Why We Do This.....

Over the years it’s become customary to line or checker the rear of the slide and sight face of custom 1911s, but the true reason for the treatment has somehow been lost over time. While most people order it on their guns for cosmetic reasons nowadays, the origin lies with Bullseye and target shooters who lined their slides and iron sights to knock down glare and to hold sight-black. I started checkering my slides and rear sight blades in the late 70’s when we discovered that this method was even more effective at holding site-black and dealing with the varying light angles experienced in practical pistol shooting. Today it’s become one of our trademark features on custom built guns and we are one of the few shops that offer it. Checkering the rear of a slide to match the sight is a time-consuming hand operation that cannot successfully be duplicated by machine because of the compound curvature of the slide. If it’s done well it looks great, if not, it looks like hell. You can see more here.