Refinishing Colt 1911 A1

[ramairgto]

I want to get my WW2 era Colt 1911 A1 refinished. My great uncle bought it back in the 50s. When he bought it it had already been chromed. Well it really looks bad nowadays, the finish is flaking off. He had it rebuilt by the armorer at his base (he's retired army colonel) back in the 70s and it still shoots great. I want to restore it to it's original condition. I was going to drop it off at Springfield Armory and have them strip the chrome and then parkerize it. I live about 1/2 hour away so it's the most convenient. Does anyone have any suggestions or thoughts on this? I just want to make sure I don't make any mistakes when I have this done.

[Joni Lynn]

Welcome to the forum.
If it were mine I'm either have SA do it or I'd send it to Ford's in Florida or another shop which is capable of doing the work.

[1saxman]

I don't see how you could make a mistake - its already ruined. It has to be better with a chemical strip, sandblast and phosphate. You probably will lose some detail in the markings but they should remain as legible as they are now. There are specialists in marking restoration - you could have the chrome removed then decide whether to have that done before Parkerizing.

[Mark Hitchcock]

I don't see how you could make a mistake - its already ruined. It has to be better with a chemical strip, sandblast and phosphate. You probably will lose some detail in the markings but they should remain as legible as they are now. There are specialists in marking restoration - you could have the chrome removed then decide whether to have that done before Parkerizing.

Bill Adair in Carrollton, Tx. Does excellent work, especially the relettering