[Retired AF CE]

I have two pristine M1911A1’s. I really want to just have this as my shooter. I’m thinking about keeping the slide and adding another for the shooting side.
Anyone know where I can buy an extra hardened slide?

 

[Retired AF CE]

As I keep reading these stories of guys buying a mixmaster from the CMP and being unhappy with them I have to wonder what the hell were they expecting.

Now as collectors we have to be really careful buying supposedly all-correct and original examples thanks to all the "restored" guns out there.

I didn’t buy this as a collector but as a shooter. I’m a high volume shooter. It’s my hobby and it’s something I love to do.
I’m very happy with my purchase. I just want a shooter and I don’t want to risk destroying the slide that came on it.
That’s it, nothing more and nothing less. I’m just looking for options. If I don’t find a slide that’s hardened, I will shoot with this Colt slide.

 

[Retired AF CE]

I rebuilt this commercial Colt from a bare 1920 frame -- over 101 years old now.

Your GI frame should last yours' and your kids' lifetimes (at least). GI guns have lasted this long (to include with 1950s-90s contract overhaul parts) because they're Energizer Bunnies. The .45's low-pressure cartridge doesn't wreck the pistol like high-pressure / fast-hard recoil.

The frame isn’t the issue, the slide is. It’s well known that the upper lugs in the WWII slides will shear off or the slide will crack.

 

[Retired AF CE]

Correct.

I commanded counter-terrorist teams in the late-80s - early-90s transition between M1911A1s and Berettas. We broke a number of war-era slides, but not the 779- slide rebuilds. Same frames.

At the Army Marksmanship Unit we built new match guns with GI and Caspian frames.

I figured as much by your screen name.💪🏼🇺🇸
My dream is to build a Delta gun described by MSG (Ret) Vickers.

I was just a Carpenter in the Air Force that morphed into Psychological Warfare out of Ft Bragg.

 

[Retired AF CE]

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