogues. Cartoonish violence laced with one-liners and very little actual police work versus equally outlandish villains.

But these supposed shortfalls are what give Cobra its real charm. With a story and characters straight out of an eleven-year-old's day time musings during social studies class, the movie is a raw piece of Stallone's mind, who wrote the screenplay, as well as "ghost" directed the film behind George P. Cosmatos (who would do the same during the filming of Tombstone, with Kurt Russell quietly running the show; Stallone personally recommended Cosmatos to his Tango and Cash co-star Russell for this very reason). Along with Rocky and Rambo, and now the Expendables, Stallone may be the most important figure in action film history, or is at least shoulder-to-shoulder with his pal Arnold.

Cobra was intended to launch yet another Stallone franchise like Rocky and Rambo, and despite it doing very well at the box office, the movie was (not surprisingly) panned. Fucking critics. Guess Stallone forgot to pay them off with cash and booze.

So, for these very reasons, I have come to appreciate Cobra on a level akin to my obsession with the horrid Super Mario Bros movie (which was also intended to spawn a sequel that never saw the light of day), so it shouldn't be surprising that I eventually replaced SMB with Cobra when I "retired" from my regular SMB screenings (at a count of 201). I have currently watched Cobra 36 times since I began keeping count after retiring SMB, which doesn't include an estimated dozen or so times over the years prior to this.

Even less surprising to anyone who knows me, I've been itching to recreate Cobretti's signature sidearm that he uses throughout the film- a Colt MK IV Series 80 Gold Cup National Match with a 9mm Conversion Unit and custom made ivory grips embossed with a cobra head.

With Project SNAKE EATER currently stalled due to my chosen gunsmith's work schedule, I decided to go ahead and start on this one.

I already had the rarest part of the gun, a genuine 9mm Conversion Unit slide that was missing the rest of the kit, so it was a matter of finding the rest of the 9mm parts, as well as a suitable base gun.



An original 9mm Conversion Unit (not mine, sadly). Note the oddly shaped tapered barrel.

Lo and behold, a few weeks ago I came across a decent condition Gold Cup National Match from the same era on Gunbroker, and a call to Colt confirmed it as a 1983 manufactured pistol. This, the gun would fulfill three of my "to do" items form my gun collecting wish list, namely acquire a Colt Gold Cup, recreate Cobretti's gun, and get a gun made in the same year as my birth. The stars aligned, and after putting in a single bid I won the auction and had the gun on its way.



Original picture from the seller's auction page.



Look very closely at that round protrusion in the very center of the gun, above the trigger. You can see the dents and scratches from some idiot in this gun's history.

I picked up the gun Friday, and like me, its showing signs of its 28 years of existence. The blue finish is slightly worn in spots, and it also shows signs of some idiot that didn't know what he was doing attempting to take apart the gun. There are various signs of common "idiot scratches", such as evidence some some tool being used to try and push the slide stop out of the frame for disassembly incorrectly, and a very common idiot scratch from reassembly of the pistol on the opposite side, caused by pushing the slide stop back in place sloppily.

Thankfully, there doesn't appear to be any amateur gunsmithing going on here. The feeding ramp is missing its finish, but it still has factory machine marks, indicating that Colt was probably the one who did this. The relationship between the ramp and the barrel throat is right in spec as well. The gun even sports its original collet bushing, which were often replaced with more conventional solid bushings by their owners, both for more accuracy, and to avoid a potentially rare but dangerous situation caused by the collet bushing's fingers breaking off inside the slide and jamming it up.

The barrel bore looks, well, used. There's some erosion present, but the rifling is still good, so I won't need to replace it just yet. Not like it matters much, since I'll probably keep this thing in 9mm for the most part.

Inside the frame, I came across the dreaded Series 80 safety system, which was brand new in 1983. This was my first time taking apart the Series 80 system, which is only a couple more parts than the Series 70 and older 1911s, but it proved to be an enlightening experience, along with a few more parts unique to the Gold Cup series of Colts.

