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Posted

Does anyone remember a single stack in .38 Super called the Witch Doctor? I think it was a gunsmith's signature series type of gun from the late 80's, but cannot find any info on it. Who made it? What was different about it? Photos?

Thank you.

Paul

Posted

IIRC, it was done by Oglesby & Oglesby, out of Springfield, IL. I believe that they're only doing SAA work now.

I remember that it was an innovative design and was simply BEAUTIFUL.

I would think that if you found a copy of American Handgunner from the late-80's/early-90s, it would be featured in their advertisements.

From the American Pistolsmith's Guild website:

Oglesby & Oglesby Gunmakers Inc.

744 West Andrews Rd

Springfield, IL 62707

217-487-7100

217-487-7980 FAX

Posted
IIRC, it was done by Oglesby & Oglesby, out of Springfield, IL. I believe that they're only doing SAA work now.

I remember that it was an innovative design and was simply BEAUTIFUL.

I would think that if you found a copy of American Handgunner from the late-80's/early-90s, it would be featured in their advertisements.

From the American Pistolsmith's Guild website:

Oglesby & Oglesby Gunmakers Inc.

744 West Andrews Rd

Springfield, IL 62707

217-487-7100

217-487-7980 FAX

I recall an advert with something along these lines.

"The Witch Doctor is bad medicine in the right hands."

Patrick

Posted

Reminds me of the old saying, "An extended slide stop is the second most useless aftermarket part you can put on a 1911. The first most useless aftermarket part you can put on a 1911 is an ambidextrous extended slide stop." :lol:

Posted (edited)
found one of the ads. 1991 issue of handgunner

post-627-1261069352_thumb.jpg

Yes, that is the one I was thinking of after reading the OPs post.

I recall back in HS I wanted one in .38 super for some reason I couldn't even explain.

I wonder if the internal recoil suppression system was jsut marketing speak for "it's real heavy"

Edited by raz-0
Posted

I remember that distinctly. I always liked the pistols like that, the onse that have what looks like a two piece slide. Don't know if they are better or worse but I always liked them.

Neal in AZ

  • 2 years later...
Posted (edited)

I was looking for info and maybe a pic of this gun.I've always wanted one,I have an Essex frame without a home and a pile of 1911 parts from past projects,I'm gonna put together a similar gun,but without the heavy underlug.My goal is to build a killer gun for less than 300 bucks.I already have the frame mods pretty much finished,got a 7" barrel,and most of the parts but the slide and a grip safety.I'm not gonna use the ambi stuff,[LOL!!] but mine is gonna be even goofier than the original...The barrel I have is a 7" .38 Super,so mine is gonna be longer,and I'm using a set of custom target grips I made on it.I want it to be like a big S&W Model 41,and I'm gonna punch it out to .38 special! I already did some messing around with feed tests,full wadcutter .38 Specials seem to feed just fine,well,as far into a .38 Super chamber as a .38 Special can go,and they drop right into a .38 Super 1911 Magazine.I'm probably going to use a Fusion slabside slide,the only real money I'm gonna spend on it.A 10mm/40 slide has about the same bullet base size as a .38 special,and luckily,the same lug size,so the Super barrel should just about drop right in.I'll post some pics when I get a chance... By the way,in case you're wondering "who's this goofball??"..I built this..If you don't recognize a part,I made it..It doesn't have that comp on it anymore,I built a much nicer one..

