Between special-edition models from just about every major manufacturer and a slew of star-spangled aftermarket gear, the firearms world is collectively embracing—and capitalizing—on the United States’ semiquincentennial more than perhaps any other industry. Despite the abundance of patriotic arms and accessories, it’s still safe to say that the space’s single coolest America 250 tribute comes from Cabot.
The collector-grade firearms maker with a penchant for crafting 1911s from otherworldly substances like meteorites and lunar rock has once again alchemized a rare material into John Moses Browning’s beloved semi-automatic handgun. Cabot was able to excavate a 3.13-pound iron cannonball from Lake Champlain between New York and Vermont, where true American freedom fighters defended their nascent nation in the Revolutionary War’s Battle of Valcour Bay on October 11, 1776.
Iron itself is of course not a suitable metal from which to craft a precision pistol, so Cabot tapped Ray Rybar of Finleyville, Pennsylvania’s Stone Church Forge. Not only is the man an accomplished blacksmith, he’s also a Vietnam veteran who recently underwent several life-threatening surgeries to remove shrapnel that’s been embedded in his neck for decades.
A true patriot, Rybar reportedly jumped at the opportunity to work on the America 250-honoring firearm and transform a battle-worn projectile into a workable metal, simply saying: “Send it. I’ll get it done.” Shortly thereafter, Rybar had created a bar of carbon, cannonball-infused steel, which was then sent to Damascus steel master Robert Eggerling—who Cabot founder Robert Bianchin previously christened a “Willy Wonka of steel” in a Maxim article covering Eggerling’s “Mosaic Damascus” pistols.
Unlike traditional Damascus, Eggerling’s Mosaic creations are not the result of random twisting and folding—every image, flowing line, and detail was crafted intentionally. As such, the cannonball steel appears as a perfectly centered, unbroken line running down the slide from end to end. Another segment of the all-American alloy appears on the face of the trigger—with this implementation, both of an operator’s hands will come in direct contact with the the Revolutionary War-era metal. To further accentuate the Eggerling’s work, Cabot’s team developed entirely new slide contours and custom serrations exclusively for the America 250 project.
Then there are the grips—Cabot wanted to incorporate Rybar’s metal into a Great Seal of the United States not through engraving or inlay, but forged within the steel—a feat that the company claims has not been achieved using Damascus steel. For this, Cabot enlisted Lonnie Jensen, a student of Rybar, who expertly incorporated six individual mosaic Damascus steel elements into a design cleverly dubbed a “mosaic of mosaics.”
These elements include: the majestic American bald eagle, the shield representing the thirteen original colonies, the olive branch symbolizing peace, the bundle of thirteen arrows denoting strength and readiness for war, the banner bearing the immortal motto E Pluribus Unum (“Out of Many, One”), and the constellation of thirteen stars evoking the new nation born under divine providence. Jensen spent 430 hours alone blacksmithing the grips’ Great Seals, so to ensure maximum visibility and preserve the seals’ shape, Cabot engineered a completely new grip design with broad, uninterrupted flats that preserve the design exactly as it emerged from the forge.
After the pistols were meticulously built and rigorously test-fired, Cabot gunsmith Nick Clark brought the final design to life with weeks of patient hand polishing, selective etching, and proprietary finishing techniques to heighten the design’s depth, contrast, and color. A final fine metallurgical tribute to the era that birthed America is the bead sight—a round copper piece crafted from authentic British coins that circulated in the American colonies in the years leading up to independence.
Limited to just four serialized examples, the Cabot “Ultimate America 250” 1911s sold out shortly before being listed online. As Cabot says, “This is not merely a firearm. It is a once-in-a-lifetime masterpiece—a profound, living tribute to the 250th anniversary of the United States of America.”
