reverendbeer
Stiff Member
Recently, I've been wanting a Ballester-Molina...and I had some extra money...and I had a couple of beers...So, naturally, this showed up in the mailbox today:
Absolutely covered in dirt and crud inside and out. No obvious rust, but a nice film of rust and dirt on the extractor, firing pin, mainspring, and trigger spring--basically everything inside. Complete disassembly, and liberal application of mineral spirits, brush, and 000 steel wool took care of most of that, though. Hosed everything down with kroil and broke out the picks and qtips for nooks and crannies.
It seemed really..er...not "used" at all when I first opened the box and worked the slide a few times. Then I got it apart and was all, "oh, right, dirt and crud...like putting 50wt in an old car you're gonna sell."
However, after cleaning for two hours and getting it back together, it's only a TINY bit looser. This thing is well put together. I approve.
Serial on the backstrap matches the one inside the slide...and the "issue number" on the top of the slide matches the barrel. Unfortunately, the Mag number doesn't match either (note mandatory foot):
Externally?
The finish is...er...well seasoned and the grips are shot (already have replacements coming from Sarco), but what do you expect from a $300 retired federale?
This old girl is NICE. Feels better than most 1911s I've fooled with...including the wife's Kimber.
Absolutely covered in dirt and crud inside and out. No obvious rust, but a nice film of rust and dirt on the extractor, firing pin, mainspring, and trigger spring--basically everything inside. Complete disassembly, and liberal application of mineral spirits, brush, and 000 steel wool took care of most of that, though. Hosed everything down with kroil and broke out the picks and qtips for nooks and crannies.
It seemed really..er...not "used" at all when I first opened the box and worked the slide a few times. Then I got it apart and was all, "oh, right, dirt and crud...like putting 50wt in an old car you're gonna sell."
However, after cleaning for two hours and getting it back together, it's only a TINY bit looser. This thing is well put together. I approve.
Serial on the backstrap matches the one inside the slide...and the "issue number" on the top of the slide matches the barrel. Unfortunately, the Mag number doesn't match either (note mandatory foot):
Externally?
The finish is...er...well seasoned and the grips are shot (already have replacements coming from Sarco), but what do you expect from a $300 retired federale?
This old girl is NICE. Feels better than most 1911s I've fooled with...including the wife's Kimber.
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