While cleaning the gun, I found huge deposits of lead and carbon. This is usually an indication that someone had shot unjacketed lead cast bullets in the gun frequently. These days, most bullets have a copper shell over a lead core, since shooting bare lead through a barrel will leave deposits of lead and "spray" lead dust everywhere inside and outside the gun. Most unjacketed lead bullets are made by home ammo reloaders, the mad scientists of the shooting sports, since they are always looking for the right formula to create the perfect ammo for a specific gun.

Unfortunately, some of these guys don't know what they're doing. They may overcharge the ammo, creating dangerously "hot" loads that can destroy the gun from the inside out. With this in mind, I carefully examined the gun for any indication of cracks or other such abuse. Thankfully, the more I tore into the gun, there were fewer indications of prior disassembly to be found. I deemed it possible that gun may never have been detail stripped like this since leaving Hartford, Conn. in 1983, at least not by the same douchebag that used a hammer and screw driver to try and remove the slide stop.



Welcome to my nightmare. The Gold Cup has been completely cleaned inside and out, and all of the parts and new springs are laid out, ready to be reassembled. Yay.

I replaced all of the springs in the gun, which is my own standard protocol whenever I buy a used gun for the sake of safety and performance. Reassembly was a test in patience, to say the least, but nowhere near as frustrating as the first few times I disassembled the 1978 CZ 75, which has a notoriously uncooperative reassembly process. I can now take apart and reassemble the ol' CZ with ease, and with practice I'll master the Series 80 Gold Cup as well.

With the Gold Cup thoroughly cleaned and re-sprung, I'll be taking it to the range in the near future to see what it can do. Gold Cups are supposed to be the top of the line Colt 1911, especially in the days before the Special Government Models, so they were built with a more stringent set of quality standards than the regular Government Model.



Reassembled, ready to rock.



Note the magazine. The gun came with a single off-brand stainless steel mag that I'm not even going to bother testing. Instead, I'll be using the same mags as my Talo M1911A1.



On my window sill, you can get a good idea of just how shiny the flats are. Not exactly mirror polished, but reflective enough to see my reflection in.

While they don't make very good everyday carry guns that would face combat situations, they are very good target guns.

Furthermore, this 1983-made gun was made before the 1986-1990 UAW strike against Colt, which remains the longest labor strike in US history. The strike forced Colt to use "scab" workers as they negotiated with the UAW, causing quality to plummet in the hands of inexperienced workers. Colt nearly went bankrupt in the process as it lost both civilian and government customers, and eventually the UAW and Colt came to an agreement in order to save the company. The agreement ended up with Colt being owned by private investors, the state of Connecticut, and the UAW itself. Quality continued to suffer throughout the '90s, and the company was hit by an even bigger blow when their president was quoted as being in favor of a federal plan to drastically increase government control over individual citizens' purchasing rights. While the federal plan never was seriously proposed, the damage was done even as Colt fired the offending president. The boycott lasted into the 2000s until a retired military general became Colt's president, who was hellbent on restoring Colt's honor.



No reason for this picture being here, other than to break up my Colt PR piece. You're welcome.

Today, Colt is once again a success story amidst a sea of failing American companies. The company finally takes pride in its work again, and thus "quality makes it a Colt" once again. They've realized that they need to update their product line with both forward-thinking products (Double Action Government and New Agent models), as well as the guns of yesteryear that are still very popular (such as the very successful circa 1918 WW1 M1911 reproductions). Colt now proudly proclaims that they sell every single gun that they make. Consequently, it can sometimes be difficult to find brand new Colts sitting on gun shop shelves, since they can be hard to come by.

Anyways, now that I have the Gold Cup, the 9mm Conversion Unit (with a barrel already here and all of the other small parts readily available as soon as I spend the money on them), all that leaves is the most recognizable part of Cobretti's gun- the custom cobra ivory grips.

And wouldn't you know it, last August a pair that were actually used in the movie were up for auction on a different site. Had I been aware of such an auction, I would have gone after them, and likely won due to my dogged nature with shit like this.



Actual goddamned grips that should be in my hands.

But alas, I missed my chance, so I now have to go with option B- have them made for me.

