Inhereting old guns that need help being cleaned.

[Anitcol]

Hello every one, I recently inherited many guns and one by one I want to learn to care and clean them. The one I want to keep clean is an old 1911 colt. It has some minor rust around the handle, trigger guard, and inside magazine well. Rust is mostly on all the places where the hand touches when holding the pistol. Since I never shot or cleaned a gun before, I was wondering if I could get some help. I uploaded a few pictures to show you the pistol and because of the flash, the rust looks worse than it is.


http://s13.postimage.org/ymfvl66af/IMAG0129.jpg
-light surface rust
http://s15.postimage.org/ptqboeoy3/IMAG0131_1.jpg
-light surface rust
http://s11.postimage.org/9bhd8fo2b/IMAG0133.jpg
- As you can see the inside does not have rust.

[Odin Bravo One]

Depending on the actual year of manufacture, and components..............you may well be better off leaving it alone, and simply put a rust inhibitor on to prevent further rust. Finding out exactly what you have, and current value will do a lot to influence how to proceed.

If it is truly an "old 1911", you will do more to de-value it by trying to clean it up than if you just leave it alone. To the extent that it makes it nearly useless for most purposes. The metal of that era won't put up with a harsh firing schedule, and the purist collectors won't even consider it. Would be tragic to see another truly antique firearm lost to the good idea fairy.

If it is just an older 1911 with some rust, without any historical value, then you can blast and refinish it.

[BN]

From the pictures, it appears to be a 1911 not a 1911A1. That makes it one of the early guns and it probably shouldn't be cleaned. Find out what you have before you do anything.

[JDM]

Pictures of the markings on both sides of the gun would be quite helpful.

[NEPAKevin]

There's a fine line between rust and patina, and everyone seems to draw it different. FWIW, I had picked up a blued shotgun that had rust in its engraving but no real collector's value anyway. I was told to never used harsh abrasives but instead to use patience, oil and copper, such as an old penny or copper wool from a plumbing supply, to work the rust out of the grooves.

[Wayne Dobbs]

Whether it's collectable or not, that gun is rusting and it's likely increasing. At the very least, I would carefully disassemble it (if you know how to PROPERLY do so) and soak the entire gun and all its parts in Kroil. Keep those parts covered in a humidity controlled location and I'd cover them with a cloth that is damp with Kroil. An old 100% cotton t-shirt will work. After that bath and soak, you can either try wiping the rust off with a coarse shop rag or even careful and light effort use of 000 steel wool dampened with Kroil. You may need to do this in several cycles. After you have the rust cleaned away, keep some type of quality rust inhibitor on the gun's surfaces and store it in a dry location.

If you don't want to work the rust off the surface for some reason, keep the thing soaked with oil, Kroil, etc. Rusted as it is, it's not likely a coveted item by a collector, so I would clean it up.

[Anitcol]

Depending on the actual year of manufacture, and components..............you may well be better off leaving it alone, and simply put a rust inhibitor on to prevent further rust. Finding out exactly what you have, and current value will do a lot to influence how to proceed.

If it is truly an "old 1911", you will do more to de-value it by trying to clean it up than if you just leave it alone. To the extent that it makes it nearly useless for most purposes. The metal of that era won't put up with a harsh firing schedule, and the purist collectors won't even consider it. Would be tragic to see another truly antique firearm lost to the good idea fairy.

If it is just an older 1911 with some rust, without any historical value, then you can blast and refinish it.

I did just that, I decided to figure out exactly HOW old it is. I'm glad I didn't do anything besides lube it up. For those curious people, the gun was made in 1912 and the barrel was made in 1945. I'm not exactly sure the value of this piece of history (If anyone has an idea please shine in), but all I know is that I won't be shooting it or messing with it until I know more. The barrel was made by S&W, someone told me that doesn't sound right but here is the markings on the barrel.

http://s10.postimage.org/qa0vfxn3t/IMAG0143.jpg

http://s16.postimage.org/a0hllh0ut/IMAG0136.jpg

Goverment Model Colt

S/N on handle: C14XXX (The X's are my way to hide full s/n)
S/N on barrel: 7791XXX

[Wayne Dobbs]

It is an arsenal refurb based on the non-original barrel. Clean it up...

