I'm posting a few pics of a Colt Combat Commander that Louis Seecamp coverted to double action during the 1970s. Some folks may have heard of these guns and some not so a little background:
After Ludwig Seecamp left Mossberg where he had been for a number of years he set up his own shop selling his patented conversions of the 1911 from a single action pistol to one that could fire da for the first shot. A da/sa 1911. From about 1970 to 1984 or so he made about 2000 of these conversions. The gun below is one of them.
Smith and Wesson had introduced the first American made da/sa pistol made a few years earlier with the M39. Those guns were in 9mm. When Seecamp introduced the conversions there were no da pistols produced anywhere in .45 acp. far as I know and difinately none in the U.S. None on the 1911 platform.
The Seecamp conversions all had the LWS cartouche on the redesigned trigger guard. In the pic below the trigger is set ready for a long heavy da pull.
Below the hammer is cocked and trigger ready for a sa shot.
The guns could be carried and handled like a standard 1911. They could be carried in all three conditions and used for a da first shot. They could be used like a standard 1911 and the da bypassed alltogether.
Under the right grip panel is a plate, which is held in place by the grips.
Beneath this is the da mechanism which cocks and than drops the hammer. A plunger than returns the trigger to it's forward position. If the hammer is cocked it remains back ready for a light sa shot. When the hammer is lowered the trigger moves forward. The mechanism and handling characteristics of the Seecamp are quite different from the Para Ord LDA guns. To see them go to Paras web site and look at the manuals for the LDA action. They handle quite differently from a standard 1911.
Seecamp made the triggers quite wide and smooth so that the da felt smoother and less heavy. It is still heavy. On this gun it feels like 16 pds. or so.
By the late 70s or early 80s other da/sa pistols began to arrive in the U.S. Seecamp stopped offering the conversions and concentrated on his well known pocket pistols. The conversions were licensed to a couple of other companies.
The conversions were sometimes purchased by cops, whose depts. would not let them carry a cocked and locked 1911. But would allow the conversions. They were ordered and carried by those that wanted a .45 with a da first shot capability and/or didn't want a condition one carry gun.
They are a piece of 1911 history.
The particular gun here is a Combat Commander from about 1974. Exactly when the conversion was done I'm not sure. It was originally a blued gun but has a hard chrome slide and looks like brushed nickel frame. The wrap around Pachmayr's and MSH were offered by Seecamp as an option.
You can see more about these and the history of Seecamp at www.seecamp.com
look at company history and the forum section.
tipoc
After Ludwig Seecamp left Mossberg where he had been for a number of years he set up his own shop selling his patented conversions of the 1911 from a single action pistol to one that could fire da for the first shot. A da/sa 1911. From about 1970 to 1984 or so he made about 2000 of these conversions. The gun below is one of them.
Smith and Wesson had introduced the first American made da/sa pistol made a few years earlier with the M39. Those guns were in 9mm. When Seecamp introduced the conversions there were no da pistols produced anywhere in .45 acp. far as I know and difinately none in the U.S. None on the 1911 platform.
The Seecamp conversions all had the LWS cartouche on the redesigned trigger guard. In the pic below the trigger is set ready for a long heavy da pull.
Below the hammer is cocked and trigger ready for a sa shot.
The guns could be carried and handled like a standard 1911. They could be carried in all three conditions and used for a da first shot. They could be used like a standard 1911 and the da bypassed alltogether.
Under the right grip panel is a plate, which is held in place by the grips.
Beneath this is the da mechanism which cocks and than drops the hammer. A plunger than returns the trigger to it's forward position. If the hammer is cocked it remains back ready for a light sa shot. When the hammer is lowered the trigger moves forward. The mechanism and handling characteristics of the Seecamp are quite different from the Para Ord LDA guns. To see them go to Paras web site and look at the manuals for the LDA action. They handle quite differently from a standard 1911.
Seecamp made the triggers quite wide and smooth so that the da felt smoother and less heavy. It is still heavy. On this gun it feels like 16 pds. or so.
By the late 70s or early 80s other da/sa pistols began to arrive in the U.S. Seecamp stopped offering the conversions and concentrated on his well known pocket pistols. The conversions were licensed to a couple of other companies.
The conversions were sometimes purchased by cops, whose depts. would not let them carry a cocked and locked 1911. But would allow the conversions. They were ordered and carried by those that wanted a .45 with a da first shot capability and/or didn't want a condition one carry gun.
They are a piece of 1911 history.
The particular gun here is a Combat Commander from about 1974. Exactly when the conversion was done I'm not sure. It was originally a blued gun but has a hard chrome slide and looks like brushed nickel frame. The wrap around Pachmayr's and MSH were offered by Seecamp as an option.
You can see more about these and the history of Seecamp at www.seecamp.com
look at company history and the forum section.
tipoc
