Melting down the 1911, ideas?

[Amati]

Bought a Springfield 1911 Mil-Spec because I have a soft spot for the GI pistol.

Sent it to Springfield's custom shop to do lots of custom work including "radical" dehorning and blueing.

The dehorning came out fair but not radical enough for me.

The blueing is not nice, apparently the old chemicals are now illegal, etc.

Enter Clark Custom Guns:

https://clarkcustomguns.com/gun/meltdown/

I'm very tempted to have them melt it and hard chrome parts of it.

By the time I get it back it'll be a candidate for most expensive 1911 folly.

Ideas?

Thanks.

[Red-5]

You want Blueing. The best I have seen recently is being done by Bunker Arms and they are in the great State of Florida.

I am sure Brandon can take care of any of your needs.

[Amati]

Bunker Arms, eh? Thanks.

[Aguila Blanca]

I've never understood the appeal of a "melted" 1911.

Different strokes for different folks, for sure.

[Bill DeShivs]

If you are going to change the finish on your gun, bluing is about the worst finish there is.
Upgrade to Hard chrome, nitriding, or even nickel plating.
Even gun paint is better than bluing.

[MarkCO]

There is no appeal of a melted 1911 to me, it is purely functional for a pistol that is carried regularly.

[Kreyzhorse]

Curious what the appeal is for the old GI model when you are considering turning it into anything but?

The melting does look bad, but I prefer the classic lines of the 1911.

[Cheapshooter]

Bought a Springfield 1911 Mil-Spec because I have a soft spot for the GI pistol.
But then you want to turn it into some sort of freak of nature!

[Ibmikey]

Amati, This is your pistol do whatever you desire in changes.....God will forgive you......maybe!

[BigJimP]

Sell it as is....and look at a Wilson Combat or an Ed Brown catalog...for a gun that meets your specs.../...you'll be way happier down the road in my view.

[HiBC]

I'll offer a bizzare suggestion.
The 1911 purist (Bless them) will never approve of an alteration of the classic.
And that's OK.
I like the classics.

I also like beavertails and checkered forestraps. Gasp!

AND,AND!! I like comped,double stack,mini optic mounted 38 Super race guns!!! Even with gas pedal controls. :eek:

They make lots of Springfiels Mil-Specs. Its your gun.You have a vision! Be your own freak!

Melt jobs are cosmetics/aesthetics. All in YOUR eye.

Look. See what you can't change,like around the slidestop cuts in the slide.

Use a Sharpie. Mark what you want to change.

Nice,new,sharp files! A needle file set! Maybe even (cringe) an unlicensed Dremel.

Maybe a Pana-Vise....Some kind of vise. (gently! No crushing)

File a uniform 45 deg chamfer all over. That makes one corner into two 45 ea,corners,,yes? You can rub cold blue on it for contrast,if you want.Now go back and file a flat on the two new 45 deg corners,so you have 3 uniform flats.

Repeat,till you think you have enough little flats to blend out . Emery tape over a piece of wood yardstick is Ok. This time work across the flats,blending them out. Be careful to keep the lines of tangency clean and straight.Shoe-shining won't do that well.

Then you might decide to sandblast the whole thing.

Brother has become pretty good at Cera-coat. Seems good stuff.

Home Parkerizing is possible. Look at stainless drywall mud pans or stainless loaf pans,etc. You need to be able to boil all the pieces. My one time experience,it comes out ugly....but then I cold blued over the park and sealed it with turpentine/beeswax. It was pretty good on my fake 1903A4 project parts.

Hard Chrome would be nice.

I figure,if you are going mess up a 1911,why pay somebody else to have all the fun? With paying money,expectations go up!! Hard to be satisfied. Doing my own work?? I understand.
Just think before you cut...and usually,less is more.
Sometimes,just do it. Its just a flipping gun! Get your Bubba on!! Do your best,and you MIGHT surprise yourself. Maybe.Or? "Seemed like a good idea at the time!!"
Live.
I'll never forget the look on my brother's face when he told me he wanted his Badge barreled AR-10 T to have a 20in vs a 24 in bbl. This rifle was shooting lime size groups at 300yds.

