Early 1950’s Colt Replacement Slide in Box

[Axels]

This is most likely as close to an original Colt 1911a1 box as I will ever get.

This came with a lot of spare parts with a 1911a1 a few years back from a pawn shop.

[chambersaviator]

Very interesting collector piece, thanks for sharing!

[1saxman]

Man, those are great slides, suitable for any purpose.

[brucek]

really neat. was this slide sent to the US gov. as a spare part for issue 45's?

[dsk]

Yes. They make great slides for rebuilds and custom projects, although more and more people are starting to leave them alone as they are starting to be worth more. It probably won't be long until just a spare slide like this is worth more than a new pistol!

[phil dirt]

Do any of you have pictures of the early 1950s Colt replacement slides that were sent to the US government as spare parts for issue .45s?

[1saxman]

Not exactly, but here is the same slide on my 1953 Gov Model. The only difference is Colt Parkerized the military version before polishing and the edges of the markings are raised. This slide is fully-hardened and many to this day call it 'the hard slide'. Simply, it's the best.

[Piexcel]

Originally Posted by 1saxman

...here is the same slide on my 1953 Gov Model...

Thank you for sharing. I've seen you post this pistol before but didn't realize it had a replacement slide. I was wondering what the entire replacement slide looked like, and you answered my question with your pic.

[Truman]

Here is one I used on a 50s commercial frame. Truman

[1saxman]

Originally Posted by Piexcel

Thank you for sharing. I've seen you post this pistol before but didn't realize it had a replacement slide. I was wondering what the entire replacement slide looked like, and you answered my question with your pic.

Are you dense? It doesn't have a replacement slide. What I'm telling you is, Colt used the same slide to sell to the Government. It was just parkerized instead of blued. All Gov Models used that slide for some years.

[Piexcel]

Thank you, 1saxman, for a gentleman's comments.

[OIF2]

Here's one off a rebuilt GI gun. Parkerized finish; waiting for a nice bottom half to put it on.
Bob

[win40-82]

If it were mine it would be kept as is and placed in my display case.

[phil dirt]

Thank you to those who posted pics. OIF2, a number of years ago I picked up a Colt slide that looks exactly like the one you pictured. At the time, I didn't know what it was. I thought it was just a 50s Colt slide that someone had parkerized. It wasn't until I discovered this forum that I started to realize what my slide probably is. Recently, I bought a really nice 1944 Colt but minus the barrel and slide. My slide matches the parkerized finish on my recently purchased Colt frame almost perfectly. If I didn't know better, I would think that it was issued that way. I've been having fun showing it off to friends and listening to their speculations as to what it is. So far, everyone has thought that it's a military frame with a parkerized commercial slide. Nobody yet has mentioned the possibility that it, in my opinion, is quite possibly a government purchased re-build part. If any of you have any more information on Colt slides that were purchased post war by the government, I'd really appreciate hearing about it. Again, I thank all of you who responded to my post.

[1saxman]

Here's all you have to do. Look at the stampings in the slide and see if they look deep and sharp. Hold it at an angle in sunlight to see the little shadows from the raised edges of the stampings. Feel the raised steel around the edges of the markings. If it had come originally on a blued Government Model, the stampings would have been polished smooth before bluing and would have been further 'softened' by the sandblasting required for Parkerizing. There were no Parkerized Government Models at that time, so a slide fitting this description has to be one of the Government Model slides that were diverted to be Parkerized and sold to the U.S. before being polished and blued. Note in OIF2's picture how there is a slight 'halo' around the lettering resulting from wear on the raised edges of the stamping. This would have been polished flat for bluing in normal Government Model production.
As a side note, Colt now for the most part stamps the rollmarks AFTER polishing and before bluing, which makes sure the markings will be clear and distinct, but it takes away from the perception of quality in the newer pistols, at least to me.