1911 idiot scratch fix

[saudadeii]

1911's don't like dirt.

Must be related to the rocker arm assemblies.

[Kowan]

Some take pride in one thing another could careless about.
As long as they paid for it, they the owner decides what bothers them or not.

[Gryff]

Never fails when people start threads like this. There are people like you that get their panties in a bunch because some actually like to take care of their guns. To each their own, get over it dude!

No skin off my nose. People are welcome to their man jewelry. Just a source of amusement for others that view guns as tools.

[nahpungnome]

I personally love the look of a well worn pistol... one that has had tens of thousands of draws from a holster....

It is the patina of a well used and properly treated firearm....

So I don't mind the scratches from in field disassembly

Wear and patina aren't the same thing. Patina on steel = rust.

[Kowan]

When I shot USPSA in the mid to late 90's, I used a Canadian made Para Ordinance P14 SS hand polished to look like chrome.
I got teased that it was my pimp gun and that it didn't make me shoot any better.
I teased back that no it didn't but it sure made you look good doing it.

I was able to out shoot most of the teasers.

[BEE]

Nice! Tagged for later. I need to do this too.

[nahpungnome]

I don't see this being an "obsession" as you guys like to refer to it as, its a simple fix. And yes, my hammers have scratches but I didn't pay a $1,000 for my hammer either. I personally don't care whether or not someone likes their gun scratched or not. It does not make you cooler, tougher or even a better shot whether or not your gun is scratched to **** or pristine. Never fails that these threads devolve into this, I'm done.

Couldn't agree more. Some people don't care, but others do (I know I do). There's a difference between honest wear and a scratch put there by mistake while not using the gun for it's intended purpose of firing a bullet.

[JTROKS]

When I shot USPSA in the mid to late 90's, I used a Canadian made Para Ordinance P14 SS hand polished to look like chrome.
I got teased that it was my pimp gun and that it didn't make me shoot any better.
I teased back that no it didn't but it sure made you look good doing it.

I was able to out shoot most of the teasers.

Looking good on the range is always a plus.

[Kowan]

There was an old Marine at the shop when I bought the gun at. He begged me not to polish it and he was serious. I just laughed.

[VictorFranko]

all the mods in all the years ,why doesn't someone just mill a slight groove in the frame?

bubbala, yea that's what i'm wondering the same thing. should be a easy thing to implement from MFG side, but i guess this way, there's more business for companies doing cerakote coating?

The Wilson Combat Bullet Proof slide stop has a "detent relief cut" in it.
When reinstalling the slide release, you just push straight down and it pops right in. Why all slide stops are not made like this I don't know, it's a great improvement to the part.

[nahpungnome]

The Wilson Combat Bullet Proof slide stop has a "detent relief cut" in it.
When reinstalling the slide release, you just push straight down and it pops right in. Why all slide stops are not made like this I don't know, it's a great improvement to the part.

Yep, 10-8 also has this notch. I have them on my Sig and Baer. No fitting at all needed for my Sig, but my Baer needed some fitting as it locked up the pistol. .200 and it fit my Sig perfectly. I had to relieve it down to .198 (same as the supplied slide stop) to fit my Baer.

[shipwreck]

I had a stainless milspec in the 1990. Used a red scotch bright pad to polish out scratched, including an idiot scratch I once did too. As long as the area of stainless is not bead blasted, this is an easy fix

[cusco19]

btw.. the youtube vid i posted in my link, the author of the vid said he used 220grit, which i think it's too rough as well. i have 800grit and even higher at home, but decided to use the 3M superfine as suggest by SA tech instead.

just FYI...

[SnWnMe]

Some pretty interesting solutions to scratches here LOL.

[JohnFLand]

Like the OP, I found out about the idiot mark by making one. On my first 1911 (SS SIG Sauer), I followed the instructions:

Now push the slide stop up and in against the slide stop plunger until the slide stop is fully inserted."

Nowhere did I see advice to "pinch the slide stop free arm tightly to keep if from skidding up or down the frame while you push the angled facets of the slide stop lug up and in against the spring-loaded slide stop plunger (which will suddenly give way)." Fortunately, I found advice on a number of forums about how to avoid making the mark in the first place (further alleviated by filing a "log man" groove into the slide stop lug), and how to rub out the mark on the SS.

The point being: an idiot mark is not "wear", it's an unnecessary marring of a 1911 caused by a bad design point (which some parts manufacturers have fixed), bad instructions, and lack of foreknowledge that the marring can even occur.

For those who've never made an idiot mark -- congratulations! You either had someone knowledgeable teach you the proper avoidance method or you read about the problem and solution before trying to reassemble a 1911 (that's 98.5% of you -- I counted), you figured out from the geometry of the parts that it could happen (that's 0.7% of you), you have congenital knowledge of all gun things (that's none of you, but some believe and behave otherwise), or you're very lucky (that's the rest of you).

As far as "A pistol is a tool that's made to be USED" -- well, all pistols are utilitarian devices, but not all are "tools". Some are inherited keepsakes, some are "keepsakes in the making" (for kids and grandkids), and some are out-and-out toys -- things of beauty that we delight in playing with and want to keep in as good a condition as we can. And most are expensive. Put another way, there is not a single gun ever made that needed beautiful wood, hand-rubbed finishes, or fanciful engraving to function as a "tool" for pushing mass down a bore. And yet, there they are, in every gun case: fancy grips, stocks of exotic woods, fine carving of this or that aspect -- it's almost like gun buyers want something a bit nicer than a Craftsman box wrench (and don't even get me started on the "nice car vs. work truck" analogy).

It's not a sin to want to baby the JM Marlin 30-30 I inherited from my dad so that my son will enjoy it without my having added unnecessarily to its "experience marks", or to treat a quality 1911 better than an every-day carry Glock. As another poster noted in other words, a lot of refinishers would be out of business if gun owners as a whole didn't have pride of ownership.

End of rant.