Now, from what I can tell from the movie's generous closeups of the grips, the grips are made out of ivory, and the image was either hand painted or silk screened. There's also some sort of reddish-brown border on the sides of the grips.



The gun, shoved into Cobretti's pants above his other gun. Nice view of the grips.

For my grips, instead of hand painting them, I went with a different approach. There's a centuries old maritime tradition involving intricate carvings on ivory from whale's teeth back in the whaling industry's heyday. These fishermen had a lot of free time to kill, so eventually the art of scrimshaw was born as a need to keep from going crazy on these ships.

These days, there are more humane alternatives to ivory, which is what I've chosen. However, these bonded ivory grip panels carve and age exactly like the real deal, so it really is the best of both worlds. After finding a guy who specifically does scrimshaw work on grips and sending him pictures of what I want, he quickly agreed to do it. Thus, I have a set of unique Cobra grips on the way within a few weeks.



I cleaned up the cobra image and recolored it. This is the same picture I sent to the scrimshander for reference. Yes, that's what they're called.

The scrimshaw grips will look slightly different than the painted grips from the movie, since the image will be literally carved into the panels and painted for a more 3D effect. Aside from looking more "custom", the carving will add texture to the smooth ivory panels, increasing grip.

The end result will be a 9mm Gold Cup with a whole lotta retro style to it.



Scene from early in the film as Cobretti comes home after dispatching the Supermarket Killer to relax and clean his gun. Note the grips here are inexplicably totally different from any other scene in the movie. I ahve no idea as to why they did this. Maybe this scene was filmed first and the regular grips weren't yet available?



Another view from the "cleaning scene". Shows off the weird barrel on the gun.



The loaded magazine. Note the blue-tipped bullets. These are Glaser Safety Slugs, which are meant to be "safe" indoors. They supposedly won't penetrate walls and harm unintended targets, but that isn't always the case. They also have a habit of being completely ineffective against even lightly-protected targets. Maybe Cobretti was just playing it safe when he dumped almost an entire mag into the Killer's chest earlier? Or maybe he's just a violent goon.

Once the gun is complete, I'll need a few accessories to go along with it. How about this?



No, THIS is a knife, Paul Hogan.

The Night Slasher's knife. Stallone himself is said to be largely responsible for the knife's memorable design, as he wanted a knife that would stand out in the viewer's mind. Mission accomplished, Sly.

Of course, I won't be able to shove the gun down my pants without looking the part. I'll need the jacket, biker boots, jeans, and these:



Ray-Ban Outdoorsman 3030, black frame and silver mirror glass lenses. Paired with an unlit match hanging from your lips instantly makes you the biggest badass on the block. Or a greasy jerk. I guess it boils down to how big your gun is.

Finally, once you get the look down, you've got to get around town in style. Why not an AWSOM 50?


1950 Mercury Coupe, customized for the movie. For once, a vanity plate is accurate. The official ride of greasy jerks worldwide. In reality, this was the actual car from the movie that Stallone kept for himself. It was stolen out of his garage 17 years ago and went missing until last year, when it was found being auctioned off on eBay. The Cobra wasn't about to let that happen and pursued legal action. Happily, it all worked out in the end, and in March of 2011, Cobretti got his wheels back. Now make Cobra 2, god damn it.

For a thoroughly entertaining breakdown of the movie, check out iMockery's review here: http://www.i-mockery.com/minimocks/cobra/

As well as All Outta Bubblegum's here: http://www.allouttabubblegum.com/main/?p=7717

[Gauntlet101010]

Maybe we should view this movie at th enext meet. I mean, we did see Super Mario.

[Big Boss]

I think you guys will enjoy it. I can do running commentary as we watch it, since I know way too much trivia on it. Plus, its only 87 minutes long.

Too bad I won't be able to bring the Cobra gun with me. Would have been a fun prop to have on hand. Guess I'll have to make due with the Ray-Bans.

[Big Boss]

Surprisingly, the grips have proven to be the most troublesome part of this project.

My original scrimshaw idea has fallen through, since the guy I had commissioned to do them...Well, let's just say the end result didn't pass muster. I passed on them, and I resolved to come up with a more viable solution.