post-35186-0-35464000-1330234154_thumb.j

Edited by Lou D
Posted

I was looking for info and maybe a pic of this gun.I've always wanted one,I have an Essex frame without a home and a pile of 1911 parts from past projects,I'm gonna put together a similar gun,but without the heavy underlug.My goal is to build a killer gun for less than 300 bucks.I already have the frame mods pretty much finished,got a 7" barrel,and most of the parts but the slide and a grip safety.I'm not gonna use the ambi stuff,[LOL!!] but mine is gonna be even goofier than the original...The barrel I have is a 7" .38 Super,so mine is gonna be longer,and I'm using a set of custom target grips I made on it.I want it to be like a big S&W Model 41,and I'm gonna punch it out to .38 special! I already did some messing around with feed tests,full wadcutter .38 Specials seem to feed just fine,well,as far into a .38 Super chamber as a .38 Special can go,and they drop right into a .38 Super 1911 Magazine.I'm probably going to use a Fusion slabside slide,the only real money I'm gonna spend on it.A 10mm/40 slide has about the same bullet base size as a .38 special,and luckily,the same lug size,so the Super barrel should just about drop right in.I'll post some pics when I get a chance... By the way,in case you're wondering "who's this goofball??"..I built this..If you don't recognize a part,I made it..It doesn't have that comp on it anymore,I built a much nicer one..

Yikes!!! Looks like a Bianchi gun with a different twist. I assume you have to take the shroud off to get the top end apart?

Posted

The shroud stays in place.You remove the six screws on the block in front,pull the racker and the mag release,and the whole slide assembly comes right out like any cone bushing gun.Even the racker is different.Instead of putting it in the sight dovetail with an allen to hold it,there's a hole drilled right through the slide where the firing pin stop is.The racker goes right through the slide,and there's an area cut out of the racker shaft so that when you slide the firing pin stop up,it locks the racker in.I got a big surprise one day a few years ago when Doug Koenig and Carl Bernosky walked right up to me at a match and asked if they could look at it.. :surprise: it wasn't even finished,it was painted Chrysler Silver,LOL!! It's built with an STI slide and a Les Baer frame.It shot a 10 shot .38 caliber figure eight hole at 25 yards off my Ransom Rest.It was funny..My wife was spotting,I shot the first shot,as I shot the next nine,she called eight of them as misses..Yeah,it was her first time,LOL!!

Posted

The shroud stays in place.You remove the six screws on the block in front,pull the racker and the mag release,and the whole slide assembly comes right out like any cone bushing gun.Even the racker is different.Instead of putting it in the sight dovetail with an allen to hold it,there's a hole drilled right through the slide where the firing pin stop is.The racker goes right through the slide,and there's an area cut out of the racker shaft so that when you slide the firing pin stop up,it locks the racker in.I got a big surprise one day a few years ago when Doug Koenig and Carl Bernosky walked right up to me at a match and asked if they could look at it.. :surprise: it wasn't even finished,it was painted Chrysler Silver,LOL!! It's built with an STI slide and a Les Baer frame.It shot a 10 shot .38 caliber figure eight hole at 25 yards off my Ransom Rest.It was funny..My wife was spotting,I shot the first shot,as I shot the next nine,she called eight of them as misses..Yeah,it was her first time,LOL!!

That doesn't surprise me that Doug was interested in the gun. He has to take the shroud off to clean it. Then has to go back and re-zero.

Being that it is a 38 Spec. makes the wow factor of it even greater. I wouldn't have tried it but I understand the challenge of something different. The shroud looks great and I really like the prone pad. The ledge up front looks like it would make the gun fit into your hand better and help with recoil control.

Do you still shoot Action Pistol? Where are you located?

Posted (edited)

I'm outside Scranton Pa.Actually,the gun I'm building is gonna be .38 Special,this puppy is .38 Super.Haven't shot Action Pistol for eight years or so since my club folded up,no place even close where they do it.I never even really got to shoot this thing in an actual match,I was still developing it when we lost our property.With the price of gas these days,I barely shoot at all,the closest gun club to me is a 45 minute drive.I have a few friends that I'm getting together with this season,we're gonna split travel expenses to shoot IDPA and PPC,two clubs within an hour drive.My good friend Lynn Grabosky shot the Cup every year,he passed away five years ago,maybe you knew him?

