New To Me PT-1911 Needs Refinish

[Deucer01]

Not worthy of the pic thread yet but I got it for a good price! The upper has some holster wear, and the right grip panel is chipped near the ambi safety but those are the only issues. I have some cocabolo diamond checkered grips for it bit I need to get some grip screws, the Taurus screw heads are wider than standard. Initial impressions are this is a beefy 1911. Trigger pull was nice and crisp and broke at 4.5 lbs, but I got down to 3.5 lbs just by tuning the sear spring. I think this will be my first DIY refinish with the shake/bake coatings and I'm leaning towards Ceracoat (sp). I'm also planning on finishing the front strap checkering to the edges but I need to figure out the LPI so I can order the correct file from Brownels.

[Xmp95b]

That's a deal with any problems. I just picked up a " new to me" with rail, holster and three mags for under 400 . I figured on refinishing it also. But after cleaning it up and a little touch up, it's not that bad. I still may try the slide though. Let me know if you try it and how it goes.

[Deucer01]

What did you use to touch it up? I might try that first.

[chuntaro]

I may be accused of praying to the wrong diety by some but I like the poly coat/moly coat shake and bake family of products when it comes time to complete refinish a blue pistol. Probably will not wear much better than blue but has superior corrosion resistance. Some guys have talent for cold blue touch up with pen, liquid or paste/gel, but I do not.



The shake and bake stuff works on stainless, too. There are colors other than black for the fashion minded.

[Deucer01]

Very nice Chuntaro! Which coating and equipment did you use? What sights are those and do they fit the stock dovetails? And who made that hammer?

[chuntaro]

The hammer you can see and the sear and diconnector you can't see are nighthawk custom. The sights are original heinies and they do fit the same dovetail but a portion of the rear of the slide has to be milled off for the lip of the original heinies. On a colt they sit much lower but we were limited by the preexisting heinie sized dovetail on the Taurus. It required a custom front sight to make it work. The finish was done by a fellow that does not currently offer refinishing and would have caused considerable investment for me to do at home. Most guys doing this at home are using norell's shake and bake. Lots of guys in business use similar products since bluing is becoming kind of a lost art and this does work on stainless.

To do this at home you would need a blast cabinet, a sprayer and an oven other than your wife's.

[Burgs]

I almost never like "logo" grips. Logo grips are usually tacky and ugly.
Having said that, I really like the Taurus grips on Chuntaro's shooter- the logo, the wood, everything.

I get tickled every time I shoot my PT-1911. It goes bang every time I pull the trigger and accuracy wise it lacks for nothing at all and it has a great trigger - something in common with all of the Tauri I have tried so far.

Mine doesn't have nice grips like Chuntaro's though. I have not seen another pair like them either.
I am thinking that someday the Boys From Brazil will push away some of the fancier named 1911s and we will all be bemoaning "back when", when the PT-1911s were plentiful and cheap.

[Burgs]

Deucer,

If you have a solid, reliable, pistol, then you did well. All of the little cosmetic things you mentioned you can fix later if and when you get the urge, but they are not all that important, as you know.
I'm guessing that you will have as much fun fixing it up as you will shooting it. I wonder if anybody has ever done a ratio study of TLC time vs Shooting time that the average guy puts into his pistol. I would think that most of us spend way more time putting TLC into the pistols than we do time shooting them.

Please keep us posted on how your project turns out.

[Xmp95b]

Originally Posted by Deucer01

What did you use to touch it up? I might try that first.

A bluing touch up pen. Then I oiled it. Did that a few times. Not perfect but much better. Also.... Some may think I am nuts but if you put lighter color grips on a black gun, it draws your attention away from those lighter spots and they are not as noticeable.

I put pachmeyer ALS on mine and it made a big difference.

[Deucer01]

I do enjoy working on my guns as much if not more than shooting them. My fondle to shoot ratio is around 1000:1.

I tried some G96 Gun Blue Creme and I was pleasantly surprised at the results. It blended very well to the original blueing unlike others I've tried in the past. Followed the simple instructions, used lacquer thinner to degrease and air tool oil after neutralizing with water. Did the slide, thumb safety, mag and slide release. Looks much better, IMHO.

Before:



After:

[Deucer01]

Originally Posted by Xmp95b

A bluing touch up pen. Then I oiled it. Did that a few times. Not perfect but much better. Also.... Some may think I am nuts but if you put lighter color grips on a black gun, it draws your attention away from those lighter spots and they are not as noticeable.

I put pachmeyer ALS on mine and it made a big difference.

Good tip on the lighter color grips, makes sense and think it works for me.

[Xmp95b]

Originally Posted by Deucer01

Good tip on the lighter color grips, makes sense and think it works for me.

I've always used that little trick. The contrast between the dark slide and the spot makes the spot show more. The contrast between the lighter grips and the dark pistol makes the mark less noticeable.

[Burgs]

Deucer,

Looks great to me - like a well cared for working gun.
It's kinda like adopting a scruffy dog from the pound and bringing him back to health, huh?

You done good!

PS -- You get 10 free Bonus Points for the Browning Hi Power diagram in the background. I didn't want you to think it went unnoticed. Just be sure to delete parts 5567, 5695 and 5699. :-}

[Deucer01]

Originally Posted by Burgs

Deucer,

Looks great to me - like a well cared for working gun.
It's kinda like adopting a scruffy dog from the pound and bringing him back to health, huh?

You done good!

PS -- You get 10 free Bonus Points for the Browning Hi Power diagram in the background. I didn't want you to think it went unnoticed. Just be sure to delete parts 5567, 5695 and 5699. :-}

Thanks for the kind words and bonus points Sir. I don't have to shoot it out of a paper bag in public now, and those parts are deleted from both my BHPs.

[Burgs]

Originally Posted by Deucer01

Thanks for the kind words and bonus points Sir. I don't have to shoot it out of a paper bag in public now, and those parts are deleted from both my BHPs.

Yes, the paper bag thing can be a real PITA - sometimes they catch fire.