Its pretty odd that these grips have never been faithfully been reproduced. There's a few really poor lookalikes floating around out there, but they look god awful. I eventually came across this place:

http://www.gungrips.net/gun_grip_images.htm

They do laser engraving on bonded ivory. The problem is that all of the cobra head images I had were of pretty lousy quality, even after spending considerable time cleaning them up in MS Paint and GIMP. Finally, I decided that in order to get this done the right way, I'd have to recreate the image from scratch myself.



This is the small version, by the way. The full size version is a retardedly huge 49 MEG bitmap file.

Aside from black, the image uses four different colors: brown, goldenrod, pale yellow, and red. The bright part of the face will actually be transparent, with the natural ivory color showing through. I colored it in a very light beige so it doesn't look so weird here.

Recreating this image proved to be way harder than I anticipated. It took me about three hours to sketch it out, another two to clean it up after scanning, and probably another two to color it.

Providing that Gungrips.net can reproduce this as an accurate 1.5 x 1.5 inch laser etching, I'll be painting the borders of the grips myself, and touching up the image with shading via hand painting. I certainly didn't anticipate having to draw upon my old artistic talents so much, but I guess its nice to have it when in need.

[Big Boss]

Lesson learned.

I finally got around to taking the Gold Cup to the range for my first live firing test. As a safety precaution, any time I change something to a gun, or I shoot an unfamiliar used gun, I only load one cartridge into a magazine at a time, in case there's some sort of dangerous, unforeseen condition, like "machine gunning", which is when the gun suddenly becomes an illegal full-auto weapon. Obviously, having more bullets behind the first one in this condition means you'll very suddenly find yourself trying to tame a full auto machine pistol. That tends to make the range owner not very happy.

Luckily, the Gold Cup didn't machine gun at all as I gradually increased the amount of cartridges per magazine. However, it quickly displayed a very annoying problem- FTE, or failure to eject. Once the cartridge in the barrel is fired, the gun should automatically eject the spent brass case. My gun wasn't doing that, leaving the spent case in the chamber. The gun would automatically try to feed the next cartridge in line, but it would obviously run into the still-packed chamber, creating a double-feed.

The more I fired, the more this happened until it was happening literally every single time I fired a shot. Before I wasted any more ammo (@ 33 cents a shot, mind you), I packed it up and left.

Immediately I realized that the problem was that the spent case wasn't being extracted out of the chamber properly, so that casts considerable scrutiny on the part known as the extractor (imagine that). Close inspection yields that I failed to pay enough attention to it when I had the gun detailed stripped, as it shows considerable wear. The extractor works by utilizing a small hook to grab onto the rim of the cartridge as it enters the chamber awaiting fire. If this hook is worn out of broken, it won't grab onto the rim properly, so the rim will shake loose during fire. On top of that, the 1911's extractor is a solid piece of metal that will lose tension over time, adding to these kinds of problems. The Gold Cup's extractor definitely has a very worn, rounded out hook, but I haven't seen much of a loss in tension. My guess is that this was an original part that is simply due for replacement after nearly 30 years and possibly thousands of extractions.

Luckily, good quality extractors as easy and relatively cheap to come by. I also possess the proper fixture to give them the proper tension needed, as if I were anticipating this problem. This is a pretty common case for a pistolsmith, so its a fine little challenge to cut my teeth on. In a few days, my new extractor will arrive (I had several laying around, but none of them were Series 80 compatible) and I can tackle the problem proper.

Also, my final round of small parts to complete the 9mm Conversion Kit arrived today, so I can also put that together in the mean time. The plan is to get the Gold Cup running perfectly in its original factory configuration, then try the 9mm Unit. In theory, if I can get both to work without heavily modifying the frame, or preferably not at all, then I'll have my dual-caliber pistol.

[Gauntlet101010]

Very cool hearing the play by play. I can actually sympathize witht he extractor bit as Transformers have similar clips that keep heads or hands in place and damaging them ruins a good figure.

I had a feeling you'd have to draw that snake yourself. Actually, I kinda thought that was the plan all along ...

