I purchased a used Browning 380 Black Label. I'm very happy with it only now on the Internet see some that look much better ( at least to me ) with a shiny slide and wood ot fake pearl grips. The grips are rather inexpensive. Could I just remove the slide and remove the black finish on the flat surface on each side ? Maybe start with some 240 grit going to 400, 500, 600 and maybe 1000 if necessary. I made custom hand forged knives for over 20 years, but I'm not sure of the material the slide is made from. The lettering and serration bottoms would be left black. It would seem a whole lot cheaper than spending 700 to 900 for the more costly pistol.
I did the tweek on the magazine opening and now feel this is the best 380 out there. Fits my hand perfectly, is light, little recoil - not much else to say about it. For 9 mm my Sig 938 fits the bill. My Kimber in 45 is lighter than my other 45 s.
On second thought I'm going to start with some 400 emery paper and WD 40 on a marble plate. I'll see how fast that removes the blackening on the slide. Don't need a bunch of sanding marks that aren't necessary.
Well, I called Browning then Midway USA . The man at Browning said the slide was steel, he didn't know what stopped the rust from forming on the shinny surfaces. Midway said to use Fitz on it to polish it. Think I'm gonna try it. The shinny slide with black lettering and wood grips sure looks nice.
The slide is stainless steel so I shouldn't have to worry about rust. I removed the black finish on the sides of the slide leaving the lettering and low groves on where you grip it for working the slide. I used two sheets of 400 grit and used a liberal amount of WD 40 on it. The only reason for the second sheet of 400 was because the center of the slide where the ejection port was ( on both sides ) was a tiny bit low. So that first sheet I cut in half and put it under the new sheet.. in the center of it. That way I had a slight crown. Then one sheet each of the 500 and 600. It looks real nice - like a brushed finish. Just ordered some grips for under $50 from L.S. Grips. I don't how to post pictures.
Open a free Imgur account. Upload your photos to there, then copy and paste them in the box that opens when you hit the picture icon.
Let me try this - well, I couldn't just take a photo and upload it from my phone. A message came up saying I didn't have permission to perform this task. I use to do it on a knife web site. It made everything so simple. The umgur web site - I never saw how to use it for photos, it was something else, like Google.
I agree with Paul about these little pistols. The issues are mostly with the slides. For the OEM slides, mostly feed lip width. For the 10-round ProMags, there are several issues - but they can be made dependable with an hour of work. I have two 1911-380/22 Compact Convertibles and a 1911-22 Compact. I like them all. BTW, the baseplate on the 22 mags can be made removable - but it isn't worth the effort.
