3953 slide on a 3954

[Geister]

EDIT: gun came in, here are pics. There were no markings inside the stainless slide on the 3954
3954/3913/3914 3954/3913/3914 - Album on Imgur

I just purchased a 3954 to keep my 3913 and 3914 company. The only thing is the slide is stainless. Shop that sold it says the owner probably had them both and swapped slides to make each one two-tone.

Do I keep it as-is, cerakote it, or what?

I know the 3954 production numbers were very low, is there a chance this was purchased this way?

Also, the front sight appears to be stainless and beveled. I've not seen one like that before.

I will take better pics after I receive it.

Serial appears to be TJB1983

Thanks for and insight or advice.

 

[ACEd]

Remove the slide and look inside top - most of the 3953/3954 are so marked inside.
NO SW marking on slide and looks bead blasted. Most likely original 3954 slide bead blasted or replaced by prev owner.
But I have a 3904 manufactured in 1989 with old style fixed sights with documentation that it went back to SW in 1993 for some reason and it came back with a stainless slide with adj sights.

 

[kbm6893]

Remove the slide and look inside top - most of the 3953/3954 are so marked inside.
NO SW marking on slide and looks bead blasted. Most likely original 3954 slide bead blasted or replaced by prev owner.
But I have a 3904 manufactured in 1989 with old style fixed sights with documentation that it went back to SW in 1993 for some reason and it came back with a stainless slide with adj sights.

They only marked the inside of the barrels for a brief time. I’ve owned theee 3953’s and only one of the em had the inside of the slide marked.

 

[stansdds]

It is up to you and it's not like you would be modifying an all-original, collector piece. Personally, I'm not a fan of light colored slides on dark colored receivers. The slide is what is going to reflect light into your eyes when shooting, not the receiver. I prefer monotone or a dark slide on a light receiver.

 

[ACEd]

They only marked the inside of the barrels for a brief time. I’ve owned theee 3953’s and only one of the em had the inside of the slide marked.

3954 supposedly only made 1991-92. TJB1983 most likely very late 1990 or early 1991 - I have a 3953 TJB33xx dated by SW as 6/1991 and a 3954 TJA86xx dated by SW as 12/1990 both with internally marked slide.
I would say its worth checking, though on looking more closely at slide in original pictures, I would now bet slide was bead blasted and all markings gone.

 

[Geister]

it's not like you would be modifying an all-original, collector piece.

I concur.

Depending on how it looks in person, I may cerakote the whole thing black. I bought it to use.

Thanks

 

[Miami_JBT]

That's probably the original slide. It has clearly been poorly bead-blasted.

 

[BAM-BAM]

As is "Truck gun"

 

[VASCAR2]

I’ve never seen a dovetailed front sight silver in color. I prefer the blued slide and anodized alloy frames personally. The slide does look stainless steel from the pictures. If it is stainless I would get it Melonite treated before I used Cerakote.

The pistols appearance is not that bad and for the right price I would’ve bought it. Without the slides being serialized it is fairly common for people to swap slides around. Some people hate mismatched serial numbers between frame and slide.

 

[Geister]

gun came in, here are pics. There were no markings inside the stainless slide on the 3954

3954/3913/3914 3954/3913/3914 - Album on Imgur

 

[KurtC]

Find a worn spot inside the slide and touch it with a dab of cold bluing paste.

 

[calmex]

Nice. One time when US Consul Phil Maher was distracted, I removed the slide from his 669 and the slide from my 3906 (which he got for me anyway) and switched them to see how it would look.

Originals as they were:

And the way they came out:

They only lasted in this "switched out" condition for as long as it took to take the photo. I quickly switched them back before the Colonel caught me playing with his 669. I didn't want to lose my "respectability" in his eyes.

Afterwards, when I could ponder the photo of my 3904 slide on the stainless frame, I had my 3904 two-toned with a bake-on finish from Brownells that held up quite well. It's not exactly related to your post, but the idea was sort of the same. I loved that gun, actually.