[Big Boss]

I didn't want to. I was hoping to use an official image, or perhaps clean up a still from the movie, but it was filmed in the mid-80s. Not exactly HD quality there.

My image is actually really off in a few places due to me using two references at once. But, once its shrunken down to such a small size and colored in, nobody will notice the difference unless I point it out to them.

I'm hoping to completely build up this gun myself. This is probably the project I should have tackled before the Snake Eater gun, since this is far more simpler in nature, since I'm starting out with a gun that is (or was at one point) a functional gun. Its way easier to get from point A to B from there as opposed to starting from scratch. If Project COBRA is a success, meaning I end up with a 9mm Gold Cup that doesn't blow my hands off, then I'll have done a lot to build up my self esteem (which has been pretty lousy lately) and I can properly get back to the Snake Eater project.

My main obstacle is the lack of a proper workspace lately. It really limits what I can and can't do, so this is definitely a poor man's challenge. Many guns have been ruined under these circumstances.

Further tests of the extractor seem to indicate a loss of tension. I'd be able to correct that, but the hook itself is toast. I may also replace the standard ejector with an extended version for extra insurance, though it'll have to be cut down properly to avoid reaching the same problem that I'm dealing with right now.

On the 9mm Unit, I'm looking at the barrel I got and how it fits in the slide. Typical of Colt and other factory guns, the barrel has been over cut to ensure easy assembly in the factory. This has the side effect of decreasing accuracy and reliability, and gunsmiths used to weld up the factory barrel and re-fit it to wring out all of the accuracy they could out of the barrel. Nowadays, most 'smiths will prefer to get a brand new barrel and not bother with time consuming welding. A few places still do it for the really old school gunsmiths, though.

I haven't measured headspace of the new barrel in the 9mm slide yet. This is a very important measurement that tells you how much of the back end of the cartridge sticks out of the chamber. Too little, and you'll always have extraction problems. Too much, and you run into a potentially dangerous situation where the brass case will rupture upon detonation, sending part of the explosion downward, right into the frame and magazine below. If you have more cartridges in the magazine when this happens, those might explode as well. And since your hand will be wrapped around the pistol when this happens...

Certain calibers are more dangerous in this regard. The .45 in the 1911 is fairly forgiving on this issue, but 9mm and .38 Super are very particular, especially since the way the bottom of the barrel must be designed into order to make the cartridge feed correctly in the first place. Its a very delicate balance, and if its off by only a few thousands of an inch, you'll be lucky if just the barrel blows up.

It helps if you think of a cartridge as a miniature bomb, which it essentially is. The chamber portion of the barrel wraps around the brass case to keep it from exploding, while the breechface on the slide does the same at the back end. These leaves the pressure with no where to go but forward, pushing the bullet out of the way as it escapes out of the barrel. If any part of the containment area is inadequate, then the pressure normally behind the bullet escapes elsewhere, and that's when really, really bad things happen.

This is when I really respect a good gunsmith as an engineer. The math and geometry has to be near perfect for it to work not just once, but thousands of times without worry. Failure means you not only lose a customer, but you may end up killing someone.

Talk about pressure!

[Big Boss]

Got my new parts in today. I ordered not only a new extractor, but an extended ejector, new firing pin, and over-sized firing pin stop plate. I ordered the firing pin just for completeness' sake, since the original Colt pin is still well within spec.

The new extractor features a very blocky hook, which will have to be filed down to the correct shape, allowing me absolute control over the end result. On the flip side of the coin, if I screw up, the failure rests entirely on my shoulders.

The ejector is, as the new suggests, the part responsible for physically ejecting a spent cartridge after the extractor does it job. An extended ejector allows me to custom tune exactly where I want the empty shells to land by filing the extended "finger" to a specific shape and angle. This is more important if I were to collect the brass for reloading, but since I don't it is merely an extra challenge for me. It'll be nice if I can get all of the shells to land in the same little pile over my shoulder, though.

The over-sized firing pin stop plate is purposely machined too large, so I can fine tune by hand how tightly it fits into the back of the slide. A nice, tight fit ensures both the firing pin and extractor stay exactly where they need to be at all times. This is more important with the extractor, since they have a tendency to twist (a condition known as "clocking") as the slide cycles. An extractor that clocks usually isn't reliable, leading to more extraction and ejection woes.

