Now that Bill Adair is gone, who can restore. . .

[JimF in CT]

. . . My 1914-era commercial M1911 to it's best former glory??? --Jim

Information

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[Duane Hansen]

Doug Turnbull could do an outstanding job for you but the cost would be up there in the 2 to 3 thousand dollar range. He is good and he really knows how to charge too!
I wish Bill was still with us.

[hognfrog]

I have a 1902 Colt Military being done by RON'S GUN SHOP Firearm Restorations, Period Restorations For Antique Guns

Take a look at his web site. Not cheap but this is the gun shop that did the blueing for the repo Colts. I happen to be living close enough that I drove up to talk with Ron & Paul ( Paul does the restoring)
I do not have my pistol yet, should be done sometime in Oct/Nov of this year.

[Duane Hansen]

Please show us some before and after photos when you get it back. We are always looking for new people to do this type of work. Their prices look pretty darn reasonable and if they do a good job, I'm sure that some of the folks here will jump on board.

[hognfrog]

I have some before pictures.
As you can see the pistol is missing almost all of its blue finish. How someone got it all off without causing damage to the roll marks I will never know.
Other than the missing finish the weapon was in great shape with very little other problems.
I will be sure to post "after" photo's once it is returned to me.

[Bruce Koligian]

May I suggest Chuck Moline (Chuck in Denver as he is know in this forum). He's restored two A1s for me but the piece de la resistance was my buddy's 1915 Colt. Chuck stripped off the nickle finish and restored it to a beautiful and authentic blue characteristic of the period. His charges are extremely reasonable. BK

[Johnny Peppers]

Bill Adair had the ability to make a restoration look like the original finish. I have seen some Turnbull restorations that were over restored. They looked like a 75 year old lady with coal black hair and ruby red lipstick; just way overdone.
A 1914 Government Model would have been blued in a coal fired oven, with Colt changing to gas fired ovens in 1918.

[JimF in CT]

Ahh yes, Johnny . . . That's my desire . . .

I knew Bill would have done "justice" to my pistol.
I had sent him pics and we exchanged e-mails about my pistol. I was right on the verge of sending in my gun when I got word of his demise.

I wish to find someone who will refinish it in the "Bill Adair" way.

In the deep recesses of my pistol I can see the Colt finish you speak of.

Any ideas where to send it?? TIA, --Jim

[Johnny Peppers]

I have not seen any restorations other than Turnbulls that I knew who did them.

[hognfrog]

Yesterday, after almost 20 months, I picked up my restored pistol from Rons Gun Shop. Here are the results! I posted these on another forum, but wanted to follow-up my original post here on Milsurp.
As a note Rons Gun Shop is the place that did the blueing for the reproduction Colts a few years back, which is the reason I chose them to do the restoration work. The engraving of the letters and "rampart horse" are outstanding, as you can see.



The lines on the finish are NOT scratches, they are swirls left from a quick silicone cloth wipe down.