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What is a "hard slide"? and how does it differ from the Colt slide on the pistol?
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"Hard Slide" is short for "fully hardened slide". To understand the term, we have to go back to the early days of the 1911, wherein the slides were not hardened. They were prone to cracking at the front, right behind the recoil spring plug tunnel, and the slide stop notch on the side was prone to peening.
Also, the breach face tended to have issues, which resulted in Colt inserting a plug of hardened steel into it, with the firing pin opening in the center.
Around 1940 military production began hardening the front of the slide by dipping it in molten lead. In 1943 or so, they also began flame-hardening the slide stop notch. Slides with one or more of these hardening procedures are referred to as "spot-hardened slides" and frequently the hardened areas appear darker under bluing or Parkerizing.
Late in WWII, some of the manufacturers were experimenting with hardening the entire slide with a process called "austempering", but this didn't enter production until Colt started doing it in 1947 - once surplus government contract slides form the war were exhausted, these entered Colt's commercial production.
Around this time, the government began arsenal rebuilding their 1911 pistols for future use and distribution as military aid. They needed replacements for worn, bent, or cracked slides, and these were originally sourced from Colt, which took the slides from their regular production, with the same roll marks, but rather than high polish and blue, they were sand-blasted and parkerized. This was the first "hard slide" in the military system.
Later hard slides came form Colt, Drake manufacturing, IMI, and others, but the markings were different. With the exception of Colt, which continued to use their name, the manufacture was identified by a Commercial and Government Entity Code, or CAGE code, and the part was identified by a Federal drawing number that is often confused for a serial number. AFAIK, there were two drawing numbers, differing by what appears to be angles, or vertical slide serrations. The rarest one appears to heave been made by Drake Manufacturing, and was only procured in 1964 for use to build service match pistols.
Example:
I think all slides being built now, with the possible exception of handmade Khyber pass or Philippine guns, are hard slides.