I recently had this re-finished and added a King-Tappan rear sight along with having a dovetailed front installed. This pistol is one of the Series 80s that has a collet barrel bushing that was introduced with the Series 70 pistols and I believe it is circa late 1980s. The new grips are from Altamont.
I previously had it setup as a WWII clone with a Parkerized finish and plastic USGI grips but I decided to modernize it. A local smith (Ray Saltzman) did the work including the polishing for the re-finish but he sent it out for the bluing. I think it turned out quite well.
Well as long as it shoots well and is reliable it doesn’t reallyneed anything else. but some people can’t help trying to make things “better” , I’m guilty of this myself from time to time. I think the only thing I would add is 20lpi checkering.
This pistol has had nothing done in the way of trigger work (at least since I got it) and the edges never were sharp as some late models are reported to be. As for the blue, I think my "smith did a great job of prep before sending it out for the re-finish. It’s another one of my “KISS” 1911s in the spirit of what Col. Cooper thought was best.
