That’s a candidate for Turnbull.

 

Over-polished and blued then catastrophically spot-rusted... Yup, I'd concur that as far as collectibility goes, it is past its prime. Looks like it might have been pitted even before being blued.

However, if critical surfaces are not queered and the price was right, I'd pop for it as a project gun to maybe make an old-school bull's eye gun out of.

I'd be curious as to how those rust zones would respond to electrolysis.

 

Polished and blued then catastrophically spot-rusted... Yup, I'd concur that as far as collectibility goes, it is past its prime.

However, if critical surfaces are not queered and the price was right, I'd pop for it as a project gun to maybe make an old-school bull's eye gun out of.

I'd be curious as to how those rust zones would respond to electrolysis.

Thanks Todd. Just trying to get an idea of value... what would you pay, just looking at the photos?

 

Just my opinion if it were in my hands.....
It's already been refinished at least once but, at least they didn't buff the markings off. Refinishing it will far supersede what just buying another one in the condition you likely want would run you cost wise. The rust looks deep enough that after the grinding, it'll likely need to be welded back in for the holes. Maybe the rust looks worse in the pictures than it really is? FJA stamped typical mix master that isn't anything rare.

If you're looking for a decent example, even with typical wear like the CMP guns out there, keep looking. Value wise? couple hundred in parts maybe...

How is the condition of the magazine? What magazine?

The rust looks like the gun was sadly stored in the leather holster, so the mag may still be just fine.

Now what it might be a good candidate for - strip it, remove/grind out the rust and if it's not too deep to affect the safety condition of the gun overall, refinish in a cheaper cerakote and just have a good old blaster. Heck, it'll probably shoot just fine now after dropping in a new recoil spring.

 

Just my opinion if it were in my hands.....
It's already been refinished at least once but, at least they didn't buff the markings off. Refinishing it will far supersede what just buying another one in the condition you likely want would run you cost wise. The rust looks deep enough that after the grinding, it'll likely need to be welded back in for the holes. Maybe the rust looks worse in the pictures than it really is? FJA stamped typical mix master that isn't anything rare.

If you're looking for a decent example, even with typical wear like the CMP guns out there, keep looking. Value wise? couple hundred in parts maybe...

How is the condition of the magazine? What magazine?

The rust looks like the gun was sadly stored in the leather holster, so the mag may still be just fine.

Now what it might be a good candidate for - strip it, remove/grind out the rust and if it's not too deep to affect the safety condition of the gun overall, refinish in a cheaper cerakote and just have a good old blaster. Heck, it'll probably shoot just fine now after dropping in a new recoil spring.

Thanks for your input! Valuable info!

 

Does the X on the frame mean it was scrapped???

 

Good question...

 

To me it looks like a likely candidate for a complete refinish……..if I owned it I’d have started working on it today!

 

If that pistol were mine I would carefully sand out as much pitting as possible and send it off to be zinc parkerized .. I would also swap out the barrel with a 1960’s GI Vietnam era chrome lined replacement barrel and get a wolf recoil spring.. then shoot the heck out of it.

 

Well, it appears to have the correct Bakelite small circle grips for an rem or Ithaca, possibility all original WW2 parts .. but Due to its condition I would pay no more than $600 for it... if you are looking for anything more than a project-novelty shooter you’re money is best spent towards something in better shape.

 

Thank you for your input

 

As with most GI bring backs, it probably came back in excellent condition, but became someone's favorite truck seat gun. Bubba refinished, and neglected again. Better to put a few hundred more toward a much better example. The heavy buffing of the markings aren't coming out.

The X on trigger guard is Remington Rand in house inspection mark.

 

Mark Novak usually boils them in what calls "conservation" here's one of his videos dealing with a rusty rifle, he's done a number of these. This one isn't one of his, but applies: Restoration Someone, like Turnbull is very expensive and frankly, you don't have a lot to work with there. Orange rust is active rust and needs to be stopped or it will only pit deeper. FWIW, don't put a lot of money into that gun.

 

I agree with JohnnyP, this is not one you want unless it's free. Even then, probably don't want it. I'm not sure what a quality rebuild would cost from Turnbull, but it would involve welding, recutting the sharp edges, and the slide grip grooves. I'd wager $2,000 when all is said and done. It would be cheaper to start with a solid billet of steel. Or you could spend several weeks of work doing it yourself, but what is your time worth? And you'd end up with a facsimile of a WWII .45 that until 20 years ago were $500 guns. A Remington at that. It's just not worth it.

 

Thing about the 1911 is that it takes a lot to render one unusable. I might go as high as $475, clean it up, get it running, see how it shoots. Cleaned up you might even make a few bucks if / when you turn it.

 

Really appreciate everyone's input! Sounds like yall saved me from making a mistake...Although the pistol did come with the holster, the seller was asking $1000.

 

The seller must be outside of his mind.

 

There is no collector value on that one. Already refinished once before getting rusty. So skip that one and find something else.

 

A grand is literally 4 times the gun's value.

 

Run away, don’t walk. Consider if the outside looks that bad whats the inside look like? Field grade CMPs are way better than that and $1,050.00.

 

paperweight.

 

I am hesitant to buy one like this. Decades ago, I bought a 1911 that someone "customized". It looked very nice but the thing couldn't make it through a magazine without jamming. I took it back to the shop I purchased it at several times to get the issues resolved. Each time they would say it was fixed. Each time, it would jam no matter the ammo I was using or the magazine I was using. The last time, the shop gave me full credit towards a new Colt 1911-A1 that worked perfectly. Problem solved.

 

And no one ever really figured out what was wrong with it? Just wondering.

 

One in that bad of condition may have been a fire victim. Too many others out there without taking a chance on that one.

 

You'd have to be pretty delusional to think this pistol is worth $1000.

 

I wouldn't touch a gun like that unless it was free. If you want a shooter, new ones from companies like Tisas can be had for under $500. That gun wasn't even worth $500 after it was poorly reblued and before it attained all the extra rust.
But that's just me.

 

There's an old saying, "You can't polish a turd and that one is a POS".

 

$1K? No way. $300 or so? Maybe. I have a S&W 39 which had similar rust on the muzzle end of the slide, although the rest of the piece was OK. I had Ford's do a "Master" refinish on the slide and it cost a little over $200. You can get a decent finish for the whole gun for around $400 or so. Ford's Custom Gun Refinishing Price Sheet | Crystal River FL . Even with a quality refinish, the piece is still only worth ~$1K. IMHO, keep looking.

 

Somebody Blued it before it was mistreated. I have an Ithaca shooter (also Blued) that has that same X stamped into the frame... Strange

 

Lipstick on a pig to restore.

Truck gun at the right price.

 

I’d offer 3 one hundred dollar bills. I see an older pistol like that of any kind and I just can’t resist the urge to make an offer. Don’t think I’ve ever had anybody get their feelings hurt!but I’m pretty careful how I go about it.