I have a nice Colt WW1 slide but different from what I can find info on. Blue two tone darker on the front two inches #2052xx on rear, The pony is not in the middle or on the rear but in front of the serrations on the left with no circle, with the pat. dates, no markings on the right side & no US ARMY. There is a Z U or N U & what looks like a 4 and also an anchor stamped on the bottom. What do I have? PHOTOS ADDED BELOW

My take on your description is the darker on the front is from the heat treating process on the slide. It should also be darker around the slide stop notch in a circular pattern. Other than that I'm drawing a blank. How about posting a couple of pics?

that one has me stumped. I just looked thru my books and can't find a picture of a slide marked like yours. that serial number is probably late 17 or early 18 but the hardening of the front two inches of the slides didn't take place til WWII. is there possibly a 1 in front of the 2 above the firing pin hole? another place to check is on the 1911 forum. lots of knowledge over there. good luck. lee

This one is SN 159***. No circle with the pony here either. If I follow your description correctly, yours is a bit different.

--Photos on the way. One stamp on the bottom of the slide looks like an anchor & hammer when you blow it up. Would that make it Navy? Did colt redo WW1 unused slides & heat treat for WW11? Did the Navy have armorists? It appears very lightly used. What does the Z U or N U stamp on the bottom mean?

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I'm not sure if this will help or not but this is what I know of Colt serial numbering slides.
The first location Colt used to apply serial numbers to slides was on the bottom, forward of the disconnector cutout. That started in late-1920. But then Colt moved to the rear of the slide shortly thereafter.
In 1942, Colt suspended sales of the Govt Model. The last GM produced with a numbered slide was C215083.
Colt stopped numbering M1911A1 slides ca. 18 November 1943 in the 1138xxx serial range because tolerances were relaxed to achieve interchangeability, and slides were no longer fitted closely enough to require numbering in order to ensure proper function.

With your pic's I thought immediately of the Colt Argentine Contract pistols, but looking at some samples on the net, I'm still drawing a blank.

The stamping on the left side of the slide is typical of Colt commercial slides from the 1928-1941 period. However, I think most were given the caliber stamping on the right side, instead of where the caliber stamping of yours is. Maybe it was stamped in both locations during that period.

I am open to all options. Chime in.

I'm with DWalt on this. I think it is a Colt Commercial slide, especially since it has the high polished blue on it.

Here's a commercial Government .45 from 1930. It's numbered under the firing pin stop; notice the markings. OP's slide is a commercial slide from before '42, but I haven't seen one like that with those markings. Interesting; something weird going on there.
Bob

Your slide is from a Government Model (commercial) shipped to Brazil in 1940. It has been refinished and the right side markings buffed off. Brazil bought almost 17,000 GMs before WWII. When they went to 9MM pistols they scrapped the frames but thousands of the slides were repatriated to the U.S. Dealers advertised them in Shotgun News for years and they were often paired with Essex frames to make complete pistols. Here is what the right side originally looked like:

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Kevin Williams SWCA1649 HF208

Thanks for the info. I just measured the rails & both rails are .140. I also measured a 60 series & it measured the same.

Another example: Colt Government Model Pistol with a Brazilian Contract Slide

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Kevin Williams SWCA1649 HF208

IMHO, that is probably a "lunch box special" from the '20s to the '40s. I don't see any evidence of a refinish on the right side. In the course of modifying Colt 1911s over 20+ years I saw several 'parts' guns that had frames or slides that were not marked as one would expect from Colt. I could tell that they were in fact 'Colt', but escaped (or were liberated) before going thru the complete roll marking/stamping process. .....

I'll go with its being a Brazilian commercial slide with right side stampings buffed out or otherwise removed. I suppose it could be a lunch box special were it purloined prior to the Brazilian stampings having been applied. What it is not is a WWI Colt slide

So---the # means nothing? Except my dads birthday:)confused:

Sure it does. The pistol's original serial number was C205271.

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Kevin Williams SWCA1649 HF208

I assumed a commercial # would have a c. Thanks for the input. I still think no metal has been removed as the rails measure .140 on both sides & not wavy.

It has the Brazilian 1937 COLT contract slide markings. Blank on the right side for eventual stamping of Exercito Brasileiro. It has a COLT commercial serial number from 1941. The contract may never have been finished or it ended up in any of several foreign sales contracts inclucing Brazil. Over the last six months several sellers on Ebay have been selling roughly a dozen of these slides. $200-$350. Ones with no serial numbers are believed to be replacement slides. Defn post 1930. Once we hit WW2 the pistols and slides went all over the world.

That makes it ok to me & the heat treatment would be correct for that period. I had been looking at WW1#s --What I thought was an anchor After closer inspection looks like a G with a 4 stamped across it. THANKS EVERYONE ---