I walked over to the Do-All band saw,sawed the barrel off,and handed it to him.

Gasp!!. "Oh,you want it crowned,too?? You should have said something! That's extra!!!". Dang!! That ain't gonna fit in the South Bend. :D
I have a very precision angle plate with a vertical Vee on one face. Hung it off theside of the Bridgeport table and swung the head over.It shoots REAL good.

[Spats McGee]

I love the plain, park'd GI look, but (oddly) I seem to have a soft spot for the melt jobs, too. From time to time, WC145 posts pictures of one that just makes me drool. You can find it here (https://thefiringline.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6331832&postcount=27).

[Skadoosh]

What's not to like?

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/57/a9/92/57a992d19193054a15a5f35bb3949814--custom--custom-guns.jpg

[Spats McGee]

^^^Dang, that's beautiful!

[Amati]

Skadoosh

Thank you! Yep, it takes a Navy guy.
If you wouldn't mind please share how to contact the maker.

[OzeanJaeger]

I was just going to comment that when done right a melted Government M with a lusterous deep blue is gorgeous. Just personal preference on the aesthetics, but I don’t think the melt looks anywhere near as good unless it has a top notch bluing job.

[joed]

I'm with Bill DeShivs, I hate blueing and haven't bought a blued gun in 10 years. Almost anything is better then Blue.

Before spending more on this .45 why not sell it and buy a stainless from Kimber or Wilson?

[Skadoosh]

I'm with Bill DeShivs, I hate blueing and haven't bought a blued gun in 10 years. Almost anything is better then Blue.


The heat and humidity here in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia during the summer is downright swampy. Guess what? My BLUED Colt Detective that I have carried almost every single day for over a decade still looks like this:

https://i62.servimg.com/u/f62/12/63/91/01/20171012.jpg

It lives 24/7/365 in that holster and rarely gets wiped down.

[Skadoosh]

Skadoosh

Thank you! Yep, it takes a Navy guy.
If you wouldn't mind please share how to contact the maker.
Clark Custom. A phone call over email is preferable.
318-949-9884 (M-F 8:00 am – 4:00 pm CST)

[Amati]

Selling my gun is equivalent to gifting it. Custom guns from private parties are toxic.

So far this pistol has cost north of $3K and a buyer who would pay more than the cost of a new in the box Mil-Spec would be very hard to find.

Two resellers have admired it but neither one was interested to buy it, at any price.

The idea is to spend another ~ $2K and end up with a Skadoosh ^^^ gun from Clark Custom. I called them a few days ago and spoke with Clay Patterson who gave me great confidence in moving forward.

[joed]

Amati, I'm a fan of 1911's too. Would like to see what the gun looks like now. I used to own a beautiful Springfield that had a nickel finish. To this day I regret parting with it.

[WVsig]

Selling my gun is equivalent to gifting it. Custom guns from private parties are toxic.

So far this pistol has cost north of $3K and a buyer who would pay more than the cost of a new in the box Mil-Spec would be very hard to find.

Two resellers have admired it but neither one was interested to buy it, at any price.

The idea is to spend another ~ $2K and end up with a Skadoosh ^^^ gun from Clark Custom. I called them a few days ago and spoke with Clay Patterson who gave me great confidence in moving forward.

Not to be rude but if you have spent north of $3000 on this pistol and are looking to spend more you wasted your money. You could have sent it to a real custom shop like Yost, Williams, Cogan, Harrison, Burton, Chen, Christiansen etc.... and gotten exactly what you wanted for less and I can guarantee that the gun would be worth 80%-90% what you had in it if it was built by one of these guys. If you cannot sell a customized gun with documentation then you are trying to sell in the wrong places.

Someone with a soft spot for a GI pistol is not going to do this kind of work. Custom work does not equal GI pistol IMHO. Without pics of the existing gun I get the feeling we are being trolled.

