Not to hijack the thread into a Randall Pistol history lesson,
but it seems there are people interested in the Randall story.
Keep in mind that not every "Randall" pistol you see for sale will have left the factory as a completed firearm .... many so called "RANDALLS were assembled from Randall parts AFTER the factory stopped assembling them. This may not matter to a shooter, but a collector would care.
When Randall went under, one of their Employees who was owed lost wages "inherited" most of their unassembled parts, and a few of their completely assembled pistols. At the time, these parts were being sold off at unbelievably low prices.
Completely machined Grade 1 Randall GOVT MODEL FRAMES FOR $ 25.00 US each.
Grade 2 [ fully machined but requires some finsihing or had some cosmetic flaw] for $ 17.00 ea.
Grade 3 - some genuine skilled gunsmithing required - $ 11.00 ea
I bought a few things off him on an initial trial order, just to confirm it wasn't a scam, and that the quality was there. The parts showed up and were FANTASTIC!!! I then bought a swack of SS Randall parts, and started assembling them into pistols.
About half a dozen Govt models, and a couple dozen of the short butt/short slide Randall Le Mays came out of my shop as completed pistols. The Le Mays originally came with a squared off trigger guard, which may or may not have been ground back to round profile, depending on customer preference and holster choice. The Govts came with either the usual round top slide, or else a HEAVY wide flat top ribbed slide. On occasion, I would mill the rib on flat top slides down to lighten them [ for reliability, my comp guns used a lighter slide and a standard weight spring]. Milling the slide was a real #####!!! ... the double heat treated 17/4 PH steel used was so hard, I had to use a carbide cutter and only mill a few thou at a time.
The frames were so hard, that when I stippled them with a hand held pyramid munch, smoke actually came off. When I bead blasted the assembled pistol, white sparks would fly.
NOW THAT IS HARD!!!
The 17/4 PH SS used by Randall is also tougher than regular blued 4140 gun steel, and small parts [ like a firing pin stop cut out at the corner to fit a 9mm ejector ] would not crack from the corner cut to the firing pin hole, unlike the blue steel parts. The firing pins and hammer faces would not peen at the back, like soft Colt parts do.
The Randall SS parts would wear longer and not break as often as the genuine Colt parts.
All in all, the 17/4PH SS was a superior material to work with.
So, if you happen across a SS pistol, maybe with a blued slide, probably with stippled grip and trigger guard, especially if it has a shortened Officers model length butt, and possibly a Commander or Detonics slide, this is one of my custom built "Randalls", built back in the 1980s.. I still come across these from time to time, but as I have no personal interest in shooting the Govt model pistols any more, I leave them alone.
These days I shoot Glocks.
[which don't require much pistol smithing or maintenance, and that is a good thing ]
[;{)
LAZ 1
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