HELP!

[John Wyatt]

Thanks again Jim; your assistance is greatly appreciated.
For those looking at the slide, it was on a frame serial# 712611, shipped to Springfield Armory on 5/21/1938.
Thanks for looking.

Your 1938 Colt would have been shipped with its matching numbered slide. Colt stamped the gun's serial on the slide until sometime just before ser# 1,140,000. The gun would have been blued and the slide you show is parkerized. Is the frame parkerized as well? The slide has been replaced at sometime and you may have a typical arsenal refurbished pistol.

Information

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[Glacier-Blue]

Thanks for the info John. You may be right. How can you tell if the slide/frame has been parkerized?

[browningautorifle]

How can you tell if the slide/frame has been parkerized?

Send me some pics of the whole pistol and I'll post them. The slide is clearly parkerized...

[Glacier-Blue]

Well I can't say it hasn't been interesting, this trip I've taken to learn more about my Colt M1911A1 pistol. Jim Cutting is right, the slide is a 1944 variation replacement slide that has been parkerized (still don't know how to tell a parkerized slide from a non-parkerized slide). Here are the clues I've learned from Jim and other people:
1.The pistol had been parkerized.
2.The slide has a dark heat treatment line along the forward half.
3.The texture of the finish is not original.
4.The Colt's big belly is reflective of Type 9 in book illustrations, and this is found on other 1944 pistols.
5.The front sight is a Type 3 -- the original oval shape was modified to one with a straight serrated slope to the rear; this began in 1943.
So while the frame is a 1938 frame, the slide is most likely a 1944 replacement slide.
Thanks to all who have been on this journey with me. It was interesting!

[browningautorifle]

the slide is most likely a 1944 replacement slide.

Apparently there was a kit provided with the Company, so many spares included.