I bought this finishless 1913 Colt 1911 last month. Despite being in the white, the metal was in very good condition, the markings still deep and crisp, no soft edges were apparent and the grips were in good condition for 100 years old wood.

I had decided to have it professionally re-blued. Not an easy decision for such an old gun, but I felt that the originality and serious collectibility was gone once some previous owner had totally removed the finish; I guess there was some corrosion, although there is no apparent deep pitting, and someone decided to refinish it rather than just treat the areas affected, but did not finish the job (pun intended).

(Minimal) prepping was $ 90 and blueing was $ 220

Anyway it came back for the shop and here it is

Before






After


































With its 1943 descendant





I am happy with the result. Whilst not an original 1913, it’s still a pretty and eye pleasing gun to me and a testimonial to a glorious design that lasted and stayed relevant for so long.

I won’t shoot it, as I also stopped shooting the A1 after abt 50 rounds, couldn’t resist.

Outstanding.

While others might disagree, particularly on this site, about ever refinishing ANY original condition collectable firearms, I think you did the exact thing I would have done. I think you did more of a restoration than a refinishing, even though the current finish might not be 100% historical.

That's a 1911 I'd certainly be proud to own.

Thanks for sharing it.

P. S. C'mon, you HAVE to shoot it. How can you not?

Looks great!

I think your reasoning for having it refinished is sound, and I would likely have done the same.

And I would shoot it, too. At least a few magazines-worth.

Looks great, but don’t be afraid to shoot it, it’s a refinished gun after all.

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Some Might Say.

Considering that it came to you 'in the white', I think that you did the right thing. It looks quite nice to me and I would be pleased to own it.
Good decision and nice work. Take it out and shoot it. I'm sure you will enjoy it.

Looks great! I'd shoot it, just too much fun not to.

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No baby we aint

I'd shoot it, just to verify it still works. Which I'm sure that it would.

Very nice, Congratulations.

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BTDT, Got The T-Shirt

Heck of a nice job of keeping all the markings crisp!

I would have to shoot it! Nice job.

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Hue 68 noli me tangere

Just curious, is this what that gun would have looked like when it shipped?

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SWHF #595

That gun looks great.
If the gun could speak, it would tell you: shoot me.

Not a 1911 fan........... but nicely done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am not a specialist in the old 1911 field but I did try to find as many pictures of this particular year and model to have a good idea of how it should look

The one you pictured seems to be a commercial pistol (« C * prefix, no USP markings, VP on the trigger guard, pony in a circle) with a high level of polishing and very blue small parts. I guess it was restored too.

Here are two pictures I found of a very well preserved original





And here is a Turnbull restoration

Classic12–one of the more interesting things to me since becoming a member of this forum are the “mystery” guns posted like yours in various stages what I would call “remodeling” or restoration. I can certainly understand wanting to refinish a firearm but leaving it in the white surprises me. I guess folks get drawn off onto other projects or simply lose interest. I also strongly suspect in many of these instances, they planned on doing the work themselves and it never gets done.

I think your finished product is outstanding. I gather from your post that you had the work done locally, but that may be assuming too much? I also assume with the strong firearm culture you have there that there are a number of top craftsman and gunsmiths that refinish and restore firearms.

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Possum—The other white meat!

Thank you. I am quite conscious of some firearms history and very respectful of original and rare / old guns, so it is a very rare occurrence for me to consider a restoration or any permanent modifications. In this case I also wanted this pistol to possibly endure and survive the next 100 years, and white carbon steel is just too prone to rusting. Also it didn’t look right to me as an unfinished job as you stated.

The Sig P 210-2 milsurp I had hard chromed is a common gun here in Switzerland, 130’000 were made for the army (which is substantial for a small country of 8 million inhabitants) plus I think another 50’000 civilian ones. It was cheap, not in very good condition and the barrel, sights and grips were non-original so I didn’t feel bad about the restoration / modification.

A different SIG P210

Come on now , you're going to tell us you didn't at least shoot it before you sent it off ? I can see not shooting it now , that's your decision . But I would at least shot it before sending it off .

Money well spent! Looks great.

I have a buddy who has a 1913 year 1911. It's a GI gun, though. Last account, it was still on active duty as his house gun.

I am not worried about the new finish, in fact it could use a little honest wear. I’m rather worried about cracking the non hardened slide or breaking some other 107 years old part.

And beyond the feel good factor of shooting a 107 yrs old army pistol, the trigger is surprisingly heavy and horrible, the sights are minuscule and I am not sure the experience would be that rewarding. And that’s from a guy who likes to shoot all his guns.

Classic12–I have been too busy to follow-up, the past couple of days, but I wanted to mention all the 1911’s I have shot—Springfield TRP and Gold Cup had better sights than a plain Jane government model. I noticed the abysmal sights of the what became the government model—the ORIGINAL 1911 in the Browning Museum. When we were there the curator was wiping the displays down and I got to hold it in white cotton cloves.

My feeling has always been they were designed to be a last-ditch/ big-bore/combat/across the trench belly gun—sort of a trench or room cleaner. A point a shoot gun. Easy to use from horseback too. I think all the close-tolerance accuracy concerns came much later.

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Possum—The other white meat!

I like it and you increased its value and appeal in my opinion. I too would shoot it at least one magazine of light lead loads.

I have a real WWI M1911 which I refinished (bead-blasted and blued) some years ago. It had no particular collectible value when I bought it over 50 years ago, and refinishing it didn't really bother me. I did find a near-new WWII-era Ithaca slide cheap, and that is what I use on it for shooting purposes as it has the heat-treated muzzle area. Also have a commercial blued SA 9mm slide for it which I use for 9mm and .38 Super.