A few months ago I decided to save my pennies for a "real" 1911, the kind the CMP might one day sell, from the dusty warehouses of the US military. Given the glacial pace of that effort, and the fact that I'd want to keep such a historical artifact in good condition and not risk adding character marks of my own (I am not worthy), I decided to go for a simple off-the-shelf production GI version such as the Auto Ordnance 1911 PKZE. If I couldn't find one of those, maybe a Rock Island GI. In my search, I discovered ATI has an authentic looking GI version, but they mash a nasty rollmark on the slide so I don't really want it. It's dirt cheap, though. Under $400 on Bud's if you're interested.

I finally had the cash scraped up yesterday and started looking online. In the morning everything looked good, prices were amazingly low. $339 for a Rock Island full size GI? You gotta be kidding me! I have an arched MSH I can slip onto it, and I'm done! But I wanted to see one in person so I went to the LGS. The guy said their "best" price was $500. I stomped out and went home.

Back online, that morning's online prices had jumped $50 on the Rock Island. WTH? I started searching for the AO PKZE and they were like hen's teeth. I found one online store that had three in stock. By the time I'd finished price checking, all three were gone.

Plenty of BKOs, but I don't want a "BlacK Oxide." I want ParKeriZEd and I'm not compromising. So where'd they all disappear to???