I sold mine a few years back to another member here. This 9mm was one of the early ones that came out after introduction. As you can see the 5603 production serial number. I sent it into Springfield Custom Shop to have them do a little feed ramp work and at the same time had them do some custom machining. Slide top serrations, flush cut the slide stop notch, and machine checker the frt/rear strap treatments, flush cut and crown the barrel, in addition to having them slightly machine round off the rear butt a tad because for my hand it would dig slightly into my palm and this slight rounding off made it a perfect purchase. Especially during our very hot and humid months during summer. They did a splendid job in the SA Custom Shop and a final refinish of the pistol after the shop machining was complete. I had custom flush cut magazines made to make it a bit more compact for carry and custom wood grips.

The EMP served well and ran all the reloads I made perfectly. I learned early on that many of these very early ones made preferred shorter OAL's like found with Fiocchi factory ammo and I measured the OAL's of them and replicated that measurements with my reloads.

I had another member here make a fantastic OWB CC holster that hit the spot. It was a terrific carry piece until I decided to go with the more traditional 1911 sizes.

But the EMP went on to serve the new member well and many good years of use.


Here's a snap of it before I sold it. Good luck with yours.

quote:

Originally posted by just1tym:
... machine checker the frt/rear strap treatments, flush cut and crown the barrel, in addition to having them slightly machine round off the rear butt a tad because for my hand it would dig slightly into my palm ...

If this pistol works very well for me, I may send it in to them for some of the same work. The rear strap is already checkered, but I wouldn't mind the front strap being checkered, too. The lower edge of the back strap does concern me. We'll see how it works out in practice. Having the barrel crowned is a good idea.

I think if that edge doesn't bother me I'll leave it be. Otherwise I'll send it in to have that relieved a bit, then I'll have them checker the front strap and crown the barrel while it's there.

quote:

Originally posted by just1tym:
I had custom flush cut magazines made to make it a bit more compact for carry and custom wood grips.

Flush magazines occurred to me, but I actually need the extra length the stock mag offers. My little finger just entirely gets on the grip as it is.

Yea, what they did on the rear checkering treatment was to very slightly knock down the tips of the checkering for me when they rounded off the frame butt. I think the front was machined at 40dpi if I remember. They also offered hand checkering, but machining was cheaper. Also, forgot to mention that they installed a single side safety and ditched the ambi. And lastly, when EMP's first were produced they didn't come with factory end ball mill cuts on the underside of the slide front. I had them machine the ball cuts on the slide. Whenever I had the semi-custom companies build a 1911, I always had them machine out the ball cuts on the slide. Just aesthetics and nothing to do with function. But SA apparently started factory machining them a few years later.

Another 1911 manufacturer Ed Brown would not customize an order because I requested I'd like to have the ball cuts and he then refused at that time, mentioning that they would have to rework their machinery to do this as a one-off. So I purchased the pistol anyways and sent it to Nighthawk Custom as they were happy to do any custom work I requested.

quote:

Originally posted by just1tym:
Also, forgot to mention that they installed a single side safety and ditched the ambi.

I forgot about that, too. I don't mind it, but I could do without it.

Additionally, I want to mention that Nighthawk Custom shop does a superb job on 1911 customizations if you want a second option with work/pricing. Here's a couple of snaps of some of the work they did on my Kobra Carry after Ed turned down the job. Here's a snap of the slide top serrations, a front fiber sight install and 10-8 rear, and flush cut/crown of the barrel. They machined the slide top and rear serrations perfectly. If you need another option give them a call.





Oh, and the little thingy thing at the top of the hammer is a small rubber o-ring that I put around all my 1911's firing pin that were dry fired a lot.

Nice score, OP! I think you will be happy with it. I love my EMP4. It has been very reliable after break-in, and is extremely accurate.

I used to shoot it a bunch until I bought my Loaded Stainless in .45, then I started shooting that, and when I picked up my EMP the grip just felt too small. I recently swapped the thin grip panels on the EMP for some full-size regular wood panels...feels great now and it's back to getting thrown into the range bag on trips to the range.

The only real issue I've had with it is the finish flaked off the slide release lever. I'm not losing any sleep over it as I bought it to shoot, not to look at...but I know it might be an issue for some. I'm planning to swap out the thumb safety to a non-ambi at some point...I may just order a slide release lever at the same time and do them both.

I have a love hate relationship with them. I have had 3 of them and never had any problems with them. But I never seem to keep them long and I am not sure why. Just reading this has me looking at gunbroker auctions.

Finally got my 9mm EMP out to the range today. Ate up 200 rounds of Blazer Brass and WWB w/o a single hiccup.

All targets are slow-fire, ±7 yards, standing, two-handed grip.

First target. I think this is 42 rounds. (First three mags with five ea, then three full mags.)



Second, and best target. (Three full mags.)



Last target. (I think this was 17 rounds?)



Obviously I changed my sight picture on that last one.

I'm aiming at 6 o'clock on all those, so it's shooting a bit higher than the top of the sights. Then again: I'm out of practice and my right eye is still impaired, so...

It appears it's shooting a bit left, but I think, before I go nudging the rear sight, I best get another range session in to make sure it wasn't me. Maybe bring along something I know I used to be able to hit with dead nuts and shoot that, as well.

I did do one rapid (-ish) target. Not great, but I did keep 25 of the 27 inside the 9-ring and about half in the red bullseye.

