fortyfiveshooter

I have come across a 70 series Colt that has been accurized by Jack Best, seem to have had several other things done, Bomars, solid vidicki trigger, match bushing etc
Anyone know of his work?

BBBBill

Yeh. Jack was on of the less known old timers from the generation of Jim Clark, EdSabo, etc. He built a lot of bullseye type guns for military match shooters. I know of a few that are still running. Worked on a couple too. He died a couple/three years ago if I recall correctly. If you need more info, I can get up with a couple of his old friends who still shoot his guns.

mikey357

Jackie Best was one of the best armorers/pistolsmiths to EVER build guns for the Army MTU at Ft. Benning...SEVERAL National Championships were won with guns he built over the years. Yes, Jackie DID pass a few years ago...as BBBBill said, a contemporary of Clark, etc. FWIW, last I checked, one of Jackies' "proteges" was STILL building .45's in or around Columbus, GA...his name is Jack Maple...semi-retired, a real WHIZ with a "Bullseye" .45, IF you can find him and IF you can persuade him to do work for you!!!....mikey357

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: mikey357 on 2002-02-19 19:40 ]</font>

fortyfiveshooter

The gun is actually my uncles, that he let me borrow. It is marked on the barrel hood
Best 9-89 and under it 159.
Built on a 70 series GM, fit is extremely tight, same with the barrel and bushing.
You can see where he lowered the ejection port, and the front strap has been stippled, a smooth style.
Gun is dead nuts accurate.
Thanks for the info

[email protected]

Hey, Y'all,
I just wanted to chime in about the inquire into Jack Best, the pistolsmith. Jackie was a friend of mine and he taught me as much as my brain could hold on accurizing and shooting a 1911. He truly was one of the Best. I was at stationed at Ft. Benning, and I was a competitive shooter with all guns, but I shot mostly for AMU as a 3 gun shooter. Jackie took me under his wing and showed me how to make a hardball gun shoot a group that, to me, seemed impossible. There were/are some of the best gunsmiths in the world at AMU, and I had the privilege of serving with them from '75 to '81. If you have one of Jackie's builds, consider yourself a lucky individual. I'm Tommy Loomis and you can reach me at [email protected].

jwhite

Hello Teloomis,
I have sent you emails but never got a reply. I have a Colt GM70 built by Jack Best 1979. It is my pride a joy - an amazingly accurate piece of work. He engraved his signature and date on the barrel. I still have his signed test target, 10 shot group @ 50 yards with standard military hard ball - 2.05”.*My father gave me the CGM70 for my 16th birthday. It was new in the box and in factory condition was pretty loose. Later I met a friend in college who shot competitively and knew Jack while he was the military smith at Ft. Benning. I was interested in competition so he offered to inquire if Jack would accurize my gun as a special favor - which he agreed. I couldn’t afford all the bells and whistles so he gave me just the basics that I could afford. If I only knew how special this was at the time, I would have begged and scrapped more funds to go all the way. Any way since then, I have never met anyone who personally knew him so it would be a pleasure to chat sometime and learn more about him.

Kind regards,
JWhite