Colt Agent new to me

[OK45]

I picked up a mint looking Colt Agent today for a pretty good deal at a show. SN 2237xx LW. Caught my eye as i had never seen that finish before. It is light dull grey almost like a brushed stainless. Colt never offered such a finish as factory did they? I suspect it has been refinished but they did a great job if it is. All marking including the pony are very sharp.

Tearing into it evening though it does look like it was probably refinished. But there is virtually no wear on the internal parts, no flame cutting above the forcing cone... and really tight lockup. Came with light walnut colt combat grip. I put the set of badger compact on as they fit my hand better.

agent.jpg

I'm happy! Bought it to keep my Cobra company .

OK45

[ace]

definitely refinished, looks like armaloy.

[Malysh]

Enjoy your new carry gun!
The refinish could be Armaloy, it could be Metalife, etc. etc. It's most probably a brushed hard chrome but I can't tell for sure. This finish should be quite resistant to wear, sweat, and corrosion in the climate you live in. You won't be able to tell how much it was shot due to the refinish, you will only be able to judge whether it was shot after the refinish.

In case you haven't checked the mfg. year, it was made in 1967.

[JudgeColt]

Armaloy cannot be applied to aluminum so, unless the alloy frame was first coated with a ferrous coating before the Armaloy was applied (unlikely), the finish cannot be Armaloy.

[Malysh]

Metalife can be applied to aluminum. As the Judge said, the aluminum surface can be coated with a ferrous metal first. I've seen many, many aluminum framed guns with the Metalife finish. I don't agree that it's unlikely that a customer wanted a similar finish applied and decide not to because of the extra preparation step. The labor and materials needed to prepare the surface are explained, but they are not itemized in their invoices as a separate charge. I know because many years ago I had a Walther PPK with a beat up original finish that I had Metalifed.
I cannot comment on Armaloy in this regard but they are very similar finishes. * One of the many Armaloy websites states they do not coat aluminum parts.
The finish does look to be one of these two but it is not Armaloy.

Excerpt from the Metalife website:

"Metalife is successfully applied to aluminum frame automatics as well as steel. When we receive an aluminum piece, we must first apply a plating of our high phosphorous electroless nickel. The Metalife process is then applied over the nickel giving the piece the ultimate in durability."