I think one of the greatest things that I’m continually learning from Ted is how to “fix” things on guns. Whether it be correcting goofy geometry or making imperfect cosmetics “perfect”, watching Ted make things that once looked impossible “possible” is, for me, one of the constant joys around the shop. And it was with that in mind that I set forth to build this gun.
This gun had gone through the normal waiting list at the shop while the owner was overseas doing the good work of the country. Now it was his time at the bench and, by itself, what he had in mind for the conversion wasn’t out of the ordinary or unreasonably difficult. A functional 9x23 with all the full-house flair was what he wanted. Something with hand-cut 40lpi checkering front and rear, a buried Bo-Mar, S&A mag-well, great trigger, usable safeties, and all the rest that goes into building a Best Grade gun like straightened frame and slide lines, flattened and serrated slide top, and a bordered slide. However, this gun was a fitting example of a 70 Series Colt complete with all the crooked lines, wavy front straps, and less-than-flat slide flats that have become renowned as past era Colt cosmetic “standards”.
The customer knew what he wanted and had waited a good while to get it but even Ted’s skeptical eye had me a bit worried. So never being one to know when to quit I started my regiment of filing, banging, cutting, grinding and “fixing” and here’s what I came up with...
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