Anyway,the gun weighs a lot less than you would think,the slide is shorter than a Commander slide,pretty much the whole area under the shroud is empty.I made the shroud by welding two pieces of Harley Davidson hard chromed fork tube to two heavy pieces of steel,and I pressed a sheet of 3/32 steel down through them with a solid steel bar the width of the frame.{I'm a custom bike builder,by the way..] I carved the prone rest with a Dremel after hacking out what I could with a mill.It's still a cool gun to just mess with,though,even if I don't use it for what I built it for.Probably be a killer Bullseye gun..Really,since I made most of the cool stuff,and I built it ten years ago,I really only have $800 bucks or so in it..I do a lot of wierd stuff,check out this goofy little project...45 Carbine!!

post-35186-0-46261300-1330295272_thumb.j

Edited by Lou D
Posted

I shot a few Action matches in Factoryville. Ken Hewitt was running the matches but I haven't heard from him in years. Probably the closest range for you would be Chambersburg for Action Pistol. It's South of Harrisburg.

I'm sorry to hear about your friend. I've been going to Bianchi since 2000 but I don't recall the name.

There have been a few shooters lately that have been working on the concept of the front of the barrel locking up on a block near the muzzle. I'm sure they would salivate over your pistol.

I figured it used atleast a commander slide. That's the best way to get the slide weight down to run the lighter loads. I've considered using a shorter slide but settled on using a lightened 5". I'm using a 6" barrel and an aluminum comp with a bushing. Gets the weight off of the bushing and it will run with ammo below the power factor using a 9lb spring.

Nice carbine.

Posted (edited)

Factoryville is the closest range to me,but it's still a miserable 40 minute ride if I take a shortcut on dirt roads,50 or so by highway..They shoot on Saturday,and since I own a bike shop,I haven't really been able to get away.I have a nice job offer,though,so I might have a big change coming.I'm so fed up with not shooting,I may just close Saturdays.

My gun doesn't actually use a Commander slide,I bought a standard length STI,and cut it to the minimum length I fealt it would be safe,I even cut the front off at an angle down to the spring tunnel to get weight off the slide.It looks goofy,but,since ya can't see it....

I beat my brains out trying to get it to work with the same loads I use in my IDPA gun,but they simply won't cycle it.Even with a 9 pound spring or lighter,it simply wouldn't cycle because of the comp and the long barrel.It's funny,I had to load it up to over 1100FPS to get it to run,but it still feels like a 22.The loads aren't really hot,but with a 6.5 inch barrel plus the comp,so it steps the muzzle velocity up a little,LOL!! I actually worried it would be too accurate,I wondered if on the barricades,it might only shoot one hole if I shot too well at the close targets.. :rolleyes:.It's really a great gun to shoot,it's balanced well,and the shroud is so thin and close to the slide,I can almost wrap my fingers completely around it.That was one of the main things Doug liked about it..That block on the front is almost completely hollow,it looks like a huge hunk,but it only weighs an ounce or two,and there's probably a 3 inch gap between the slide and the block under the shroud.I guesss if guys are looking at that bushing up front like I have,I'm way ahead of the curve,I built this thing nine years ago..

Edited by Lou D
Posted (edited)

Oh yeah,by the way,my tastes have changed,I'm gonna crap can those grips,and put on a nice set of wood grips.I may change the color to candy red or something on the inserts,and anodize all the aluminum to match.I've been updating all my guns,and this thing could look REALLY sick with a little color on it.

Edited by Lou D
Posted

IIRC, it was done by Oglesby & Oglesby, out of Springfield, IL. I believe that they're only doing SAA work now.

I remember that it was an innovative design and was simply BEAUTIFUL.

I would think that if you found a copy of American Handgunner from the late-80's/early-90s, it would be featured in their advertisements.

From the American Pistolsmith's Guild website:

Oglesby & Oglesby Gunmakers Inc.

744 West Andrews Rd

Springfield, IL 62707

217-487-7100

217-487-7980 FAX

thought that name sounded familiar... a quick google confirmed I remembered it from the History Channel show Sharp Shooters.

-rvb

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