Refinished GI Colt Question
I was at a show today and saw a GI 1911a1 #11954** something that had been refinished blue and was in 90% condition. It had target sites that were installed. He wanted $500. I am looking for a platform for a bullseye gun and was at the show to find a 70 series parts gun. I would never think of using a GI gun for this, but but its value as a collector has already been ruined. My question is, What is a fair price for this pistol? I thought $500 was to high.
Thanks for any help.
Thanks for any help.
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DSK
on a gun that early won't the slide be soft except for the front where the 2 tone is?
the lugs do not seem to last long on these?
what has been your experience?
thank you
I will take my answer off the air
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geo ><>
on a gun that early won't the slide be soft except for the front where the 2 tone is?
the lugs do not seem to last long on these?
what has been your experience?
thank you
I will take my answer off the air
geo ><>
Joined
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80,955 Posts
It's a question that comes up a lot, so it's definitely fit for public consumption. As a general rule pre-WW2 slides don't hold up for as long as a post-WW2 slide will, as the Austempering method of heat-treating parts wasn't fully developed and implimented until the late '40s. Austempering and other newer methods heat-treat the ENTIRE slide, which is why you gunsmiths cuss a lot when trying to mill a recently-made Colt slide for Bo-Mars.
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Before then, slides were intentionally left soft to allow for machining operations. In 1925 the front end of the slide was heat-treated via the well-known heat n' quench method. Later in 1943 the slide stop notch was flame hardened as well. On these older slides, to prevent premature breech face wear a hardened plug was installed where the firing pin hole is. You can easily see on a GI gun the dark circle surrounding the firing pin hole. The locking lug area was still left unhardened, and as a result WW2 and earlier slides will often display peening damage to the lugs if the barrel fit wasn't proper or the gun has seen a lot of rounds.
All this shouldn't scare a person from shooting an older 1911 or 1911A1, but keep these facts in mind and go easy on it. Furthermore, in my opinion spending the cash on fitting a tight match-grade barrel is a waste because the soft slide will wear more quickly and you'll lose the accuracy you paid for after so many thousands of rounds. Or worse yet, if the barrel isn't properly fitted the slide lugs will be peened to death in short order.
Before then, slides were intentionally left soft to allow for machining operations. In 1925 the front end of the slide was heat-treated via the well-known heat n' quench method. Later in 1943 the slide stop notch was flame hardened as well. On these older slides, to prevent premature breech face wear a hardened plug was installed where the firing pin hole is. You can easily see on a GI gun the dark circle surrounding the firing pin hole. The locking lug area was still left unhardened, and as a result WW2 and earlier slides will often display peening damage to the lugs if the barrel fit wasn't proper or the gun has seen a lot of rounds.
All this shouldn't scare a person from shooting an older 1911 or 1911A1, but keep these facts in mind and go easy on it. Furthermore, in my opinion spending the cash on fitting a tight match-grade barrel is a waste because the soft slide will wear more quickly and you'll lose the accuracy you paid for after so many thousands of rounds. Or worse yet, if the barrel isn't properly fitted the slide lugs will be peened to death in short order.
Thanks guys. The issue of metal hardness has made me shy away from this pistol for my purpose. I will most likly go with a base line Kimber or 70 series colt.
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"A flute without any holes isn't really a flute and a donut without a hole is a danish." Ty Webb
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"A flute without any holes isn't really a flute and a donut without a hole is a danish." Ty Webb
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