1911 reblue, Colt Custom Shop or Ford's Guns?

I've had a Colt reblued with Royal Blue and personally, I think the Colt Royal Blue is the most beautiful bluing job I've ever seen. If I were going to use Colt, I'd have the whole pistol highly polished. Just doesn't seem like a good idea to me to get the Royal Blue and not have the whole pistol polished up.

There's a photo of an older Colt 1911 floating around that was refinished by Colt in Royal Blue. It's literally a bright navy blue color and looks like it's still wet! One of the best polishing jobs I've ever seen.

I'd have the whole pistol highly polished.

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I wouldn't.
That makes it look like an amature blue job done by some goober without the necessary skill to do the two-tone factory high gloss/matt blue job.

To me, nothing looks any worse then a 1911 that has been polished all over & blued without the factory finish matte in all the right places on the frame & slide.

rc

I wouldn't.
That makes it look like an amature blue job done by some goober without the necessary skill to do the two-tone factory high gloss/matt blue job.

To me, nothing looks any worse then a 1911 that has been polished all over & blued without the factory finish matte in all the right places on the frame & slide.

rc

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I don't know. Looks pretty nice to me.

To each his own, I think they both look good. That one looks like it was dipped in candy

http://www.gunbluing.com/index.html

Look here, they do good work also.

Skimbell - That's the exact picture was talking about! IMO, that's probably in my top 5 best finishes I've ever seen!

That makes it look like an amature blue job done by some goober without the necessary skill to do the two-tone factory high gloss/matt blue

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I'm inclined to disagree with that. Skimbell's photo doesn't look like amateur job done by some goober to me...

Thanks Olympus. Do you know how Colt is about refinishing guns with aftermarket parts? I've got C&S internals and an EGW extractor and firing pin stop in the gun. I don't want to send Colt the gun and have them tell me they won't work on it because it has been "modified" or worse yet install a factory fire control group for "liability reasons" because I sent them an "unsafe" modified weapon.

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I wouldn't want to say one way or another on that. I'd hate to tell you the wrong thing. Give Colt a call and tell what you've got and what you're looking for and they can tell you if it will be a problem or not.

skimbell,

That's what I call a beautiful hunk of iron! I've got a Colt Python 6" I bought about 15 years ago, that's the reason I bought it, that deep Royal Blue caught my eye, and I didn't leave the store until I had the firearm in my hand. I like it, can tell you're a proud owner also!

I've got a Colt Python 6" I bought about 15 years ago, that's the reason I bought it, that deep Royal Blue caught my eye,

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Same here! I found a 4" Python in Royal Blue similar that 1911 and I just had to have it. It's probably my favorite gun, if I had to pick.

My personal opinion, I think the polished flats and satin rounds on guns nowadays are a rip off. It almost seems like a shortcut by manufacturers to cut cost and was marketed as a new fad that seems to have caught on. I like my guns like I like revolvers, either all satin or all polished. None of this mix and match stuff...

Skimbell - That's the exact picture was talking about! IMO, that's probably in my top 5 best finishes I've ever seen!

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I agree; it's beautiful. If you plan on keeping it under glass. It sure will show prints & smudges if plan to actually use it.

788Ham

The gun isn't mine. I've sort of been looking around for a 70's Colt with some wear to get refinished. I picked up the picture, along with a couple of examples with flat rounds. I keep looking at them and I still can't decide which type of finish I like best.
That usually means trouble.
Probably wind up with one of each. Now I just gotta figure how to 'splain that one to the wife?

and was marketed as a new fad that seems to have caught on.

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Yep!
A new fad started by Colt about 100 years ago.

Near as I can tell, they have used polish/matt on pistols since the 1903 Automatic came out.

And certainly on all the Match Target Woodsman & Gold Cups for as long as they made them.

Yep! That was a cost cutting measure for sure, since they used it on some of the finest fitted & finished pistols they ever made.

As for the shiny one in the photo?
Billy Bob's High-Speed Buffer Bumper Shop got ahold of that one right there!

rc

High polish on the top of the slide looks great, until you try to shoot it outside in the sunlight.