Fixing a 1911's infamous "idiot scratch"?

[MagnumWill]

Hey everyone. A while back (when I was first getting into guns) I had discovered that my father in law (girlfriend's dad back then ) had an old pistol that was in possession of his ex-wife (it's a long story). Long story short, I retrieved the pistol, which is a late 80's Colt Combat Commander, with a full-size slide and grip in .38 Super Auto. I went through and cleaned it, however upon disassembling and reassembling my first 1911, *someone* dug the idiot scratch into it with the slide stop lever.


Seeing how I see this is a frequent problem - is there any way to lessen the appearance of the scratch, without re-bluing the whole thing?

Now that I think of it, I believe it is an 80-series lightweight model, so the grip frame may be aluminum? I could've sworn it's steel, correct me if I'm wrong. Can you blue aluminum? I certainly know you can't parkerize it

 

[Unclenick]

Aluminum is either anodized or varnished, as a rule. There is aluminum black, but it's not simple to work with an may discolor the area around the scratch. If you don't want to invest in Brownell's Aluma-Hyde (the varnish) something as simple as a Sharpie would make the scratch less apparent.

 

[MagnumWill]

It appears to be blued, so it's safe to assume that it's steel? I would have to look at it again (different state right now)

 

[hoghunting]

Put a magnet on the frame and you'll find out if it's aluminum or steel.

 

[MagnumWill]

I'll be able to tell immediately once I see it... I just need to physically touch it. Going to go see the folks for the holidays, that's when I'll fix it.

 

[James K]

I have never seen anyone try to fix that scratch who didn't make things worse and end up having the gun reblued, thus making it look worse than it did with the scratch. Leave it alone.

Jim

 

[Bill DeShivs]

Combat Commander frames were always steel.