Got a new addition, need help!

[JDeere7296]

Hello guys! I recently traded for a 1911. It's a stainless Caspian frame, and what I was told was a Caspian slide. It looks like an older 1911, slide to frame fit is nice and tight. Supposedly the guy I traded this from had it looked over by a 1911 pistol smith and builder named Ken Crawley and he said it was good to go and looked like a solid job.

It is a casting I assume because there is some very very small voids on the bottom of the slide toward the muzzle just under where the spring plug sits. They are not very big or deep, hopefully just cosmetic.

The barrel says "Colt 45 Auto" it looks like an older barrel but the rifling is strong and crisp. The frame says Caspian and serial # is S115**

My question is, does this look like a Caspian slide? And will those voids cause any problems for me? Thanks for the help in advance.

[Nick A]

Check Caspian web site. I believe Caspian slides are forged, not cast. Their frames are cast, but not the slides.

Caspian makes certain marks on the underside of their slides (and other locations) for identification. Call them and they'll tell you where to look and what the marks mean.

[JGus]

That's a sweet looking gun. If it shoots as well as it looks, I wouldn't be too worried about if the slide is a Caspian or some other.

[JDeere7296]

There are no markings of any kind on the slide whatsoever. None on bottom or on rear of slide.

Thanks Jgus, haven't gotten a chance to shoot it yet, crossing my fingers it shoots good. I traded an AR15 I built for it.

[Nick A]

If you get a chance to remove the Firing Pin Stop, is there a letter or number stamped in the rear of the slide? It will be hidden behind the firing pin stop. If there is a letter, Caspian will tell you if it is theirs.

[JDeere7296]

Originally Posted by Nick A

If you get a chance to remove the Firing Pin Stop, is there a letter or number stamped in the rear of the slide? It will be hidden behind the firing pin stop. If there is a letter, Caspian will tell you if it is theirs.

Ok will look.....how does one remove firing pin stop?

[c7aea]

Originally Posted by JDeere7296

Ok will look.....how does one remove firing pin stop?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFots5GiITY

About 1:40 mark

[JDeere7296]

Thanks for the vid, removed the pin stop.....no markings or stamps. I'm really stumped, there are no markings at all

[Nick A]

Stump no more. I finally got home (long night at work) and opened the safe. I pulled out the Foster frame & slide set I got direct from Caspian in the late 90's. They were making frame and slide sets for a company called Mitchell that assembled guns from parts and sold them under their own name. [Mitchell also assembled Mauser rifles from surplus parts, do a search on Mitchell's Mausers and all the Mauser web sites talk about them.]

Mitchell sold 1911 pistols for a while. Caspian made many of the parts for Mitchell under contract, including the slides. When Caspian had extra frames and slides from the Mitchell contract they were sold under the Foster name. Fosters Industries is a sister company to Caspian, they sell off extra products and blemished products through Foster.

Your stainless slide and mine are identical. Same raised flat top. Same sight cuts. Same ejection port. Same cocking serrations. Same everything. I hold mine up to yours and they are identical. Send me your email address and I'll send you a picture of mine.

And neither one of our slides has markings because they were over runs on the Mitchell contract, so Caspian didn't put their markings on it.

[JDeere7296]

Nick your the man! IM sent with my email address. Thanks so much for the help, you guys are great!