SpikeEVO
Member
This is my father's old Colt 1911 Civilian model .45acp
A beautiful almost pristine condition 1911 Civilian model, the gun was/is probably in NRA excellent condition (it had all original parts when purchased, original barrel, bushing, grips, sights, magazine, etc) except for one thing... someone nickelplated the gun half a century ago (before my dad purchased it) and thereby destroyed it's collectors value. But that is also what made it cheap to purchase! It was his first pistol, and was my first pistol in the process. I was a kid when it was purchased, and we shot it hundreds of times together, maybe tens of thousands of rounds. We shot it so much we wore out the original barrel, wore out the magazine, and shot the front sight off the gun - so these are no longer original parts, although I do have the original parts. The gun was/is very special to me, and he passed away a few years ago and the gun came to me... It sits in a gun safe, safe from theiving hands and damage, but rarely seeing the light of day since I have several more reliable and more accurate pistols.
My question is:
Am I better off leaving the gun as is since it is somewhat rare, and letting it spend the next 20 or 30 years in a gun safe until it passes to my son, or my son's son?
Or would it be okay to modify it and bring it "up to date" so that I would feel comfortable using the gun as a concealed carry piece (since Missouri now allows it), and somewhat changing it's status in my minds and maybe my son's mind to be "MY" gun in addition to being dad's gun before that...
My plan is to add the low Colt ambi safety, 3 dot night sights, a new stainless barrel and bushing, new springs throughout, an upgraded ejector and maybe some porting so it will feed JHP ammo reliably, wider tang and some frame checkering, and finally, I am planning to have it refinished back to a deep blue, or possibly a 2tone, with blued slide and hardchromed frame...
What do you think?
OK to do? or blasphemous, and major bad charma?
A beautiful almost pristine condition 1911 Civilian model, the gun was/is probably in NRA excellent condition (it had all original parts when purchased, original barrel, bushing, grips, sights, magazine, etc) except for one thing... someone nickelplated the gun half a century ago (before my dad purchased it) and thereby destroyed it's collectors value. But that is also what made it cheap to purchase! It was his first pistol, and was my first pistol in the process. I was a kid when it was purchased, and we shot it hundreds of times together, maybe tens of thousands of rounds. We shot it so much we wore out the original barrel, wore out the magazine, and shot the front sight off the gun - so these are no longer original parts, although I do have the original parts. The gun was/is very special to me, and he passed away a few years ago and the gun came to me... It sits in a gun safe, safe from theiving hands and damage, but rarely seeing the light of day since I have several more reliable and more accurate pistols.
My question is:
Am I better off leaving the gun as is since it is somewhat rare, and letting it spend the next 20 or 30 years in a gun safe until it passes to my son, or my son's son?
Or would it be okay to modify it and bring it "up to date" so that I would feel comfortable using the gun as a concealed carry piece (since Missouri now allows it), and somewhat changing it's status in my minds and maybe my son's mind to be "MY" gun in addition to being dad's gun before that...
My plan is to add the low Colt ambi safety, 3 dot night sights, a new stainless barrel and bushing, new springs throughout, an upgraded ejector and maybe some porting so it will feed JHP ammo reliably, wider tang and some frame checkering, and finally, I am planning to have it refinished back to a deep blue, or possibly a 2tone, with blued slide and hardchromed frame...
What do you think?
OK to do? or blasphemous, and major bad charma?
