Clue me in - blued parts on nickel

[NickelSer70]

Hi all,

Sorry, but I don't have any pictures, yet. Let me explain what I have.

I just picked up another Colt Mod 1911, Series 70, Govt Model (5" bbl) in nickel finish. The owner passed away and willed it to my counsin. She didn't want it, so she's given it to me - Free! The price was right and the transaction is easy. Private party transfers require no paperwork or registration in my state.

Other than not being cleaned since it's last use, it seems like it's in good shape, except for the following. The prior owner installed an extended safety and extended slide lock - in a blued finish on the nickeled pistol. Otherwise it looks pretty original in all the parts that matter.

I really don't care for parts that don't match or don't belong on them. For a variety of reasons, I also don't care for extended parts, on CCW/Combat-weapons, and certainly don't like them in non-matching finishes.

Here are the questions. First, does mating the blued parts with the nickeled pistol cause a wear or function problem? Will there be an issue with accelerated wear because of the dissimilar finishes/materials (blued on nickel-finished frame)?

Second, I've looked at some online sources to replace the extended levers, but I don't find any nickel finishes to match the pistol. I just find stainless. If nickel is not available, would replacing them with stainless parts be worse for the pistol than the current blued parts? I expect that they'd more closely match the finish but I think stainless is harder, and more brittle, than blued steel.

At least stainless parts wouldn't stand-out like the blued parts currently do. A nickel finsih pistol is gaudy enough without a couple of dark warts on the side of the frame. What are yoru thoughts?

[Hawkmoon]

Steel is steel. I would not be concerned with rates of wear at all.

If you want a consistent appearance, your choices are to either use stainless replacements, or have the blued parts plated. If you feel brave, you could try plating them (or replacement parts) yourself. Caswell Plating and one other company I came across (West Texas Plating???) sell small kits for home use. I would think one of those kits would be ideal for doing a few small parts.

Is the nickel a high polich, or is it Colt's electroless nickel, which was a rather matte surface, with a slightly brushed appearance?

[NickelSer70]

Thanks for writing Hawkmoon. It's the way the nickeled Series 70's were made by Colt in the 70's. It's polished on the sides of the slide and frame, matte on the top of the slide and matte on the front of the grip.

It's good to hear that the dissimilar materials won't matter. I might just try the nickel kits you mentioned. If they don't turn out well, the parts were cheap so it's not a big loss.

[lksstbls]

The grip safety on this satin nickle Combat Commander is lightly bead blasted stainless, and replaced the original satin nickle part. I can't really tell the difference in finish between it and the basic pistol. The finish is the standard production nickle finish that Colt offered during the 70's and early '80s and not the premium e-nickle finish that custom shops, including Colt's, still offer. The finish really is dead flat with no luster at all. It sounds like you have the premium electrolyss nickle finish which is much more desireable.

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj103/lksstbls/P1010166.jpg