Posted: 5/2/2005 7:50:24 AM EDT
| I want to try my hand at fitting a few small 1911 parts, nothing big for now, and I've got a lot of Norrell's moly resin to use up so I want to refinish it too. I want a cheap 1911 to play with and I've got a choice. I like Springfield a lot, and their parkerized 5" GI is cheap. I can get a brand new one for about $400 + tax. Somebody I know has a Sistema Colt for sale for $400. It's an old gun, made back in the early '50s. All the numbers match and it's entirely original. Finish is crap but the internals are great. I just don't know if I want to molest a C&R. So which one should I get, the old Sistema or the new Springfield? MJD |
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well.....the moly goes over and sticks to parkerizing beautifully. If the Sistema is blued, you'll likely have to sandblast and park it before you could get the moly to stick....so one more step to refinish it to your liking. I honestly don't know.....the Sistema isn't going to have any MIM parts on it....and the SA is going to have a lifetime warranty......this is a conundrum! I'd go with the Sistema myself, just because it's got history and that give me warm-fuzzies. Since it's not a pre-war Colt, it doesn't have a whole lot of collector appeal and there's no reason you couldn't go full tilt on a build. |
| It's kind of a tricky situation. History + finest quality parts or lifetime warranty + cheap and easily replaceable. In any case, Sistemas were finished in black oxide to my knowledge. Whatever that is. Has anybody ever heard of this being used for a finish? I've got some black oxide coated drill bits but that's it. I think the Sistema would make a nicer build, it's got more character and it's made of better steel, either German, British or Swedish. I'd still like everybody's opinion since I still don't know what to do. MJD |