Old Colt 1911

[PawPaw]

Last week I picked up an old Colt 1911 from the local gun shop. It's been hard-chromed and the serial number puts it being made about 1915. It has US property roll marks. I've been inspecting it, trying to fathom the provenance of the pistol. I figured that it had been sold as surplus sometime in the past and had been worked on by someone who routinely worked on 1911s.

Today, my sons and I took off the Hogue grips and found a distinctive pattern on the front strap. I know that Jim Clark used to put Tiger Tooth stippling on his custom 1911s, but this is nothing like Clark's stippling. This is almost a checkering pattern, but it's bigger than normal checkering, almost like hash-marks.



This pistol isn't original by any means. It has an arched mainspring housing, and it's been chromed, but the pistol is tight and should be a good shooter. I intend to leave it alone and use it as a barbeque gun, but if anyone could identify the smilth that hash-marked that front strap, it would help me try to understand the history of this pistol.

Thanks in advance.

[1911Tuner]

Looks like somebody started to checker it and changed his mind.

[royal barnes]

Looks like that to me, too.

[polyphemus]

My Goodness! he chromed the grip screw bushings.

[James K]

The grip screw bushing were probably never removed, just plated in place.

The "checkering" on the front strap was probably done with a triangle file, possibly by someone who heard about checkering and decided to try it. When the frame proved harder than expected, the project began to seem like work and was discontinued.

Jim

[Bill DeShivs]

That looks like decorative chrome plating to me. Typical bumper shop job.

[tipoc]

From the unevenness of it and the shallow depth it doesn't look like the work was begun by a professional smith. It looks more like a home "gunsmith" wanted to make the grip less slippery in his hand so began a job and stopped.

The work adds nothing to the value or looks of the piece and detracts from both.

This is an old G.I. gun that likely changed hands a few times. It's a shooter, shoot it.

tipoc

[PawPaw]

That looks like decorative chrome plating to me. Typical bumper shop job.

Definitely. It's gaudy, no doubt. Probably done in the same place that chromes Chevy bumpers.

Originally Posted by tipoc

The work adds nothing to the value or looks of the piece and detracts from both.

This is an old G.I. gun that likely changed hands a few times. It's a shooter, shoot it.

Concur. I'll make it into a barbecue gun. My son is working on a pair of equally gaudy grips with conchos to match the over-the-top style of the pistol.