[ithacaartist]

Gents, I agree that replacing the slide with an intact one is the way to proceed, if not merely for economy, but to keep life simple. Tom Heller seems to have some, and I'm waiting to hear from him whether one matches the style of this one.

Once again, exactly why this was done by a previous owner is a mystery. The hypothesis that it was in preparation for threading the now-exposed end of the barrel is feasible, but who the heck knows? If that was the case, I'm glad the project didn't go any farther because the workmanship used in shortening the slide is certainly terrible. If they couldn't even make a square cut on the end of the slide, I shudder to think how threading the barrel would have turned out!