ID Help for Colt 1918 M1911 & Refinish?

[RECCE556]

Hey Folks, can you guys help me ID some of these parts. First up, the hammer. It seems like a bar stock part but the hammer is in MUCH better condition than the rest of the gun so I know it's not original but is it correct for the gun? To me, it doesn't look right. The checkering seems to go too far.
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa284/recce556/1918-11.jpg

http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa284/recce556/1918-10.jpg

http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa284/recce556/1918-09.jpg

http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa284/recce556/1918-08.jpg

http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa284/recce556/1918-07.jpg


Next up is the grip safety. Seems too long to me and the side profile doesn't look right (to angular). However, the part seems like a milled part and I can't imagine that it's a fake milled part. Maybe from a different USGI manufacturer?
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa284/recce556/1918-06.jpg

[RECCE556]

And now the grips. Doesn't seem to have the correct number of rows...seems as old as the gun however. The condition is consistent with the pistol.
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa284/recce556/1918-05.jpg

http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa284/recce556/1918-04.jpg

[RECCE556]

And finally, based on these frame marks, does this seem like a refinish? Based on my inspection of the edges of the frame, it doesn't seem like it and the markings are solid but the light "No" in the serial number is throwing me. Also, the U.S. PROPERTY marking is deep, but unlike the other markings, if you take a cross section of the frame, the U.S. PROPERTY marking would be a "V" shape on the inside. The other markings seem to be more "square" inside the markings. I don't know if I explained that all that well but I hope it makes sense.

http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa284/recce556/1918-03.jpg

http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa284/recce556/1918-02.jpg

http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa284/recce556/1918-01.jpg

Also, the slide and frame don't quite match in terms of color. The frame seems lighter. Both surfaces are very smooth. The frame seems have even, very fine "speckles" (not sparkley however) in the finish...kind like parkerizing but w/o the texture and it has a little bit of a sheen to the finish. I would imagine the sheen/smoothness is just from a lot of handling.

Inside the trigger guard on the top (so the area that is directly above the top of the trigger), I can see sideways sanding/grind marks that go from one side of the gun to the other (very light/shallow marks...similar to what you see on a typical USGI slide or magazines) Here's a photo, the arrows show the direction of the sanding

http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa284/recce556/1918-13.jpg


The sides of the frame also exhibit very light, very fine horizontal (barrel to grip safety) sanding marks. The slide also has these marks but they're more pronounced than on the frame. Here's a photo where you can see it (for the frame, look under the slide stop). I know the slide stop is incorrect. :)

http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/aa284/recce556/1918-12.jpg


To me, it looks like it might be original as I've seen several refinished 1911's and they generally seem to have light markings, rounded edges and you generally don't see the sanding marks like this but I'll leave it up to the experts here. Thanks for the help folk!

[Scott Gahimer]

Sorry, but the pistol appears to be refinished to me and has some mixed parts. Can you show us a view of the back side of the grips?
Many repro grips have the 13-row pattern. I've seen a lot of grips that appear to have been artificially aged to look old. Back side fo the grips may tell me more. My gut feeling is that the left grip may be an original M1911 grip, but the right is a repro.
I think the hammer may also be an aftermarket hammer. It's a little heavy and the checkering pattern doesn't look right to me. I agree; it looks like a newer hammer.
The USP appears to be engraved. Many of the characters look to have rounded ends. Your description of the marking sounds like an engraving too. How about full left side and full right side views? Thanks.
BTW, nice photos.

[RECCE556]

I have to take some good side photos of it. I'll try to get it up as soon as I can. I'll also get the back of the grips. Yes, the gun definitely has mixed parts which is why I got it for so cheap. :)

As for the USP engraving, the ends are actually pretty square. I couldn't get a good photo of the USP because the color of the frame is so grey that the camera's auto focus had a hard time getting a proper focus. As it is, I had to place a piece of white paper next to the USP so the camera could focus on it and then I removed it when the camera's focus locked. I also didn't have the good lighting (just a desklamp) and the lens isn't a macro lens. I need to buy a macro lens so I can take better detail photos.

When I first saw this, I thought it was a refinish for sure. But then I started to really look at the details (engravings, edges, etc.) and started to wonder. If it is a refinish, they did a dang nice job not ruining the details. Considering the era when these were dirt cheap and a lot of them were refinished, I can't imagine that someone took that much care to do it right. The gun is aged way too much to think it's a recent refinish (if it is at all)

[trigger643]

I'm going to have to agree, the gun looks refinished. The grips look suspicious, especially the right grip missing the checkering on the diamonds and their condition doesn't seem to match the overall condition of the gun. It looks like the hammering on the back of the slide is evenly finished as well? or is that a trick of the camera?