Restoration Work

I picked up on an online auction a Colt 1903 32 Hammerless type 1. From the photo's it looked good, with an interesting SN, but in real life it's been refinished; some stamps are very good and others are obviously buffed down. Accordingly I'm considering a restoration.

I know of Turnbull but that's $$$.

I've also found Run N Iron and they appeal to me as they can, as Turnbull's, freshen up stamps. And there are many more out there.

This restoration is not to flip but to fill my collection. Looking for a good restoration without spending >2K.

Personal goal to collect one of each Colt 1903 types and one of each Savage 1907 32 types.

I'm asking MDS who have actual personal info on restorations or restoration companies to give some feedback.

Worst case scenario I'll keep this as a shooter and keep looking but I am intrigued about restorations.

I'll post some photo's so keep your emoji's in your pocket.

Thanks

Honestly I'd leave it as-is and look for a nice original Type I.
You'll never get the money from any work back out and probably will never be happy with it compared to an original.
They can still be had for $1000-1500 which is probably around what you'd spend on quality resto work.
Price goes up exponentially in the 98% condition range though.

There's 3 basic sub-variants of the Type I based on the slide markings and 2 others based on the slide serrations (plunge-mill vs straight cut) and using a screw to retain the thumb safety.
You can get deep into it trying to get "every" variation as I've found out the hard way...

John Brunner's book is a good reference but it's expensive.
If you're not aware of it Sam Lisker's coltautos.com is an extremely useful reference with a lot of good color pics.
http://www.coltautos.com/ModelMci.htm

It's a shooter. Enjoy it for what it does.

Seller should have noted the re-blue. If pics are halfway decent there are usually visual clues. If the pics suck, I keep my wallet in my pocket.

somd_mustangs said:

Honestly I'd leave it as-is and look for a nice original Type I.
You'll never get the money from any work back out and probably will never be happy with it compared to an original.
They can still be had for $1000-1500 which is probably around what you'd spend on quality resto work.
Price goes up exponentially in the 98% condition range though.

There's 3 basic sub-variants of the Type I based on the slide markings and 2 others based on the slide serrations (plunge-mill vs straight cut) and using a screw to retain the thumb safety.
You can get deep into it trying to get "every" variation as I've found out the hard way...

John Brunner's book is a good reference but it's expensive.
If you're not aware of it Sam Lisker's coltautos.com is an extremely useful reference with a lot of good color pics.
http://www.coltautos.com/ModelMci.htm

Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip about Liskers.

Bob A said:

It's a shooter. Enjoy it for what it does.

Seller should have noted the re-blue. If pics are halfway decent there are usually visual clues. If the pics suck, I keep my wallet in my pocket.

Click to expand...

I'll post photos but I don't think it's a re-blue. IDK what it is.

I have my eye on a type 2 but some of the photo's look like horizontal polishing, the bluing looks too good, and the stamps look good in some photos but faded in others.

Caveat Emptor for sure.

Is your pistol in the late 30,000 to early 40,000 range?
It has the later slide marking w/o the Browning Patent but has the plunge milled serrations which is wild.
But I'd say it's been buffed, reblued, then worn again ("I live, I die, I live again!").
IMHO not a candidate for restoration, too much "softening" of edges and surface loss already,
just enjoy it as it is.

Somd_mustangs is the guru of Colt autos, his advice is spot-on. For now the value of early 1903s in 85-95 point condition is lower than the cost of an extensive restoration. Doesn't make economic sense to go down the restoration path.
I'd recommend going to GunBroker and look up a seller named "hideaway". He's got a nice group of Type I and II 1903s up for sale, all with honest, original finishes and all closing tonight. I'm watching what they sell for to get a good grasp of what market value is. BTW, he's also selling two nice Savage 1907s and a 1917. Again, all with original finishes. Me, I'd get a copy of Bailey Brower's Savage Pistols reference book if you don't already have it on your shelf. The best $70 you could spend. You'll be shocked at the number of variations of the 1907 that are out there.

I would think no matter how good a restoration, a collector will pass on it to buy an original in top condition.

mawkie said:

I'd recommend going to GunBroker and look up a seller named "hideaway". He's got a nice group of Type I and II 1903s up for sale, all with honest, original finishes and all closing tonight...

Click to expand...

dang it!

Glad to see he's selling again, he had stopped for quite a while. My first several Model M's came from him. Good guy who has quality items and knows his stuff.

somd_mustangs said:

Is your pistol in the late 30,000 to early 40,000 range?
It has the later slide marking w/o the Browning Patent but has the plunge milled serrations which is wild.
But I'd say it's been buffed, reblued, then worn again ("I live, I die, I live again!").
IMHO not a candidate for restoration, too much "softening" of edges and surface loss already,
just enjoy it as it is.

Click to expand...

SN just over 10k

That has me perplexed then !
Maybe it went back to Colt and they re-marked the slide.
I've seen more than a few 1900, 1902 Sporting and Military that had the old style rollmark replaced with a "modern" one because the slide needed to be refinished during a factory rework. If there's a "K" stamped on the right trigger guard that usually indicates some sort of factory work was done to it.

The "Browning's Patent" was legally required to be on the slide until 1906 when they came to an agreement to leave it off, so up til about S/N 35000-40000 when it switched to the style on your slide.
The plunge-mill serrations were phased out in the 25000 range I think, so you'd never normally see the bare "PATENT" and the plunge-mill grooves.

Examples 106xx and 481xx:

somd_mustangs said:

That has me perplexed then !
Maybe it went back to Colt and they re-marked the slide.
I've seen more than a few 1900, 1902 Sporting and Military that had the old style rollmark replaced with a "modern" one because the slide needed to be refinished during a factory rework. If there's a "K" stamped on the right trigger guard that usually indicates some sort of factory work was done to it.

The "Browning's Patent" was legally required to be on the slide until 1906 when they came to an agreement to leave it off, so up til about S/N 35000-40000 when it switched to the style on your slide.
The plunge-mill serrations were phased out in the 25000 range I think, so you'd never normally see the bare "PATENT" and the plunge-mill grooves.

Examples 106xx and 481xx:

Click to expand...

It does have K on the right trigger guard, towards the barrel .

I see what you are talking about with the stamps. The alignment on mine differs from the photo's. On mine the O in Colt is in line with the H in Hartford underneath. The D in Patented also lines up different.

After looking at it some more it appears to have a bad nickel plating finish on it.

So far I've gotten advise regarding refinishing but I've yet to hear from anyone who's actually had it done. Allegedly some have computer laser stuff that can duplicate the old stamps/square off the edges. I have a Colt 1911 with British proofs that was allegedly refinished by Colt and it's pretty; that's got me thinking about refinishing.

Hideaway on GB does have some nice stuff however, I was top bid on a Type 2 at auction this morning. And that was way under what I'm seeing on GB. I'll keep an eye out for the future.

I have Bailey's book on Savages and it's well worth the price. IDK if it's still there but there was a cased set of 1907's on GB; one nickel, one blued, ivory bits on the case. 2.5K was a bit more than I wanted to part with but it was very nice and allegedly featured in another book.

Now that I think about it I think I have another Colt with a K on the trigger guard; where is that rascal?
Edit: Ithaca Colt with a 6 in the same location.