Melting down the 1911, ideas?

A

Amati

New member
Bought a Springfield 1911 Mil-Spec because I have a soft spot for the GI pistol.

Sent it to Springfield's custom shop to do lots of custom work including "radical" dehorning and blueing.

The dehorning came out fair but not radical enough for me.

The blueing is not nice, apparently the old chemicals are now illegal, etc.

Enter Clark Custom Guns:

https://clarkcustomguns.com/gun/meltdown/

I'm very tempted to have them melt it and hard chrome parts of it.

By the time I get it back it'll be a candidate for most expensive 1911 folly.

Ideas?

Thanks.
 
You want Blueing. The best I have seen recently is being done by Bunker Arms and they are in the great State of Florida.

I am sure Brandon can take care of any of your needs.
 
If you are going to change the finish on your gun, bluing is about the worst finish there is.
Upgrade to Hard chrome, nitriding, or even nickel plating.
Even gun paint is better than bluing.
 
There is no appeal of a melted 1911 to me, it is purely functional for a pistol that is carried regularly.
 
Curious what the appeal is for the old GI model when you are considering turning it into anything but?

The melting does look bad, but I prefer the classic lines of the 1911.
 
Sell it as is....and look at a Wilson Combat or an Ed Brown catalog...for a gun that meets your specs.../...you'll be way happier down the road in my view.
 
I'll offer a bizzare suggestion.
The 1911 purist (Bless them) will never approve of an alteration of the classic.
And that's OK.
I like the classics.

I also like beavertails and checkered forestraps. Gasp!

AND,AND!! I like comped,double stack,mini optic mounted 38 Super race guns!!! Even with gas pedal controls. :eek:

They make lots of Springfiels Mil-Specs. Its your gun.You have a vision! Be your own freak!

Melt jobs are cosmetics/aesthetics. All in YOUR eye.

Look. See what you can't change,like around the slidestop cuts in the slide.

Use a Sharpie. Mark what you want to change.

Nice,new,sharp files! A needle file set! Maybe even (cringe) an unlicensed Dremel.

Maybe a Pana-Vise....Some kind of vise. (gently! No crushing)

File a uniform 45 deg chamfer all over. That makes one corner into two 45 ea,corners,,yes? You can rub cold blue on it for contrast,if you want.Now go back and file a flat on the two new 45 deg corners,so you have 3 uniform flats.

Repeat,till you think you have enough little flats to blend out . Emery tape over a piece of wood yardstick is Ok. This time work across the flats,blending them out. Be careful to keep the lines of tangency clean and straight.Shoe-shining won't do that well.

Then you might decide to sandblast the whole thing.

Brother has become pretty good at Cera-coat. Seems good stuff.

Home Parkerizing is possible. Look at stainless drywall mud pans or stainless loaf pans,etc. You need to be able to boil all the pieces. My one time experience,it comes out ugly....but then I cold blued over the park and sealed it with turpentine/beeswax. It was pretty good on my fake 1903A4 project parts.

Hard Chrome would be nice.

I figure,if you are going mess up a 1911,why pay somebody else to have all the fun? With paying money,expectations go up!! Hard to be satisfied. Doing my own work?? I understand.
Just think before you cut...and usually,less is more.
Sometimes,just do it. Its just a flipping gun! Get your Bubba on!! Do your best,and you MIGHT surprise yourself. Maybe.Or? "Seemed like a good idea at the time!!"
Live.
I'll never forget the look on my brother's face when he told me he wanted his Badge barreled AR-10 T to have a 20in vs a 24 in bbl. This rifle was shooting lime size groups at 300yds.

I walked over to the Do-All band saw,sawed the barrel off,and handed it to him.

Gasp!!. "Oh,you want it crowned,too?? You should have said something! That's extra!!!". Dang!! That ain't gonna fit in the South Bend. :D
I have a very precision angle plate with a vertical Vee on one face. Hung it off theside of the Bridgeport table and swung the head over.It shoots REAL good.
 
Last edited:
I love the plain, park'd GI look, but (oddly) I seem to have a soft spot for the melt jobs, too. From time to time, WC145 posts pictures of one that just makes me drool. You can find it here.
 
What's not to like?

57a992d19193054a15a5f35bb3949814--custom--custom-guns.jpg
 
Skadoosh

Thank you! Yep, it takes a Navy guy.
If you wouldn't mind please share how to contact the maker.
 
I was just going to comment that when done right a melted Government M with a lusterous deep blue is gorgeous. Just personal preference on the aesthetics, but I don’t think the melt looks anywhere near as good unless it has a top notch bluing job.
 
I'm with Bill DeShivs, I hate blueing and haven't bought a blued gun in 10 years. Almost anything is better then Blue.

Before spending more on this .45 why not sell it and buy a stainless from Kimber or Wilson?
 
I'm with Bill DeShivs, I hate blueing and haven't bought a blued gun in 10 years. Almost anything is better then Blue.
Click to expand...

The heat and humidity here in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia during the summer is downright swampy. Guess what? My BLUED Colt Detective that I have carried almost every single day for over a decade still looks like this:

20171012.jpg


It lives 24/7/365 in that holster and rarely gets wiped down.
 
Selling my gun is equivalent to gifting it. Custom guns from private parties are toxic.

So far this pistol has cost north of $3K and a buyer who would pay more than the cost of a new in the box Mil-Spec would be very hard to find.

Two resellers have admired it but neither one was interested to buy it, at any price.

The idea is to spend another ~ $2K and end up with a Skadoosh ^^^ gun from Clark Custom. I called them a few days ago and spoke with Clay Patterson who gave me great confidence in moving forward.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top