LGS has a 1911 serialed number to 1918. I don't follow these things, but it is a nice looking gun. The owner doesn't have a sense of the value and neither do I. The research he and I have been doing shows the mainspring housing, trigger, beavertail, and barrel are all later 1911A1 type additions. The frame, slide, grips and are original 1911. I have seen arsenal rebuilds and I do not think this is one. The finish is nice too, the grips are nice, no arsenal marking, no parkerizing.

How easy would it be to fine the parts to put it back to all 1911, and within a wide range what would this cost.

The bore is good and finish is nice, 90% original "black" army issue. I don't think he has the time or inclination to restore this thing. I am considering making an offer on it. What would be a good price for me and be fair for the LGS, who is a good guy I have been doing business with for years. I'm thinking $1200 as is. Any suggestions?

Thanks , Charlie

Well it sounds like a fairly nice shooter, as you know it's only original once. After you hunt around and finally find the correct parts in the correct finish that matches that 1911, you will probably have more time and money into it than if you bought a cleaner original example. Also at the end of the day if you are looking to recoupe your cash out of it, experts will pick it apart and offers will be pretty low. The parts you mentioned are all available but at a great cost for really clean original examples. They are getting harder to come by as of late. As far as value I would say any old Colt 1911 that shoots and functions is worth at least $700-$800. At this point it would be nothing more than a Frankengun made up of parts. You can't get hurt too bad at that price. Also the older Colts didn't have hardened slides and if you plan on shooting it a lot, they are known to crack. I think the round count was about 10,000 rounds or something like that.

This could be an interesting gun to own, but with all the non-original parts, I would also think you should shoot for a price below four digits, and you wouldn't be unfair to your dealer. Prices for these have been going up, but with a bit of luck and persistence, for 1200 - 1500 you can find at least a mediocre-condition all-original one, which is preferable collector-wise to a nice Frankencolt.

Some pics would help tremendously!

Thanks guys. Exactly the info I needed.

Charlie