I went back to the local gun shop this afternoon intending to buy a scope I'd looked at the other day to upgrade the glass on one of my precision rifles.
I was there looking at their ring selection when Bill walked up and asked me how I was doing and said you're a S&W guy, do you have any interest in Colts? I said sure and he brought out a mint condition Colt Python (which I like but this one was way to nice to shoot). He also brought out a 1911 "Black Army" made in 1918.
I looked at it, admired it and told him I'd think about it. He told me it had just been listed on GB with 60 pictures taken during a detail strip and clean. He had it detail stripped as it had a bad case of 100 years of too much oil gumming it while it languished where ever it had languished.
I pulled up the listing on my phone in the store, scrolled through all 60 pictures. I also looked at what they have been selling for at auction in similar and much worse condition and asked Jerry to go get Bill and tell him I'll take it.
I didn't argue the price as I got it for literally half of what it's worth.
So…no scope, but a nice 1911.
The 350,951 serial number is 951 past the end of Clawson's 312,000-350,000 transition range from "brushed blued" to "Black Army" and the metal shows both the lack of final polish and the dark charcoal bluing process.
The roll marks are sharp and crisp and there are no signs of a refinish, or (with the exception of the magazine) any cold blue touch up. The small parts show the typical mix master appearance of the a Black Army pistols as Colt procured small parts from other manufactures, some of which still final polished the parts.
The grips are reproductions given the finish, the excessive size of the clearance cuts for the mainspring housing retaining pin, and the number of lines between the double diamond grips. I'll see if I can find a suitably nice pair of originals somewhere.
The magazine is original, or at least correct for the gun. Unfortunately some well meaning but misguided soul in the distant past cold blued the upper portion that should have been left in the white. I'll need to see if I can fix that.
Overall, not bad at all for 104 years old.
I was there looking at their ring selection when Bill walked up and asked me how I was doing and said you're a S&W guy, do you have any interest in Colts? I said sure and he brought out a mint condition Colt Python (which I like but this one was way to nice to shoot). He also brought out a 1911 "Black Army" made in 1918.
I looked at it, admired it and told him I'd think about it. He told me it had just been listed on GB with 60 pictures taken during a detail strip and clean. He had it detail stripped as it had a bad case of 100 years of too much oil gumming it while it languished where ever it had languished.
I pulled up the listing on my phone in the store, scrolled through all 60 pictures. I also looked at what they have been selling for at auction in similar and much worse condition and asked Jerry to go get Bill and tell him I'll take it.
I didn't argue the price as I got it for literally half of what it's worth.
So…no scope, but a nice 1911.
The 350,951 serial number is 951 past the end of Clawson's 312,000-350,000 transition range from "brushed blued" to "Black Army" and the metal shows both the lack of final polish and the dark charcoal bluing process.
The roll marks are sharp and crisp and there are no signs of a refinish, or (with the exception of the magazine) any cold blue touch up. The small parts show the typical mix master appearance of the a Black Army pistols as Colt procured small parts from other manufactures, some of which still final polished the parts.
The grips are reproductions given the finish, the excessive size of the clearance cuts for the mainspring housing retaining pin, and the number of lines between the double diamond grips. I'll see if I can find a suitably nice pair of originals somewhere.
The magazine is original, or at least correct for the gun. Unfortunately some well meaning but misguided soul in the distant past cold blued the upper portion that should have been left in the white. I'll need to see if I can fix that.
Overall, not bad at all for 104 years old.
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