I have purchased a Colt 1911 slide with the number 7990314 on the side. It is parkerized and minty. A little research has yielded the following information, some of which was new to me. I just put it here for a double check or any corrections.

1. Following WWII and Korea War, the USGI 1911A1s were getting pretty tired and many needed new slides. Contracts were let to Colt and others for replacement slides. Like most USGI replaced parts, they had the drawing number marked on them, in this case 7990314.

2. The 1911s and 1911A1s both GI and Commercial did not have fully hardened slides. They didn't have the technology to harden the whole side without warping it, so the front 1/3 and area around the slide stop notch were spot hardened. A hardened steel insert was pressed into the breech face and machined with the slide.

3. During the WWII production run 1911A1, both Remington-Rand and Ithaca played with fully hardened slides, but did not get them into production. Following WWII about 1947, Colt picked up the notion and began to produce fully hardened slides. Hence the "hard slide" nick name for these replacement slides.

4. About the same time Colt also produced these with taller front sights and no rear sight in the dovetail for use on National Match pistols. They had the same drawing number on the slide. The standard 7990314 slide came with both sights already on it.

At any rate, some of this was new to me, and thought I would pass it along for whatever it is worth. Another drop into the ocean of knowledge about these famous pistols.

Thanks Charles!

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Of the Troops & For the Troops

He said if you are trying to build a match pistol based on a Gold Cup, buy the one with the small lettering on the slide vs. the large lettering as the slides with small lettering were harder. I have no idea if he was right or not.