Gumby, I used to be from Wichita, how are things?
Getting to your friends report, I'm a little doubtful as to his veracity. Points:
- Colt has never used a plastic mainspring housing pin on any 1911. It would indeed be odd to offer such an innovation on a WWII Reproduction.
- Since the parts were (just like the originals) probably parkerized at different times and in different batches they can indeed vary in color - JUST LIKE the wartime originals did. Most US GI guns built during WWII had color variations in the parkerizing of individual parts - this is indeed "how it was".
- Scratches? Who was handling it when it got scratched? I would have refused to buy a scratched collectable. All of ours have a nice, smooth finish in the original wax paper wrap.
- Ever look at GI 1911A1 internal parts? They usually show tool marks, etc. As long as they gauge and work ok, the Army was happy. The gun sounds more "GI" all the time.
- The A1 sights were indeed still relatively small, but they were a Partridge squared cut rather than the rather thin "U" shape of the original 1911. Our guns accurately reflect this.
Your Mileage may vary, I guess, but none of our four guns would seem to validate your friend's claims.
Warmly, if Curiously, Col. Colt
"Beware of Counterfeits and Patent Infringements"
