Any of you have any of Bob Chows work? I beleive he worked in the SF bay area. He did some neat compact carry pistols and was one of the first to get "serios" with carry beveling etc... Dont here much about him, even on the forums. I missed a Combat Commander at a show once, sure wish i would have purchased it.

ahw101us

One of the great old time BE smiths. I have seen his work and handled a few of his pistols. A contemporary of John Giles, Shockley, Clark and Dinan. Chow did wonderful work. My favorites are Giles and Dinan because of my location in the midwest, but Chow was well respected on the west coast.

Joe Beary

There is museum in Elcho(?), Nevada that has F.Bob Chow's Gun Collection in it. I believe it is called the County Western Museum, not positive. Anyhow, if ya'll are ever in Elcho, check it out. It's a beautiful collection, and the rest of the museum is pretty interesting, also. The American Rifleman had a great article on him a good few years ago, if I recall. All the best. Joe :lol:

Renomucker

Hey Joe, the town you mentioned is Elko. It is located in the North Eastern side of the state, and is home to the largest gold strike in North America.

Joe Beary

:lol: Thanks Renomucker! I knew I spelled it wrong. One of the nicest places I've ever been, and my favorite town in Nevada. Joe 8)

Gordon Hulme

I still have my Bob Chow "hardball" Colt 1911 (Marked 1911) bob chow accurized it for my father in late 50,s. It was given to me around 1966 because I was doing pretty well in NRA postal matches and wanted to try a .45 as I was in the army at the time(65-71)and wanted to compete with the military guys.Any way it had a weird double ball bearing deal that pressed up on the barrel, I shot it so much it wore 2 deep grooves in barrel, so in the around 1980 I call Bob Chow to fit a Barsto barrel and refit the dimpled slide stop and replace the 1911 fine checkered hammer with a commander one as I got bit once in a while. He refused to fit the Barstow Barrel "no damn good" and basically told me the gun was worn out and I should start over with a series 70 Gold Cup!He was not the amiable prince that Armand Swenson was but his pistol is still tighter slide to frame fit than any factory Gold Cup after who knows how many rounds and the S&W sights stay set and look swell to this day and the blue and polish job is a masterwork. I had a smith at Gunsite put a few things right and fit the Barstow I think his name was Robar?This gun has all the old time King stuff that was available in the early 60's no extended safeties ect. , but the extra checkering on the frame matches the hammer and safety and seems to be 40lpi so the old boy was a craftsman.

Gordon Hulme

:wink: The smith at Gun site was Robbie Barkman. And his business is called Robar. and I still have the old barrel with two ball bearing bushings.

Gordon, I have never seen guns built by Armand Swenson or Bob Chow but I have enjoyed reading your posts and responses. It has provided perspective on where we are today and what the past has still to offer. I hope I can provide the same in the next forty years

dclark

I went to school in San Francisco between 1972 and 1975. I met Bob Chow during that time and spent many pleasant hours there with him and his staff. Nice folks, but not prone to listen to much BS. I have a S&W Model 66 smoothed by him. Nice gun that was stolen a couple of years ago. I handled a number 1911's he did and they all shot well. I passed up buying one becuz I was a starving student. Should have done it, but $300 was a lot of money at the time. Last I knew he had retired at about 80 YOA and is now living in SF and still coaching shooters in the area at over 90. Nice article a year ago in the NRA Shooting Sports magazine on him. He developed or refined a number of BE improvements to 1911s and was on one Olympic team. He had (has?) a very dry sense of humor that could be misinterpreted. Nice guy!

dclark

Dane Burns

So why can't some one post a picture or two? Outside some old magazines I haven't seen anyhting and can't remember what I saw originally :roll:

Gordon Hulme

Listen Dane, You guys would laugh at most pre 70's customs. Allways same ol stuff,: S&W or Kings adjustable sights, a National match or Clark barrel, innards that work right and smooth out squeezed slide. The cosmetics were usually stippling and Walnut or Stag stocks. Later guns had Bomar ribs . By late 70's things changed pretty rapidly with the growth of 'The modern technique'. In short my old 1914 U.S. Property Colt that Bob Chow put S&W sights and an 'accurizing job' and a blue job on in 60's would only get derision today. Austin Behlert did some unusual stuff early on and his stuff was pretty radical to alot of old timers as was August Pachmayer's work;both with Swenson as a late comer, were men ahead of their time IMHO.

Dane Burns

Gordon I believe you misjudge me. I own original custom guns from 1917 on in every generation. Some of them have yet to be surpassed by any modern maker. The guys working today all owe more than a casual debt to every builder who came before us.

The farther you look back in time the more you realise that no one person has really made a difference in custom 1911s. It has always been degrees of slight improvements over the years.

It is nice to have a place to better document that fact now with the Internet and to let others easily see the growth and transition of the custom 1911s from 1912 to date.

(I had made a much longer post this morning with a number of pictures of early (pre '70s) custom guns and lost it. I'll repost it later)

A Johnston

Oh you'd better :wink:..... that's just the kind of thing I need to see this morning.

Austin Behlert

I must say that in my very early days doing alot of the same thing to 1911s and revolvers got a little monotonous. This led to a great many things (innovations) new ideas, some crazy but they seemed proctical in thier time, and became some of the things we have today, only improved.
Muzzel brakes integril with the barrel bushing, weights on the receiver forward of the trigger guard, spade grip safeties, recoil buffers, full ribs on 11s and revolvers, revolver short actions, drop in hammers and sears and I could go on and on

sportingspecialist

I own a 1911 passed on to me by my father that was customized by F.Bob Chow.My father shot BE for the U.S.Naval pistol team from 1951-1958.I haven't heard or seen Mr. Chow's name mentioned in years.I was suprised to see this post concerning his work.I still use this pistol to this day.I have enjoyed reading these posts since discovering this site a few days ago.It really does bring back memories of my father and the good old days of target shooting.Please keep up the good work and the wonderful memories.Thank You,Raymond Ellis.

tom mayo

I have just received a small ancient tusk segment that belong to Mr Chow and came to me thru a mutual friend for some knife handles. My friend is very active in the SF Bay area pistol shoots and speaks very highly of Mr Chow and his work.

dclark

I saw in a news release that Bob Chow died in September, 2003 at over 90 YOA. Great guy! Good life. Tought shooters until the last few months of his life. He will be remembered kindly by those who knew him. Good memories; great shooter.

dclark

Gordon Hulme

I raise a cup in his honor; my he find what he sought!

wolffman

I am the proud owner of a Remington-Rand 1911 (circa 1943 by SN) Bob Chow work. It is still a beautiful piece of work...extremely accurate...always goes bang. I carried a Rem-R in 'Nam...got used to it and went looking for one years later. Found this one and will never part with it.

cohee

Holy necro-posting Batman!

Brian D.

Cohee if it wasn't for necroposting we'd have pretty much NO posting these days.

Alabaster

sad but true. Is it that there are not many people tuning their own pistols anymore or what?!