The extractor and ejector are also left a bit long where they stick out of the back of the slide and frame so you can file them down to be even with the rest of the gun's curves. While merely aesthetic, a well blended extractor and ejector to the back end of the gun is a sign of quality work by someone with a fine eye for small details. Since every gun is different in very small ways, even those made by the same factory on the same day, this is something that must be done by hand in order to look right. Afterwards, the parts need to be refinished, so once I'm done I'll temporarily be left with a mismatched gun until I ship the whole thing off to be refinished.

In addition to that, I am also giving some thought to polishing the feeding ramp, the barrel throat, and maybe the breech face for extra reliability. These are all common targets for the "kitchen table gunsmith", also derogatorily dubbed "Bubba". Bubba will usually grab his trusty Dremel and go to town on these areas, failing to realize just how delicate he must be. The object isn't to get them mirror smooth by removing metal and making everything match up, but to keep everything within spec by removing as little metal as humanly possible. It takes a very light, precise touch to get the best results, but if you use a heavy hand you can actually destroy the gun or even make it into a time bomb.

The one thing all of the above have in common is that these modifications do not have anything to do with increasing accuracy, and instead are focused entirely on reliability. You can have the most accurate gun in the world, but if it doesn't do its job each and every time reliably then its useless. Right now my goal is to get this thing operating reliably 100% of the time before I even consider any accuracy mods, though I do opt for an easy creature comfort mod below.

On top of all that, I also got an unrelated set of parts- a Cylinder & Slide Series 80 Trigger Kit. This replaces all of the Series 80-specific parts with high quality parts that have been polished and coated in golden colored titanium nitrade for an ultra slick feel. This lessens the felt movement of these additional parts, allowing the Gold Cup's already excellent trigger feel to really shine through. The only downside is that to get the full benefit of the kit, you have to use the pins that come with it, which are visible on the outside of the gun. I'd rather not have gold on my Gold Cup. I'll make due with the stock pins and take the relatively minor hit against trigger quality, which will probably be so minor I won't be able to tell the difference.

Luckily, this is all stuff that doesn't really require an advanced workbench (though it certainly helps), so I can make due with the small bench vise in my basement for this project.

When everything is complete and I've gotten the gun to work in both calibers, I'll be sending it away for a complete refinish, this time in Royal Blue ( mirror finish on the flat sides of the slide and frame). I'm not sure if I'll send it to Colt or to Glenrock Bluing. I can save money by going to Glenrock while getting the same results, but on the other hand by sending the gun back "home" I can perhaps ask them for a replacement box, since I bought it without one. Colt also does an excellent job at Royal Blue, which is something they've always taken pride in. Because I'm also worried about losing definition of the very shallow slide markings, Colt gets bonus points because they would be able to correct this issue if they get too light after mirror polishing them.

I didn't plan on getting this involved with this gun, but I'm actually glad I am. I'm getting a good opportunity to troubleshoot and get some actual parts fitting done.

[Big Boss]

Note: This first part was written yesterday, before I went to the range.

I've tuned and fitted the new extractor and firing pin stop after several hours. I did take photos, but the camera I'm using isn't very usable on such a small scale, so none of the pics were worth keeping.

I'm holding off on installing the extended ejector, though I've pre-tuned it. I'll be using it as a hedge against any sort of problems that might occur during my next test of the gun, which will hopefully happen tomorrow. So far, the gun has ejected all of the unfired cartridges I've manually cycled through it without fail, but the real test will be during live fire. While I think I've done a good job with it, I'm still playing this one by ear.

From the outside, you can barely tell any work had been done to the pistol. The slide stop is now matte and lacks the "1" stamp form the Colt factory, and its also bare steel at the very bottom where I contoured it to roll over the hammer during cycling. The back of the extractor doesn't stick out nearly as far as I thought it would, so I haven't blended it yet. I'm pretty happy with how I fitted the firing pin stop. I probably could have done a very slightly better job if I had a better idea of what I was doing, but the end result yielded a stop plate that will stay in the gun by itself without help from the extractor or firing pin w/ spring. It also completely stops the extractor from clocking, ensuring that won't be a problem.

