I scratched the frame on my new Springfield 1911

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Welcome to the brotherhood. Few of us who have messed with 1911s long term haven't made that mark. Kinda like "Garand Thumb" which can also be avoided completely...but most people who shoot Garands a lot are gonna get that thumb mashed sooner or later.
 
1911Tuner said:
Welcome to the brotherhood. Few of us who have messed with 1911s long term haven't made that mark. Kinda like "Garand Thumb" which can also be avoided completely...but most people who shoot Garands a lot are gonna get that thumb mashed sooner or later.
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I hope I never do... I'm veeeerrrry careful anywhere near the bolt of an M1.
 
It's like the first door ding you get on a new work truck. It's over now and you can treat the gun the way JMB intended. You don't have to have a silk covered pillow to lay it on at the range any more...

I don't sweat honest use finish defects on guns that aren't collectors items. None of my guns are collector's pieces.

Now I wouldn't throw it in a tumbler full of rocks as Zerodefect suggests...
 
I fixed my "idiot scratch"

Thanks for all the tips and comments. I successfully polished out my idiot scratch, and also modified my slide stop lever to lessen the chance of this happening again. I couldn't have done it without the help of the kind 1911 experts on this thread. :)
I used a 3M Scotchbrite pad and oil, followed with some Mother's Mag & Aluminum polish. Here is a picture of the result.
 

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Good as new! Glad you were able to get it polished out. Now you'll know how to do it on any 1911s you buy in the future with an idiot mark. And you'll know to be especially careful when installing a slide stop.
 
Are y'all telling me there are 1911 pistols that have been field-stripped by their owners that DO NOT have some sort of hickey in the area of the slide stop?!? That's just crazy talk!
 
W.E.G. - that's a good one. They should just mill out a groove there for the stop to run in.
 
Just do it over and over until the mark is uniform and deep them cold blue it if necessary. Claim it's a modification you had installed to aid setting the slide stop during reassembly.
 
Even though there was a slight one already on my Hi Power when I bought it, I never, out of all the times I put it back together, put an idiot mark on it. My brother also doesn't have one on his 1911. It's extremely easy to prevent one and looks ugly when it happens. It looks worst then the gun being dragged on the ground because of the nature of it.
 
Live with it until you get a few more and figure out how to minimize getting them, then in a few years perhaps have it refinished. You have a lot of options. Polishing, bead blasting, sandblasting, duracoating, cerakoting, etc. Just enjoy shooting it and worry about refinishing it later when it gets more wear. Otherwise you'll be refinishing it more often, and you could have gotten another pistol for that price. Just wait a bit.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by KenW.
Just about all the 1911s I've seen without this mark, have not been used.
I've got 4 with over 3K through each. None have an idiot mark. It's really not that hard.
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Update us after you've broken those pistols in!

I've got pistols with over 100K rounds with idiot marks on them. I've also got pistols with more mileage than yours without idiot marks. Big deal. It isn't important to brag about lacking minor cosmetic issues if you are comfortable with your guns. I'd rather read about people hitting their targets.
 
CWL said:
Update us after you've broken those pistols in!

I've got pistols with over 100K rounds with idiot marks on them. I've also got pistols with more mileage than yours without idiot marks. Big deal. It isn't important to brag about lacking minor cosmetic issues if you are comfortable with your guns. I'd rather read about people hitting their targets.
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If you'd rather read about people hitting their targets, then why bother coming to a thread with a subject regarding "minor cosmetic issues"?
 
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Because I don't like to see someone bragging about pointless items.
 
The slide stop detent on Springers are longer than the other 1911s I've owned, I've always had to use something to push it into the plungertube.

Another plunger spring should make life easier. One of the take-off parts I used in my .22lr 1911 build was a SA plunger spring... I've been meaning to swap it out, but dont clean it enough very often, and forget about it till then...

And I don't worry about the idiot mark. I actually had to go look in the safe to see how many of five 1911s had it (two do).
 
CWL said:
Because I don't like to see someone bragging about pointless items.
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You wouldn't have known unless you were actually interested in the subject of the thread. Which is exactly my point.

If I said I've been washing my truck for the last 4 years without putting a scratch on it, would that be bragging too?

But I'm happy that the OP was able to get some helpful information here and was able to correct the issue on his own. That's what matters!
 
Zach S said:
The slide stop detent on Springers are longer than the other 1911s I've owned, I've always had to use something to push it into the plungertube.

Another plunger spring should make life easier. One of the take-off parts I used in my .22lr 1911 build was a SA plunger spring... I've been meaning to swap it out, but dont clean it enough very often, and forget about it till then...

And I don't worry about the idiot mark. I actually had to go look in the safe to see how many of five 1911s had it (two do).
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I read on some forum of a guy that replaced his plunger spring with one out of an airsoft gun! Now that I think about it, I think he had a Springer too!
 
wally said:
Only the clinically obsessive-compulsive manage to actually use a 1911 that doesn't end up with one.
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Just gotta be carefull is all;) You can also work the angle on the slide stop to easily assemble the 1911, without having to sweep the stop up. None of my 1911s have the properly named mark:D
 
Knock $150 off the new price and sell it to me, then buy a new one. Problem solved.:evil:
 
They're not "idiot" marks as much as "ignorance" marks. Typically, someone new to 1911's will take theirs apart and get that mark when putting it back together. Then they'll do the research and find out what they did wrong.

Real men don't read the directions first, right?

(Mine were like that when I got them.... Really, they were.;))
 
marks

: If I said I've been washing my truck for the last 4 years without putting a scratch on it, would that be bragging too?
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You wash your truck?
What will people think of next?
Pete
 
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