Another example might be CAS (Cowboy Action Shooting) contestants who buy an Italian-made clone of Colt's 1873 Single Action Army, and then pay a gunsmith to exchange and fit genuine Colt parts into it. Can it be done? Sure, and it has been. Is this cost effective? Well that's open to debate.
I have been shooting CAS a long time, and I have never heard of anybody doing that. Everyone that I have ever talked to paid a gunsmith to tune up their Italian made clone with Italian made parts. Usually just doing fitting and polishing, seldom actually replacing any of the parts. And I have never heard of anybody trying to fit Colt parts into an Italian clone, although I do see your point.
MIM parts consist of fine metal particles that are fused together with a non-metallic binder.
Don't mean to be picking on you Old Fuff, but that description is not quite correct. MIM parts are made by first casting the part from a slurry consisting of fine metal particles and binder. When the part is ejected from the mold it is made of a matrix of metal particles and binder. At this point the part is called a 'green' part. Next, most of the binder is driven out by a combination of solvents, heat, and/or catalytic processes. At this point the part is porous because most of the binder has been driven out, only leaving a matrix of metal particles. This is a 'brown' part and it is extremely fragile. Finally, the parts are sintered by heating them to just below the melting temperature of the metal. This causes the metal particles to bind to each other, without actually melting.
But you are absolutely correct, heating a MIM part would probably be a bad idea.
I agree with you when it comes to MIM cosmetics, but that in itself hardly justifies changing most of the internal lockwork. The best way to get the older "high quality look," is to buy a complete revolver that already has it.
Agree 1000%!
If it is just the "look" you're concerned about, I believe I read somewhere that you can "add color" to metal part for the old look.
I didn't have an interest at the time and didn't really look too far into it, but the information is out there
The reason S&W Case Hardened their hammers and triggers may be a little bit surprising. Yes, Case Hardening hardens the outer surface of the parts, and that cuts down on wear.
But the other reason is to protect themselves against cheap imported imitations. In the early part of the 20th Century, there were a lot of cheap knockoffs of S&W revolvers being imported into this country. Most of the really bad ones were from Spain. S&W has always been very aggressive regarding patent infringement. S&W hammers and triggers were always Case Hardened, going all the way back to 1857. But Smith realized that by Trademarking their Case Hardening process they could protect themselves from cheap, imported competition. So Trademark #207951 was issued to Smith and Wesson on January 12, 1926. The wording of the Trademark was: '"The trade mark consists of a mottled color pattern predominantly brownish-gray and blue applied to the hammer and trigger of the arm by an appropriate color process." So starting in the 1920s S&W started stamping 'REG U.S. PAT OFF' on their hammers to indicate that their Color Case Hardening process was trademarked, and customs would have to stop the importation of any revolvers that violated this Trademark. Unlike a patent, Trademarks do not expire.