[Anitcol]

B
It is an arsenal refurb based on the non-original barrel. Clean it up...

So you don't think its worth anything?

[SecondsCount]

B

So you don't think its worth anything?

Not nearly as much as one in original condition. I would put the value at around $600.

Still, it is a very cool gun, and the fact that it was inherited would make it priceless if I were in your shoes.

[Al T.]

Authentic 1911 and 1911A1s go well over 1K around here. So, yeah. in my location it's worth a decent amount of money. As for cleaning up the rusted/discolored areas, I'd be very gentle. I'd start with a shop rag and generic oil or ATF and just see what rubbing gets you. I've seen a lot of "rust" turn out to be dried oil.... Go-Jo non-abrasive hand cleaner applied with a paint brush does a good job of "melting" dried grease and oil.

ETA:

http://www.gunauction.com/buy/11219997/pistols-for-sale/colt-model-m1911a1-us-army-.45acp-semi-auto-pistol

I was a bit low on the value. :)

[Wayne Dobbs]

B

So you don't think its worth anything?


It's certainly worth a decent amount, but its value is being diminished by the rust. You need to do something to stop the rusting process and stabilize the gun's condition. If you don't know how or are unwilling, send it to a professional who will take care of it (and I don't mean the local gun butcher). The gun is not wholly original, but was arsenal or depot refurbished during WWII (estimate). Whatever you decide to do with it, get something on it to stop what's happening to a great old pistol. Value is a relative thing to all of us. To me, that 1911 is not about money, it's about the service of those who carried it and their sacrifice. That should be honored by taking care of the tools they left behind.

[Anitcol]

Everyone here has been a great help, thank you all so much. I talked to a gun smith and he said everything was in excellent condition. Only thing he would recommend is to buy a buffer for the spring and get one of the hammer pieces filled down inside so it doesn't stay half cocked when the slide moves all the way back. Other than that, he said the barrel is in mint condition; the gun smith said that if it was his, he'd shoot the hell out of it.

Apparently the magazine that is with it is most likely the original one, two tone half stainless steal and half blued. Said these are expensive, rare and hard to come by.

In the next couple weeks I'll come back and re-take photo's of everything after it's been cleaned up and shot a little bit. Thank you for all your help guys!

[SecondsCount]

Everyone here has been a great help, thank you all so much. I talked to a gun smith and he said everything was in excellent condition. Only thing he would recommend is to buy a buffer for the spring and get one of the hammer pieces filled down inside so it doesn't stay half cocked when the slide moves all the way back. Other than that, he said the barrel is in mint condition; the gun smith said that if it was his, he'd shoot the hell out of it.

Apparently the magazine that is with it is most likely the original one, two tone half stainless steal and half blued. Said these are expensive, rare and hard to come by.

In the next couple weeks I'll come back and re-take photo's of everything after it's been cleaned up and shot a little bit. Thank you for all your help guys!

No need for a buffer, just replace the recoil spring every 2000 rounds.

I would question the filing of the hammer. Not sure what he was suggesting there.

Good aftermarket magazines are fairly inexpensive. Chip McCormick Power Mags and Shooting Stars, Wilson 47D, and Metalform Elite are all good mags.

[Al T.]

get one of the hammer pieces filled down inside so it doesn't stay half cocked

That scares the hell out of me, for several different reasons.

If it is indeed allowing the hammer to drop to half cock after racking the slide your gun smith is probably correct, it needs fixing. If it is not, he's got issues..

Watch this video. At about the .50 seconds mark, he racks the slide and the hammer stays back. Is that what your 1911 is doing?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNu4FSZtcv0&list=UUiWxn1eVlnOQ8sZQqLL-ijQ&index=7&feature=plcp