I am not real up on Colt 1911's and there are a bunch of variations. Gentleman wants to offer this Colt Stainless Government 1911 in trade. Can somebody school me on this model and approximate value? Gun looks to be 95% condition; but no original grips or box. Claims 100 rounds through it. Is this an XSE model?
Thanks

Correction; owner does have box, original grips and 3 mags

Nice pistol. What's up for trade? New value is just a little over $1K.

He has a $800 value on it

It's an XS model, with that style of rear sight, two hole trigger, and upswept beavertail grip safety with the swell. Good that he has the box, but I see a takedown mark, and some other scratches. Good news is, if it's all stainless (as it appears) then 600 grit wet or dry paper will probably match the finish and allow removal of the scratches.

They are relatively rare; I think that model was only out a couple of years in the late 90's before the XSE came along. In truly mint shape I think they are a sleeper, and a serious Colt collector would pay $1k+. With the scratches I'd probably want to pay no more than $900 for it. $800 is very fair if you're not planning to re-sell. If you are trying to re-sell, I'd try to get him down some more.

YMMV

Thanks Tex,
Did not know it was an XS; your valuation is in line with my research. Pretty nice gun.

Nice gun, but pretty scratched up for 100 rounds. The PO was a bit ham handed with it. Try to get them down just a bit because of the idiot scratch and then use the heck out of the gun as is.

Check the bottom edges of the slide. In Colt's 'lazy' days those looked like they were finished with a rasp or a rock. (I had one).

$750... only after a tear--down to check for galling of the rails.
Dumb enough to scratch it, could have run it 100 rounds dry

This^^^

A teardown would be a must for me. Don't let him do it obviously. When breaking in a new stainless on stainless 1911, it needs to be wet. Look VERY close for galling. How is the trigger? Look for other tampering. It is a good utilitarian gun in the field. Not rare, but you do not see a lot of them. If every thing checks out well then $750.00 is about right. Maybe $700.00 on a good trade.

One thing about that rear sight...that is a very specific Colt only cut. Night sights used to be available from Trijicon but have not been in many years. They are very close to a Heinie sight but I don't think that they will interchange.

Nice gun...worth the $800 in todays market.

Bob

You'd have to run it well past 100 rounds dry to get galling. Stainless galling went away in the mid 1980's and was pretty much never a problem with Colt's. The slide on a Colt's 1911 barely qualifies as stainless; you can stick a magnet right to it. By mixing the alloys Colt's all but made the galling issue go away. Now if you shot the hell out of your pistol completely dry, I would imagine you could get galling, but for most, the gun would stop functioning before you got galling on a Colt.

One could tell if it had galling simply by racking the slide. If true stainless galls it ain't going to move again.

yes, I've had stainless bolts stick and gall on me, and it's almost like it's welded itself to the nut.

And by the way, any martensitic (440 or 416) or precipitation hardening (17-4 or 17-7) stainless is magnetic, more so after heat treat.

Exactly.

You run a new Delta Elite dry and you will find out what galling is. Another bad one is these new S&W PPKS stainless.

Or any other stainless gun; the gun would simply lockup & likely before severe galling took place.

True, there might be some level of scuffing but likely not so much that could not be cleaned up.

As Kevin pointed out, most "stainless" guns are not true, pure stainless material as stainless is generally known.

Overly tight fitting guns would certainly make the potential problem worse & I believe that Baer will not offer the 1.5" guarantee on stainless guns simply because he does not want to make them as tight as his carbon steel guns.

But to some degree, this is all just hypotheses as I don't think many of us have locked up a stainless 1911 due to being stainless & lack of lube, but then again, I might be wrong.

MM

True stainless requires a special grease to prevent galling. Regular oil or grease won't cut. Ask me how I know.

Galling can happen that doesn't lock up the slide. Early stainless guns had it happen all the time**. But understand, that galling is only seen through a magnifying glass. Heavy galling will straight up ruin your day.

**Think AMT, VEGA, and Randall.

White Lithium Grease...works like a charm. IIRC, Coonan was the first to stumble onto that one.

A friend brought out a NIB Delta to show it to me. He knew I was a Colt Guy and liked the Delta. I do not remember exactly what ammo it was, but it was some hot factory stuff. He went to the back of the farm and was shooting it. About half way through the second box of fifty, the slide locked up. No apparent burs or anything was noticed. Straight from the factory. We lubed it up real good. Put it back together. No more problems since. It might just have been a fluke, but it did happen.

Thanks for all the advice on the gun and the free metallurgy lessons.

Bought it; thanks again for all the advice.

Feel pretty good about my first 1911; gun, original grips, Hogue grips, original numbered box w/ manual, factory mag,(2) MecGar mags and (1) Wilson Combat mag.

There does seem to be a following for these XS models. Off to the range.

Fantastic. Another Colt man at the 'Fire.

We will need a range report of course.

Better start saving up now. Those 1911's make you want more of them.

Congrats!

600 grit wet or dry sandpaper, held by a sanding block, has worked for me in the past. It seems to match the factory satin stainless fairly well, when getting rid of scratches.

That gun was made around the same time General Keys came on board, and they started getting real serious about quality.

Thanks for the tip Tex; I think I will try that first on a Sendero I have with a scuff on the barrel.

Very nice gun...........congrats.

MM