I’m a sucker for two-tone guns… and I’ll admit it, I just like the old school look and feel that a two-tone gun seems to communicate almost better than any other finish. So when it came time for me to finally (and I say finally ‘cause this project sat on my back burner for something like 3 years or so) build this gun I new the modifications had to support the old school two-tone look and feel.
The gun started with an older and non-caliber designated Series 80 carbon steel slide with a 9mm breech face. The slide was fit to a brand new stainless steel Colt frame via our standard weld-up frame and slide fit. The gun has a Kart barrel mated up to a stainless EGW barrel bushing. The slide top was flattened and serrated, fit with a Gold Line front sight, and a re-contoured original Heinie rear sight to keep with the old-school theme. The rear of the slide was serrated to match the Heinie sight and the front of the slide was ball-cut.
On the bottom half of the gun the lines were straightened and the front strap was high-cut and checkered by hand at 30lpi. The mainspring housing is a Legacy Custom product that I checkered at 30lpi to match the front strap and then cut and blended into a large opening for the mag-well. Swinging from the Colt commercial thumb safety is an EGW machined grip safety that was reshaped for an overall reduced profile. A tool steel Commander style hammer help keep the theme of the gun going and, in addition to a complete functional detailing and reliability job, only the best quality internals were used throughout the gun. Finishing the gun off is a set of Spegel Makassar ebony stocks.
Pretty cool to finally have got this gun finished up just in time to display it at this years SHOT Show. At one time I was dead set on making it a 9x23 but after all is finished I’m quite pleased with it as a 9mm and I certainly enjoyed the range sessions I got to have while building and testing this gun. Enjoy the pictures!
