Just picked this one up from a friend...it belonged to his father, and as he's not into guns, sopld it to me for a song.
Using Clawson's collectors guide I have narrowed it down to a Colt 1911, model 1911 of U.S. Army, built in the whereabouts of may-july 1918. According to the Serial, and the markings inside the slide, it dates to the "black Army" finished colts. All fit the 1918 criteria, except for the WWII era arched Remington rand Mainspring housing.
According to the book, Colt finished the guns in this period in a rough finish, making the blueing appear almost black. It also stated that the finish often seperated from the metal, flaking down to the bare steel.
Well according to my friend's dad, when he bought this gun in the 50's, it had a terrible black finish, one he referred to as parkerizing, but peeling. Some time during the seventies he had it ........Hardchromed.........yes, I heard you all just groan, but actually,
I feel it really saved the metal from further damage. It's safeties, trigger and mainspring housing were deep blued and hi polished, and whoever did the work took the time to really preserve the rollmarks and Ordinance proofs.
Value wise, I know that as a collector, it's value is slammed due to the hardchrome, but as a shooter, I feel that with a trigger job, I'll have a solid 1911 that'll shoot forever.
Yes, I've changes every spring in the gun so far to a set of Wilson Combat springs, and she feels tighter already!
So please enjoy the pics of the resurected warhorse.
I also must add that she wears a set of Hakan Pek desert Ironwood grips right now, till I deceide what fits her best.
Thanks for lookin'
Chris~
Using Clawson's collectors guide I have narrowed it down to a Colt 1911, model 1911 of U.S. Army, built in the whereabouts of may-july 1918. According to the Serial, and the markings inside the slide, it dates to the "black Army" finished colts. All fit the 1918 criteria, except for the WWII era arched Remington rand Mainspring housing.
According to the book, Colt finished the guns in this period in a rough finish, making the blueing appear almost black. It also stated that the finish often seperated from the metal, flaking down to the bare steel.
Well according to my friend's dad, when he bought this gun in the 50's, it had a terrible black finish, one he referred to as parkerizing, but peeling. Some time during the seventies he had it ........Hardchromed.........yes, I heard you all just groan, but actually,
I feel it really saved the metal from further damage. It's safeties, trigger and mainspring housing were deep blued and hi polished, and whoever did the work took the time to really preserve the rollmarks and Ordinance proofs.
Value wise, I know that as a collector, it's value is slammed due to the hardchrome, but as a shooter, I feel that with a trigger job, I'll have a solid 1911 that'll shoot forever.
Yes, I've changes every spring in the gun so far to a set of Wilson Combat springs, and she feels tighter already!
So please enjoy the pics of the resurected warhorse.
I also must add that she wears a set of Hakan Pek desert Ironwood grips right now, till I deceide what fits her best.
Thanks for lookin'
Chris~
Very nice!!!