On a side note, while I was testing the extractor tension using my trigger pull gauge, I realized that I hadn't yet taken a reading of the Gold Cup's trigger pull. It averages a pull weight of just under 5 pounds, which is heavier than I thought it was- I had estimated around 4 pounds. I guess the fact that its a very smooth and tight trigger pull contributes to the lighter impression, which ain't a bad thing at all. I also should mention that when I replaced all of the springs upon its arrival, I didn't do any tuning to the trigger spring at all, so there is a lot of room for improvement if I want it. Next time I have the gun apart when I install the Trigger Reduction Kit, I might try my hand at bending back the spring a tad to lighten up the trigger pull.

Working on such a small scale with tiny files really aggravates my arthritis, unfortunately. It takes much longer than it should to do such jobs, especially without the benefit of power tools, or even a vise. I now have an even deeper appreciation of the old school 1911 gunsmiths from decades past who had to figure out all of this stuff as they went along, most of them ending their careers with crippling arthritis in their hands, wrists, and elbows from years of filing. Guess I'm ahead of the game on this one.

Note: This part was written post-range trip.

Just got back from the range, and the results...were awesome. The gun was 99% flawless in function, with the only error being a failure to feed due to the bullet nose catching on the ramp. The new extractor functioned flawlessly even without the new ejector.

With the extraction woes behind me, I was able to finally see what this gun is capable of. I can safely say that this Gold Cup is capable of far better shooting than I am, able to at least get a one-hole at the 20-25 feet I was putting the targets at. One thing that was holding back my performance is my sore hands and bad neck/shoulder, which is a long-standing injury suffered from work. I'm confident that if my body was in better shape, I'd be able to wrangle far more accuracy out of the gun.

Still, I did yield some decent results. The last target on the last magazine shot a very respectable 2 inch group, including three bullseyes. Unfortunately, it shares paper with another magazine of sloppy shooting on my part.

That one error gives me all the excuse I need to polish the feeding ramp and barrel throat, but I think I'm going to hold off on polishing the breechface for now, for safety reasons.

All in all, I'm very pleased with the progress made with this pistol.

Edit

I didn't get through today's range trip totally unscathed, however. Upon inspecting the pistol, I noticed that the retention pin for the Elliason rear sight had shorn off on one end. Since this is a very common problem with these particular sights, I'm not too shocked or angry to see it. It also helps that its easily corrected by replacing it with a piece of drill rod cut down to the right length, which will be much stronger anyways. At least I noticed it before the whole sight flew off during live fire.

[Gauntlet101010]

Sounds liek things are progressing well, which I am glad to hear.

Is this something you could put on your resume for a job? I know some fan art can be put on a resume ... is it similar for guns?

[Big Boss]

If I end up pursuing a job at an established shop after college, definitely. Completed guns act as a portfolio for a travelling gunsmith, the more involved the better. A gun with work like this would probably be equal to a rough sketch for an artist.

[Gauntlet101010]

Only a rough sketch, eh? So what would a full-blown picture be like?

[Big Boss]

Project SNAKE EATER would be a good start, but only if I did all of the work myself.

I'm rather limited on what I can do as a "resume gun" at the moment, but luckily the Penn. Gunsmith School allows you to build up your resume as you learn, since you keep all of the guns you work on, with some being builds from the ground up.

The irony is that small jobs like the extractor replacement above are the bread and butter for most gunsmiths, with a very, very small elite few getting to build guns from scratch consistently.

[Big Boss]

Today, I received quite a few Cobra related items in the mail. The most important being the faux ivory grips with the snake image laser etched into them. They lack color, as Mr Berry of Gungrips.com suggested that since I'll be painting them by hand that the usual black line work should be omitted. I concurred, since it'll make painting with acrylic much easier.

