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The single most significant custom 1911 that Larry Vickers ever built, this Springfield Armory .45 ACP graced the cover of the July/August 2000 issue of American Handgunner, catapulting Larry to national acclaim and providing a launch pad for his phenomenal career in the firearms industry after retiring from Delta Force shortly thereafter. Monumental is not too strong a term to describe this pistol’s impact.
Even without the publicity as a cover gun, this LAV Custom stands out. Normally Larry farmed-out his checkering to Pete Single but this gun he hand-checkered himself. Every last detail on this unique custom 1911 was personally fitted, honed, tuned or blended by LAV himself.
American Handgunner’s editor-in-chief, Cameron Hopkins, wrote the cover story on the pistol and requested several photo props to go with the gun, which are included with this rare pistol. Larry sent one of his well-worn berets, a Green Beret, along with the blouse from a set of his BDUs with all of his patches except his name tag, which had to be removed as he was still active-duty at the time the magazine story ran. He also sent a pair of green Nomex flight gloves, which Delta operators wore at the time. These three props can be seen in the accompanying issue of American Handgunner, which is signed by Larry to Cameron, the author of the story. The autographed magazine and three photo props are included with this rare and special Springfield 1911.
The American Handgunner story was so significant to Larry that he chose to reprint the story in its entirety in the second volume of his Vickers Guide To The 1911. This pistol is, naturally, included in the book.
The features of the pistol are straight from Larry’s preferred list of modifications:
• Mag funnel blended to a beveled mag well
• Novak tritium sights
• Ambi thumb safety, blended and radiused
• Rear of the slide serrated 30 lpi by hand
• Lowered and flared ejection port
• Oval hole Commander hammer
• Long ejector
• Tuned extractor
• Bar Sto match barrel “hard fit”
• Solid barrel bushing
• Forward cocking serrations
• Three-hole combat trigger
• Handcut 20 lpi frontstrap checkering
• Handcut 20 lpi mainspring housing
• Wolff heavy-duty mainspring
• Wolff 18 lb recoil spring
• Hogue double-diamond grips
• Blended beavertail grip safety
• Combat trigger tuning (3 lbs)
• Wolff extra power magazine release spring
• Parkerized finish
During its lifetime, this rare and unique LAV custom pistol was shot by Super Dave Herrington, another Special Forces legend. And now you can be the next custodian of the single most significant custom 1911 ever built by Larry A. Vickers.