Slide replacement question...

[islandhopper]

New to the world of 1911A1s and just got my first one today - a been there and had some changes example. But I have to say that I am pleased with it so far. Outside of the obvious refinish, the commercial front sight and commercial adjustable rear sight, I'd say it is an all correct type II Remington Rand in the mid-1943 range. Nice clear markings and functions perfectly. Slide's not a bad fit either as I had some in the service that were pretty rattley. At first I was thinking about having the type II slide restored to original USGI specs, but that might be more than what a replacement slide would cost. So now I'm leaning toward keeping the current slide for shooting and finding another for making the pistol correct in terms of USGI issue. If I did find a replacement slide, would I have to have it fitted to the barrel and frame or would it basically be a drop-in fit? My understanding is that barrels need to be fitted but I'm not sure about slides.

Another question that I have is that if you were to use a different barrel - as in a take-off barrel from another .45 - would it need to be fitted to your pistol or would it be good to go?

Thanks all.

Information

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[Duane Hansen]

Any USGI 1911 or 1911A1 slide or barrel would just be drop in parts. That was a requirement during that time, that all GI manufacturers had to pass interchangeability tests.

[islandhopper]

Thank you very much. I really appreciate it.

[Duane Hansen]

Islandhopper.....I should qualify something I said in my previous post. There are exceptions to this on pistols that some gunsmiths have worked on to Accurize them. I have seen some GI 1911 and 1911A1 pistols that have been "tightened up" by whatever means. After this has been done, the slide may not work on another frame and another unmessed with slide may not work on on the messed with frame. I hope this makes sense????

[oldcanuck]

Also, you might consider, while it is not that difficult to source a Type II RRand slide, you do have to consider finish and color match. Type IIs can be both Du-Lite and Parkerized, and also the color variations, can and will make it difficult to find a realistic match.

[islandhopper]

I'm not sure if this one has been accurized or not. I don't think so though. I guess my question about slides and barrels was that if I bought one and it fitted, would that mean that it would function? I just wouldn't want to have one that seemed to work during a function check and then bent something when firing it.

I detail stripped it last night (my first time doing this thank you very much) to clean it up and inspect it. A few small surface rust areas internally but no pitting and nothing a little gun oil and steel wool didn't fix. I was really surprised at how tight the slide was, given that I was told it was "sloppy" when I bought it. Anyway, for the time being, this one is just going to stay as is but the plan is to repark it. Originally it would have been lightly sandblasted and then Dulite blued. It is currently blued, but it ain't original - or in good shape. The metal surface still retains some of the machine marks though, so it wasn't polished to high heaven. What I plan to do is to eventually detail strip it again, degrease it and then strip the metal by soaking all of the external parts in Evapo Rust. That way I get everything out of the nook and crannies as well as remove the splotchy re-blued finish. I don't want to blast it as I don't want to remove any more metal or degrade the markings. I am just going to park it this way after another degreasing/rinse. Of course I'm going to wait until I find a different slide so I can do it all at once. Eventually I might have a pro do a correct-type restoration finish on it but for now I want to spruce it up and protect it from corrosion.

[Chuckindenver]

well.
i havnt found anything yet that will completely remove cold blue..
though it may look that way, its still there, rub it and smell it...youll see.
media blasting will not remove any metal, unless your careless, it will actually raise the surface just a bit.
if you try and park over a dirty surface, it will look dirty..just like a custom paintjob.
the finish is only as good as the prep work under it..
any job worth doing, is worth doing right the first time, so it wont have to be done a second time.