[tipoc]

Post a pic of your gun please, the one you said had the "Radical" melt job.

tipoc

[T. O'Heir]

"...bluing is not nice..." Has nothing to do with the chemicals. It's about the 100%, time consuming, hand, polishing work a really pretty hot bluing job requires. As mentioned, bluing doesn't provide much protection.

[SGW Gunsmith]

Skadoosh...........That's one of the very BEST lookin' 1911 pistols that I've seen in quite some time. No sharp edges that are prone to hinder a smooth and easy holster draw.

Bluing? Always a practical and appealing finish on a 1911 style pistol, and the very best examples that I've seen, to date, come from Doug Turnbull and the artists that he employs. Worried about bluing wear? Get yourself a GOOD, molded-fit and lined holster. Nothing better.

[Amati]

Tipoc said:

"Post a pic of your gun please, the one you said had the "Radical" melt job."

I'm not a photographer but you get the idea.

[joed]

Here's mine, carried everyday in FL for 10 years and Ohio for 8 more. Bet mine holds up longer.

Nice area you're in, I spent time in the service in Newport News. Still one of my favorite places.

Have the same DS too, they are great guns. Carry mine in an ankle holster. Bought mine to replace a First Gen Cobra.

I used to be a big fan of blue but found it just isn't durable as the others.

https://i.imgur.com/Xcli1Dul.jpg

[joed]

Tipoc said:

"Post a pic of your gun please, the one you said had the "Radical" melt job."

I'm not a photographer but you get the idea.
Heck, I think that's a decent blueing job.

[WC145]

What's not to like?

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/57/a9/92/57a992d19193054a15a5f35bb3949814--custom--custom-guns.jpg
Always funny to see someone else posting a picture of your gun. :rolleyes:


Clark Meltdowns aren't for everyone, which is probably why they have backed off on how much they cut guns down, the more recent Meltdowns that I've seen are less radically smoothed out than the older ones. But, if you want one Clark's is the place to go. Manufacturer's have done their own versions, like Kimber's Ultra CDP but they're much less melted than Clark's work.

Clark's did the original work on my gun back in '98, not long after they first started offering the Meltdown package. They parkerized it after the melt and the finish was showing some wear by the time I got the gun from the original owner. I had it polished and blued and some other work done by a local 'smith about 5 years ago. A melted gun is probably the most comfortable to carry piece you'll find. There are no sharp edges to poke at you, hang up on fabric or wear on your clothing.

As far as bluing is concerned, how it holds up is totally dependent on how you care for it, there are waxes that really help to protect the finish. Hard chrome is a great finish and super tough, it also takes on whatever the surface texture you apply it to is - hard chrome polished metal and it'll be bright and shiny, apply it to a matte surface and it will be matte. It holds up incredibly well, I've had guns that were hard chromed 20-30 years ago and the finish looks practically new.

And, as far as customizing a 1911 or any other gun, I say have at it. You bought , you own it, do whatever you like with it. If someone else doesn't like it , who cares?

