jrhines
Member
I have a Colt 1903 Type III in the shop, dates to 1919 (SN 31XXXX), that has a high polish blue frame but the slide is/was painted black. Most of the paint is worn/scraped/flaked off, leaving the slide mostly "in the white". This is the second one of these pistols that I have seen with a painted slide, both from this time frame. Any one have an idea as to why this was done? War time expediency?