Hey, I'm a diver too,, haven't been wet in about 4 years though... The B M is a good weapon. I don't think they were made on colt tooling though, Some of the Argentine, I think 1927 models were, and are identical to colts with parts interchangeabillity etc... Some were made by colt ,then, tooling was moved over there and they were produced in country, with I think some Colt supervision over there too.. The Ballester Molina doesn't have a grip safety, which I like, grips aren't interchangeable, they have wider spacing between the screws, bbls will interchange I think, and most parts if I remember correctly, in the slide. That was the first .45 I ever owned, bought it at a Police auction , it had been either a murder or sucicide/accidental death weapon.. got it in 79 for 85 bucks.. It functioned well, uses 1911 style magazines. Just for the purpose of parts interchaneability, and putting in performance parts, I would look for an Argentine 1927, they are usually only a little higher..but it is a good weapon for the money, still have a set of hand carved walnut grips for it somewhere..