1911 Owners: an 'Idiot Scratch' pic request :)

An idiot scratch is made on the frame of the 1911 where the slidestop is suppose to be inserted.

Its a short curve of a scratch from the top of the trigger to the little hole to put the slidestop in. Its caused by the slidestop.

God... I'm so untechnical. Haha...

If you install the slide stop in its hole and let it rotate down to the trigger guard and then rotate it up to the slide stop notch, the arc where it rubs the frame is the idiot mark.

I consider the slip of the slidestop up onto the slide making a nice arc scratch on the flat of the slide an idiot mark also.

In ship terms, on the port side (left side looking down the gun as if you're ready to fire). Would sort of go from 3:00 to 3:30 position. It's very easy not to get once you know what you're doing...

Classic example. It was my first 1911. I buy my guns to shoot, not to obsess over how they look. It was a real problem child, but I learnd a lot by making it work. Once the problems were solved its served me well for over 20 years. Extractor broke circa 1995, other than that its been great.



I'm not ashamed to admit that I learn from the school of hard knocks.

--wally.

And just for the record, I had never heard of the "idiot mark" prior to the Internet. My older 1911's have them.

This so called "idiot mark" is a minor cosmetic scratch on the frame which affects function not at all. There are other "idiot marks" inflicted on firearms by obsessive clean freaks shoving rods, jags and wire brushes through bores and cylinders that will most assuredly affect function and accuracy. Those are the "idiot marks" that are important.

horge, I have never put an idiot mark on the slide or the frame, nor have I ever bought one with a mark so I can't help with the picture. I've seen piles of guns with them, even seen a couple with the mark clear over the top of the slide and back down in front of the slide stop though. Someone has a gun they bought with it that can post the pic though I'm sure.

*sigh* my Springer GI .45 has a big 'ol idiot mark from the trigger guard clear to the top of the slide flat. I can see it in the right light, but it's too faint to come out when I take a picture. I'll try again tomorrow.

in my defence, this *is* my first 1911. though it's pretty darn easy to strip and re-assemble, it's not nearly as easy as my Beretta, and yeah, I whiffed it the day I bought it. :banghead: :banghead:

This inquiry from various points regarding Idiot Marks wouldn't be in reference to that thread over on The Firing Line about BeLikeTrey's Dad's-Fantastic-Gift NIB Loaded Springfield, would it?

I got all excited about it, on accounta HIS gun's UN-FIRED, and bears no mark. And we were mostly all there, during the Terrorist Storm Outtage of 2004.

1911's oughta come with a warning in the instruction booklet or something. You never find out about until after the fact. D'oh!

Unless you're BeLikeTrey, the lucky stiff.

And of course, I have a large "IDIOT" stamped on my forehead in big green letters. Heck, I've got six entirely different barrels/calibers for my Milspec. How could I NOT have an Idiot Scratch?

I can, however, at least claim I've not yet marked the slide(s).

Yet.