I’m a total amateur when it comes to 1911 pistols. I only own one; a Springfield Mil-Spec I bought a few years ago for around $450.

This gun will never be anything more than a cool paper puncher and for me to admire the history.

My gun is blue/parkerized and is a handsome gun, minus the stainless barrel and stainless barrel bushing, which irk me. It would look better with a proper blue barrel and blue barrel bushing.

Are there drop in blue barrels for these? Or is this something to has to be fit by a gun smith? I do NOT want a tight gun. I prefer it to rattle and be reliable like an old WW2 gun. As long as I can hit a man size target at 10 yards, and do that 100% reliably all day long, that’s good enough for me.

If you can believe it, I got a stainless Mil-Spec SA 1911 that came with no barrel. I didn't care. Got it for $150. Yes, really. I can't remember what barrel I put in it (this was 2004-05), but I'm pretty sure I grabbed one off eBay and it fit fine.

While you do get lucky at times, you should ALWAYS expect to require fitting on a 1911 replacement part.

Sarco sells a lot of 1911 stuff fairly cheap.

Check on eBay for one.

quote:

Originally posted by captain127:
While you do get lucky at times, you should ALWAYS expect to require fitting on a 1911 replacement part.

Agreed. It is likely to take some fitting. True drop-in is unlikely.

I've bought several drop in 1911 barrels and they all just fit.

EFK makes barrels as does Clark.

Don't know until you try it. If the gun is truly Mil-Spec and the barrel is truly Mil-Spec should drop in. However, no way of guaranteeing BOTH are Mil-Spec.

Gun parts/ numrich
https://www.gunpartscorp.com/

You can search by 1911, 1911A1, “US” (pistols) or other manufacturers

I have bought a few military and other 1911 bbls. over the years, and they dropped in just fine. Now my Bar-Sto bbls. usually required a bit of fitting.