My first 1911, also a project gun.

**FCRPhila** · July 12th, 2011, 11:29 AM

So as some of you may know, I did just buy a Colt M1911 from 1918, in very poor condition. I bought it knowing fully that I would never get my money out of it, but to be honest, I felt that a living piece of history, American History, deserves better than rotting away or being scrapped for parts. I created an account on 1911forum.com to see if those guys could point me in the direction of help. They were mostly negative with their comments, trying to get me to sell it as fast as possible. Here's the link if you wish to read the thread: http://forums.1911forum.com/showthread.php?t=324911 So I decided I would post here.

Here's whats wrong with the gun:
It is heavily pitted, has lots of scratches, the dust cover has a large crack which was repaired, poorly. The trigger wobbles up and down, the recoil spring plug and the slide stop are not original to the gun, and it is possible the the barrel is not original either. Also, the pistol will not go into battery without depressing the slide stop, for whatever reason slingshotting is not possible. It was a Government issue, but the frame does not have the roll mark declaring it as US property, and the steel is wavy where it would be, leading me to believe the gun was taken from a arsenal by a soldier and the stamp removed. To top this all off, it was nickeled... badly.

My questions were not really answered so I suppose I'll pose them here in hopes of someone helping me out:
1. How close to 100% do you think the gun can be brought back?
2. Does Colt do restorations?
3. Can all the roll marks be fixed, and put back on?
4. Do you know of any competent gunsmiths capable of restoring this gun in the Pennsylvania area?
5. Will this gun ever be safe to fire?
6. How much do you think it will cost to restore this gun?

Thanks!

**Neko456** · July 12th, 2011, 12:39 PM

Probably $500 - $1000 pending how much you want to put into it. Gun smithing is expensive. If you were skilled enough to do some of the work yourself it could be a fun modestly price project. But refurbushing old guns is expensive if you want to do it right.

**FCRPhila** · July 12th, 2011, 12:44 PM

What I want the most is to repair the crack, get the roll marks back in good order and have it reblued. The stock parts can be replaced later.

**ErichB** · July 12th, 2011, 09:32 PM

Colt does not do restoration work like that. Turnbull's (www.turnbullmfg.com) is the only outfit I know of that is still doing this kind of work. The kind of work you need done is beyond typical gunsmithing. Turnbull's gets nearly $2000 for a basic 1911 restore. And the price goes way up as the work increases. They would need to see it first, and may decline the job if it's as bad as you say it is. I've got one myself. A 1942 "U.S. prop" Colt. Lots of surface rust,almost no finish left, pitting, very weak roll marks, etc... I would have loved to have it restored but it just was not worth it. So I cleaned up the rust and smoothed out some of the rough spots and gave it a spray&bake flat black finish. I keep a small supply of '40s era milsurp ammo and put a few mags a year through it. I always find myself wondering when I clean it after a shoot... Was it the snow and mud of a Belgium winter, or sand and sea water in the Pacific theater that did it? Or maybe just some clod who left it in a wet holster in his garage for 25 years...

**rwb1500** · July 12th, 2011, 11:29 PM

Originally Posted by ErichB

I keep a small supply of '40s era milsurp ammo and put a few mags a year through it. I always find myself wondering when I clean it after a shoot... Was it the snow and mud of a Belgium winter, or sand and sea water in the Pacific theater that did it? Or maybe just some clod who left it in a wet holster in his garage for 25 years...

I like that. A piece of history is worth having, even if it was just in some idiots garage for 20 years. Rep inbound.

**Neko456** · July 13th, 2011, 08:36 AM

Seems cheaper to buy another 1911 to shoot and Place the old one in a display box for conversation piece. Its going to cost a lot to rebuild it. Unless do it as a personal project instead of trying to re-weild the frame I'd just buy another and build from there fixing the frame would keep it OG but cost.