Gun Restoring?

[kdailey4315]

Does anyone know any good gun restorers? I have my grandfather’s WWII issued 1911 .45ACP pistol and I would like to have it restored. I’m in CA but willing to ship it anywhere
Thanks

 

[ZomBrady]

Does anyone know any good gun restorers? I have my grandfather’s WWII issued 1911 .45ACP pistol and I would like to have it restored. I’m in CA but willing to ship it anywhere
Thanks

Don't do it! You will lose every bit of value in any firearm is you have it restored.


JUST DON'T DO IT!

 

[ZomBrady]

At the very most, have a gunsmith give it a tune up new springs, extractor, etc. . .

 

[kdailey4315]

Well he changed out the barrels and had a newer one put in and turned it into a "shooter" (Don't ask me what he meant by that) I wanted to at least put everything back to "original" or period correct.

As far as value: The gun will never leave our family (atleast as long as I'm alive) so I'm not really concerned with value

 

[Backroads]

Agreed, dont do anything to it!

A 'shooter' is normally something someone will shoot as opposed to being a collectible piece that just sits. By putting a new barrel in he was probably trying to save the original from any abuse of high volume shooting? maybe?

but seriously a WWII 1911 deserves to be kept original, thats a piece of history and IMO the worn original finish is what gives it character, its done battle. If you arent intending on shooting it, I would give it a light coat of oil, pick up a silicone gun sock and stash it away and bring it out as a conversation piece at every chance you get. I would LOVE to have my grandfathers WWII 1911, one day...

 

[C85D4x4]

Its not that hard to change out the barrel back to the original, If your interested on how to do so PM me and I can help.

But from someone who went through the same deal as you except with a WWI 1911.
DO NOT GET IT RESTORED................If I was you, I would take it apart (pm me or google it to figure it out) and give it a good cleaning (get a good gun cleaning kit) and put it back together with some fresh oil and store it away in a zip lock bag (NOT A RAG).

Here's mine 1911
http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=942967

 

[C85D4x4]

O yea..........Post some pictures of this peace of history!!!

 

[Kejtar]

Do not do anything else to that gun then give it cleaning!!! Restoring it will ruin it. Oh yeah.. PICS?!?!?

 

[SCW]

As far as value: The gun will never leave our family (atleast as long as I'm alive) so I'm not really concerned with value

You might not be concerned with 'resale' value, but it sounds like you are very concerned with the heirloom value. I'd hate to get a gun in 2055 from great great grandpa back in WWII and have the foot note that some jerk grandfather inbetween decided to 'fix it up' a little and lost it's originallity. I'd want to hold the exact gun G-pa fought the facists with.

Make it shootable, get a new barrel, new springs and some new mags. Put some new grips on it to save wear on the old ones, but don't touch the frame or the parts you take off. Make sure they don't get chucked out as junk!!

 

[kdailey4315]

Here are 2 pics I'll post more tonight.

 

[kdailey4315]

. I'd hate to get a gun in 2055 from great great grandpa back in WWII and have the foot note that some jerk grandfather inbetween decided to 'fix it up' a little and lost it's originallity. I'd want to hold the exact gun G-pa fought the facists with.

Make it shootable, get a new barrel, new springs and some new mags. Put some new grips on it to save wear on the old ones, but don't touch the frame or the parts you take off. Make sure they don't get chucked out as junk!!

It shoots great now. I guess I'm not trying to "restore" it per say but mainly trying to get period correct parts put back on it. Years after the war he put new grips on it and a new slide/barrel

 

[Kejtar]

Here are 2 pics I'll post more tonight.

OK, that gun was messed with.... those are not original sights.. and not original grips....... and I'm pretty sure that's not the original trigger either.

If this was my gun, I'd find original parts on the market and bring it back to original spec. If you're looking for a gun just to shoot and don't feel like taking the time and making this one "original" I'd by a SA 1911 to shoot and wait for time/motivation to get started on the restoring project (oh yeah, if you store it... oil that sucker up).

 

[Kejtar]

It shoots great now. I guess I'm not trying to "restore" it per say but mainly trying to get period correct parts put back on it. Years after the war he put new grips on it and a new slide/barrel

Ah! Now that's different. Ok, sights, trigger and grips.... slide (ok slide will come with sights). Checkout http://www.m1911.org/ (btw if anyone remembers eagle, he hangs out there now). Also if I was you I'd do the restoration myself: really not that hard: there should be no parts fitting required as the parts were made loose on purpose.

 

[kdailey4315]

Ah! Now that's different. Ok, sights, trigger and grips.... slide (ok slide will come with sights). Checkout http://www.m1911.org/ (btw if anyone remembers eagle, he hangs out there now). Also if I was you I'd do the restoration myself: really not that hard: there should be no parts fitting required as the parts were made loose on purpose.

Sorry, I guess I wasn't explaining myself very well. Thanks for the info.

 

[Kejtar]

Sorry, I guess I wasn't explaining myself very well. Thanks for the info.

I can't remember the title of the book, but there is one that talks about what is what in regards to parts based on serial numbers, shapes, manufacturing plants and so on. If you want to restore it as close to original as you can I'd suggest getting it. Some parts though will cost an arm and a leg for originals or... using the book you can find current manufacture period matching components.

The grip safety and the hammer do look right though.

Poke around on the net, find the proper version for a base and start working on it
Here's one to look at

 

[RichP]

Look around for the old parts, maybe he squirreled them away somewhere.