That's a fine looking specimen, mgmorden. How's the bore?
The bore on this one is excellent - bright and shiny. It doesn't look like it was fired much at all.
I do finally have it cleaned up now as well. Was a heck of a task - took me several hours. Once upon a time I used to soak a cosmoline covered gun in gasoline, but I didn't have any loose gas on hand and didn't want to resort to siphoning some out of the boat (nor waiting until Monday when I go back into town
).
Ended up wiping it off as best I could, then using some "Purple Power" degreaser I found lying around. That helped, but didn't work ALL that well. After rinsing all the parts in hot water (the degreaser instructions had in bold print to rinse with water afterwards - not sure if it was necessary but I didn't want to chance it eating the bluing off
). After that I put all the parts except the grip in the oven at 200 degrees for 45 minutes. That dried the water off, and liquified most of the remaining cosmoline. What didn't fall into the drain pan I was able to fairly easily wipe off. Oiled it and reassembled.
Only major headache on disassembly was getting the firing pin out and then back in. From past experience on such matters I went and did it in the hallway where there's no where to go if a part goes flying.
I also managed to put a circular "idiot mark" right next to the slide stop lever as well. When I was reassembling the first time I put it in and slid it up until it went in. Unfortunately that drug the end across the frame marring the finish. Doesn't bother me too bad though
.
It was night by the time I got it back together so I haven't shot it, but I do have some general observations:
1. It's a bit odd that the slide cannot be racked if the gun is at half-cock. This had me puzzled for a long time and I thought something might have been wrong until I verified this behavior online.
2. The slide release is small, and rough. Digs into my thumb something fierce when I use it.
3. As mentioned earlier, the magazine disconnect. Overall these don't really bother me in everyday usage, but it is frustrating when cleaning a gun (which I was doing a LOT of right now
).
Overall though it seems like a good gun. Feel in the hand is great - a lot thinner than I imagined it would be. Parts fit is still tight. The safety, though a BATF-mandated addon, seems perfectly functional. Definitely well worth the $199 price tag.