Here's a couple more recent pics of my Meltdown-
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-wMUMl2Dtn0A_9kl_XNLg11Q7wtsZBhykZjpOhxsFRdEAX-NGZd3s-XOFyc9V9LtSOyxGQe1YGeEbN61mEreeWDHtBFG4_FEXqXVbnR5nTecPnP_CouBr2V7hCSvcvXEY6y_GgVSIUbNH_jmDc12DMAic8SEV4DjkoYWTIPoItTbXHzt09X47Gux4OSSMUC4g4bSfTCGF6D2Bz9gcEfaNcH5vcu9fmprxf9SZvKONsKkoqpiLqzjrnbYTRYgVWxJ9oQ3P16vDL8wBbtdpH0avAn6ekYyncbkuPlX9P3hrRUR0FS-UO0FIxeU634kx0_nzOKwJDDy0W2NENqxXnPJbThc8IetufVsuwT50gjGEr4o8SnoGREe5NA5M2sup1CuU8Or1MRR32rqEnCldzmLr7xEnNRL2i-jPDDDoq-qwE0nZVh-Bp_FdZjLB9tadDInYXp99oYxW7NJbSl_q7oHXJq1pEn9ZE58G3hWCGNcxV61Pkb2nXeV_LC4TvJscQre77g_xTYgibhoNXluCdnIt8rBGqr6haaWa4VRKeVoWwldCwstXE_o2TkeT0Dn1QVmwhdr29P92f6sEc1rEl0dNdFOiSpP4bOjy57JSc0TCJs=w638-h650-no
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/lXmEyZtsPn9xBo-hT_1X5orMvg5gnfGb5u9qa2IloE-4VtkvPtGrs70v4TbdhlVsMef-4oFr3kW_Dcd95HndwjGLYdU_D81orsNBoEQUK6zCRGQ_309XtkObGKhfK_eLdECTeb7uRoa01WMNQKZvg81CqgYqvTXz9hE00XI-fUcxCZyYH_rHm6UUZ4sSXCBqokzuX6eMVagxA0hTW90OxTTUhH4RDAb3DKrfuZFASNPGdsEGrgueoWsxfoke2ReRTbLXIJ2eOJDzM5iMWRVcZQcbyyiObI9jlmUuuA1JZhTItxWn_wrWbRcdZeSd3j3GgM2yc43MoJKLY0pBcLyRGzFRxBhBcv6LbndfIffU1-jRPpH9LafUMsz2X1amxMuD9TpKGlQr3XXN-y5QorhxEz8J56NEV8LyA3Etj_sh1Ljl149SgT_wRoJblGbOE0F9FtQGkag1myQu0fiLMI6kYkRA5bXhue4tRuCpFHV8mPmtXtnr8TpXxZGb-LCiRSrvvFFK73SuEiv0dNs8BA8BZ-N-t6V7pSSihesqIdu74YfRsvfm-opva0Sh4Wu7uY3oq0CbpYQoO-w9QoX_BO3FH0OKZJ4HQSZlM-Gd9bDCRDE=w1001-h650-no

[WVsig]

https://thefiringline.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=106344&d=1512849317

I am sooo confused because I just don't see how this is a $3,000 1911. :confused:

[joed]

We all have different tastes and I think every gun pictured here is good looking.

And I like 1911's. I don't do mil-spec anymore after buying my first Kimber. I carried a 1911 for awhile when I was in the service. The happiest moment to me was when I turned it in, it was the most inaccurate gun I ever fired. It turned me against the 1911 until I learned from a friend years later that they can be accurate. Amazing how sometimes you can do a 180 turn.

[Skadoosh]

Always funny to see someone else posting a picture of your gun.


:rolleyes:
Never once did I say it was mine. It was posted as an example of just how beautiful a blued meltdown can be for those that "just do get it".

[Model12Win]

You want a GI gun, only to melt it? Son, THIS is a GI style 1911, no melting required:

https://s8.postimg.org/49zl42uzp/20170911_165743_preview.jpg

[Ibmikey]

Model 12 Win.......looks better than anything I have seen in this post :). Reminds me of sitting on a sea wall in Korea looking at the mud for miles when the tide was out and banging away at the mud with my issue 1911 until my hand was really sore. A few hours after I left 0 there would not be a case to be found anywhere.

[WVsig]

You want a GI gun, only to melt it? Son, THIS is a GI style 1911, no melting required:

https://s8.postimg.org/49zl42uzp/20170911_165743_preview.jpg
Exactly if you want a GI pistol get a GI pistol.

[Amati]

WC145 says:

Clark Meltdowns aren't for everyone, which is probably why they have backed off on how much they cut guns down, the more recent Meltdowns that I've seen are less radically smoothed out than the older ones. But, if you want one Clark's is the place to go.


Thanks, good post and my conversation with them gave me confidence.