Edit: Stupid question!!! That blondness must be rubbing off!
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Edit: Stupid question!!! That blondness must be rubbing off!
Here's a little better pics with a white backdrop. The pistol looks better in person than it does in my pics. But with my photobox, all the flaws come out with the bright light.
I don't think it's been polished. The lettering is too crips, and all the holes aren't rounded. When you actually look at the pistol, the front portion of the pistol has no finish left, and then the rear around the grips and protected areas has probably about 20% finish left. And under the grips the finish is perfect. I really think it's just been in and out of a holster about a million times! lol As far as the small parts they really aren't in a place that gets a lot of wear going in and out of a holster.
I guess it could be possible that the small parts have been switched but I don't think they have been. I did a detailed field strip this morning. You could tell the pistol hasn't been apart in a lot of years. The rear main spring housing was so rusted in there that I had to soak it in gun oil for about an hour to get it to break free. It was a bear. I bet it took me two hours to get the frame disasembled as it had a lot of surface rust inside. Thank God most of it came off and I greased the heck out of it inside so it wouldn't rust again. But man it had been a long time since it was cleaned properly. Which is a real shame.
From the story I got about it. The guy I bought it from said it had been found in a an old guys drawer that had died. The family sold it at his estate sale, not even knowing it was a USMC pistol. He said he really never did anything with it, and never really cared for the early 1911's so he sold it to me. From the condition of the pistol I would say the story is very plausible.
The pics on the white back ground seem a little clearer to me. I think you got a good deal, judging the prices I've seen down there for 1911's. I think the prices are a little cheaper up here, but not near the quality or selection you have to choose from. I think there were just under 7000 actually sold to the Canadian military & the rest have found there way over here as bring backs or surplus. I would think a USMC pistol would be very hard to find, if not impossible, over here.