I was amazed at how well the laser etching held onto even the tiniest details of my drawing, even when shrunken down so much. I can still see cross hatch shading in most places. Of course, when I saw this, it didn't take me long to realize how much of a pain in the ass painting in all of the macroscopic lines is going to be. But, I'm very happy with how they turned out, and that's thanks to Mr. Berry's input and putting up with my nitpicking.

I've also received a look-a-like of Cobretti's black jacket from the first half of the film (before he wears his dark green duster). It's a surplus Dutch military jacket from the '80s. Its different from the actual Cobra jacket in several ways, such as being dark grey instead of black, and having straight sleeves with no wrist openings, but unless you're crazy about Stallone's fashion choices, you probably wouldn't notice.

Third, I am now in possession of a replica of the Night Slasher's famous knife. The first time I took it out of its case and held it, I thought "God DAMN this thing is huge". Its almost 13 1/2 inches long, with the blade accounting for half of that. I'll probably do a proper review of of it soon. Its an interesting collectible.

I'll want to paint the grips and get them out of the way before I tackle the 9mm Unit. I'll then have 90% of the look.

[Mahajarah]

I'm drooling. Seriously, I am.
I want to hold this damn thing, It sounds like a monster.

Both the gun and the knife.

[Big Boss]

Well, a year later I've finally decided that I need to have this thing together. I got distracted by other stuff, but I was recently at the range with a friend of mine who has a 9mm 1911 and thought how nice it'd be to have one. Then I realized that I do.

One thing that stopped me from assembling this thing last year was that I didn't know exactly how to calculate the needed size for the swinging barrel link. On a 1911, there's a free swinging link that is attached to the underside of the barrel, and that's supposed to link to the slide stop and allow the barrel to tilt down as the slide cycles back immediately after being fired. If you use a link that's too long it will affect accuracy and probably break in short order. if you use one that's too short the gun will not cycle properly and you can cause major damage.

By now I'm pretty familiar with the 1911 and have read both of the Kuhnhausen manuals several times now. Oddly enough, after figuring out what size barrel link I needed, it ended up being the plain ol' standard size.

Once that was figured out, the gun went together fairly easily. After a few hours I was able to have it functioning well enough that I felt as though a trip to the range for some test firing was in order.

The pistol functioned well for he first few shots, displaying a surprising amount of accuracy for a thrown together gun using used parts form the 1980s. It helps that the slide and frame of the Gold Cup mesh together almost perfectly.

However, once I started using fully loaded magazine a problem persisted. Every other shot the gun would jam due to it failing to eject the spent cartridge. Its not a serious problem and I didn't feel at all dismayed. I was actually quite happy with my results, as I feel confident that with some more tuning the pistol will function just fine. I'm very happy with how it feels and how accurate it is.

When I got home I realized I had forgotten to exchange the Gold Cup's .45 recoil spring for a 9mm spring. This changes cycling time and was perhaps not giving the spent cartridge enough time to escape the chamber. Very easy fix.

Next, I checked tension on the extractor. This was one of the few parts I didn't replace, so it was already sketchy. As I figured, a quick test revealed that the extractor had lost tension over the years and wasn't able to hook onto the rim of a cartridge with enough of a grasp to ensure positive extraction. Luckily, I had just the right tool for the job- an extractor tensioner. Removing the part from the slide, I placed the piece in the small, Medieval torture device looking thing and bent it back into shape.

Once it was installed in the slide, my test indicated that the extractor now has plenty of grabbing power.

The only other issue I can see would be that the ejector I installed on the frame isn't seated on the frame as tightly as I had hoped, so a quick adjustment will hopefully correct that. I believe the slide might be dragging on top of it as it cycles back and forth, slowing it down.

Once the gun is functioning without issues, then its just a matter of cosmetics- blending the new ejector to match the rear of the gun, polishing up the slide stop, and sending off these parts along with the barrel and bushing to be given a new finish to match everything else.

I'm just about finished with it, I'd say.

[Gauntlet101010]

Sounds like it's really come together! Do you have all the equipent for this at your place or do you have to go somewhere to do it

[Big Boss]

For this project I did have everything I needed on hand. the only thing I'll need to outsource will be the final finishing. Conveniently, the place for that is only two miles away from my house.