I'm quite pleased with the pistol and satisfied with my performance with it, considering I haven't done any shooting in at least a year and my right eye vision impairment.

With time, you will love it more!! Mine fits my hand perfectly, and when I do my part, it is a real performer.

Only speaking for myself but when armed with my EMP I can extend the range that I can reach a target. In the "New" World you never know at what range a subject will start the fight. I love my Glocks but a well tuned 1911 style is just a lot easier to reach with. Just my thoughts.

Has anyone experienced light strikes with their EMP on Nato-type ammunition?

I had this problem the other weekend on some Georgia Arms Nato 9mm. Sometimes it would fire on the first pull of the trigger, but sometimes not. There were a few rounds that would not fire at all even on the 4th try, but those rounds fired immediately in a Walter PPS I brought to the range.

I had four other brands of ammo. and the EMP had no issues with any of them, just with the GA Nato.

I've some NATO stuff. I'll bring some along, next time, and let you know.

On another note: Can I expect the trigger to lighten-up over time? I understand it's an SD pistol, so you don't want it target/race gun light, but mine seems a bit heavy. Breaks cleanly, with no perceptible creep, but it's stiff.

It has had several hundred dry-fire cycles.

I don't know about the trigger lightening up as I have less than 500 rounds through mine at the moment - probably between 200-300. The trigger on mine I think is nice right now but I don't get to the range very often and wouldn't notice any change unless it was a dramatic one. The EMP is comfortable and accurate. I like it a lot for the little time I've used it.

Thinking about the problem I'm having, light strikes might be the wrong term. I don't have anyway of knowing if that's the case so perhaps failure to fire would be more accurate. I'm very interested to hear your results.

2nd Range Report

Upgraded the grips and had the trigger lightened to 4 lbs. - the latter by a local smith that specialized in 1911's.

The grips feel great and the trigger does too. Expected to shoot this as well as I do my Colt Defender in .45 ACP.

Alas, today was not the day The range I went to has outside-facing windows behind most of the firing line. Coupled with a dimly-lit range and my less-than-stellar eyesight, all I was seeing for sights was a blur between two other blurs.

Plus my old trigger-pull anxiety returned. In force. (Probably as a result of not being able to see the sights for s**t.)

The good news is the pistol performed nearly flawlessly. I had one (1) failure to go into battery: About mid-way through the first mag full of a brand new mag (which I only realized when I got to the range I'd failed to clean), and the second mag of the session. That did not happen again.

Tested with five different kinds of JHP and two different kinds of FMJ. About 200 rounds down the pipe, for a total of 400, so far. I did Barny loads for all the JHP tests, and on five mags full of FMJ.

That one has been the only failure. I think it's GTG for carry.

I definitely need to get a lot more trigger time in. I had thought my pulling-the-trigger anxiety was a thing of the past. Dry-firing is all well and good, but it's no substitute for a gun going *bang*.

Hang in there. We all have those days. Keep at it and it'll get better. As to the failure to return to battery, when my EMP4 was new it had similar issues. I had a local Smith do an action job on it...basically just a polish job. It slicked everything up, eliminated the creep from the trigger, and resolved my FRTB issues completely. Might be something to consider if the problem resurfaces.

My EMP has performed flawlessly, though I only put a few hundred downrange per year. I've had it 6-7 years now, so probably 1000 or so rounds.

Very accurate when I'm on my game shooting-wise, but with a 3" barrel, if I'm not doing my job the performance drops off...as to be expected.

Reassembly is a bit of a PITA to learn too. But all in all, it is a very fine CCW for me.

quote:

Originally posted by 92fstech:
Hang in there. We all have those days. Keep at it and it'll get better..

Probably not. My vision has been declining, anyway. Then this eye stroke came along. I don't think the damage from that is getting any better, any longer.

My vision is good enough for driving and good enough for self defense with a firearm, but precision shooting, not so much, anymore. If I'm having a "good vision day" and the light is right: Maybe.

When I say I was looking at "a blur between two other blurs," I wasn't exaggerating. In fact what I was mostly doing was trying to align and center very fuzzy night sight dots and approximately align with what I was aiming for.

quote:

Originally posted by Batty67:
Reassembly is a bit of a PITA to learn too. But all in all, it is a very fine CCW for me.

See: Tool To Aid In Field-Stripping A 1911 Without A Barrel Bushing?

You can thank me later

quote:

Probably not. My vision has been declining, anyway. Then this eye stroke came along. I don't think the damage from that is getting any better, any longer.

My vision is good enough for driving and good enough for self defense with a firearm, but precision shooting, not so much, anymore. If I'm having a "good vision day" and the light is right: Maybe.

When I say I was looking at "a blur between two other blurs," I wasn't exaggerating. In fact what I was mostly doing was trying to align and center very fuzzy night sight dots and approximately align with what I was aiming for.

Sorry to hear that. I've been dealing with eye issues the last couple of weeks due to blood sugar issues, and it sucks, but at least I have hope that they will improve with time. I had to qualify on patrol rifle in the midst of that, and managed to get it done, but it was a lot harder than normal.

Have you tried different front sights...something high contrast but not super bright, like an ivory or gold bead? I've found that I have the easiest time focusing on a setup like that.

Have you tried a red dot? I'm not a huge fan of the added cost, bulk, and complexity, but it definitely makes it easier when you're only dealing with one (well, kinda two) focal plain(s) instead of three.

Being a certified geezer I found an optic to be a major plus. Out at 25 yards the target get's frayed in the center.