Any other range graders out there?

[mjudge]

I'd agree, looking at your pictures there does not appear to be any evidence of (re)hardening. That's a pretty nice very early slide that a) could be recovered / restored (if the dovetails haven't been messed with to install the aftermarket sights) and b) could be damaged by additional firing (I did that to a 1918 slide so I know whereof I speak). You might want to consider getting a hardened slide (TZ replacement slide that someone wants to sell?) to use for shooting and save the old war horse version. Just my thoughts; your pistol, of course.

[mjudge]

Tacticoolshed: I believe I steered you wrong on (re)hardening. Re-reading Poyer, I find no mention of (re)hardening (such as spot hardening WW1 slides during an arsenal rebuild, for example). It appears WW1 slides were not hardened during manufacturing (some refer to them as "soft slides"), the spot hardening was done during WW2 manufacturing and later slides (post-war in particular) were fully hardened during manufacturing (some refer to them as "hard slides"). So, I think we were / I was looking for something that wouldn't be there -- the spot hardening that would have been done to WW2 -- not WW1 -- slides. Sorry for the confusion. All the more reason for you to get Poyer for yourself....

[Tacticoolshed]

Wow. Thanks for the additional wealth of info. You didn't steer my in the wrong direction. It's all information and I appreciate it.
I will probably have my smith build (assemble) a later style slide for me if I plan on shooting it a lot.
But, I do plan on having trijicon recore the tritium sights on this slide and will have my smith give it a thorough once over and replace all other springs in the gun prior to deciding how much I want to shoot it.
Thank you for all of the info though.
From what I was reading/watching on YouTube. SF's ran 3,000 rounds through these in one range visit to ensure there were no issues prior to deployment.
So I'm sure it's seen a pretty high round count especially with its age. We'll see what my smith has to say.

[mjudge]

Good luck and good shooting. Enjoy your "new" piece of history!