I hadn't heard of the floating chamber before. It's amazing that Williams invented it to deal with the high price of ammunition in the 30s! From Arizona Gun Owners you can see the design of the floating chamber and it in action...
Posted on 10/10/2021 8:28:39 AM PDT by ammodotcom
America loves an outlaw. Some outlaws simply need to find their calling, and David Marshall Williams is such a man.
A convicted murderer of a sheriff's deputy, no less, he turned his prison experience into a tale of personal redemption and revolutionized the field of semi-automatic firearms for over a century.
Williams was one of a whopping 12 children born to James Claude Williams, a wealthy and highly influential landowner in Cumberland County, North Carolina. His early life is pure Americana: Expelled from school in eighth grade, he apprenticed underneath a blacksmith. Finding this life lacking in adventure, he lied about his age and enlisted in the United States Navy at 15.
He didn't last long as a sailor, as the Navy quickly sussed out that he was too young for service. He enrolled in the Blackstone Military Academy where he was quickly expelled for theft of government property: several rifles and over 10,000 rounds of ammunition. The enterprising young Williams shipped the stocks to his home, refusing to return them.
In 1918 Williams married and settled down a little bit. He found work as a manual laborer with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, however, he didn't last long there, either. He pulled a pistol, shot at a bird and succeeded only in earning a pink slip.
(Excerpt) Read more at ammo.com ...
Not a nice guy at all, is what I’ve heard.
Fun fact. Most people are not all good or bad. Some very bad people, have had some moments where they rose to be among the best. And most of the “good” people manage to conceal their “not nice” side.
People are complex animals.
I enjoyed the Jimmy Stewart movie about him, whether completely accurate or not.
I hadn't heard of the floating chamber before. It's amazing that Williams invented it to deal with the high price of ammunition in the 30s! From Arizona Gun Owners you can see the design of the floating chamber and it in action...
I’ve got one of those kits for my 1911. Works well with my original 1911, and AMT Hardballer, but not the later 1991 model or the RA 1911 Philippine model.
Isaac Newton was a real jerk, by accounts. Ted Bundy, an intelligent and charming man.
I wonder if it’s hit-and-miss, generally, or if there’s a common factor. Recoil spring, maybe?
Yes, I would know that myself.
I heard that Williams was certainly not dumb, for starters, but did in fact have a severe and violent personality disorder. Couldn’t work with the guys at Winchester when he got sent there to “help out”.
The movie version did have a Christian theme of redemption, however, so he might actually have inspired a positive story, whether it was deserved or not.
The modern 1991 Colt .45 has a different internal mechanism which prevents firing if the pistol is dropped. This prevents adding the Colt ACE kit to it.
The Philippine version of the 1911 has some holes off just a hair.
The original 1911 Colt and AMT Hardballer has no problems with the ACE kit, so I shoot using the AMC mostly. Love the trigger pull!
I prefer to judge an innovator by the merits of their abilities, not their personalities. You have to throw away so much of our culture when you dwell on a man’s character. I see it often whenever someone online says we should discredit Lovecraft, Churchill, Colombus or even Mel Gibson just because they thought or did something nasty.
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