Frame is Stainless Steel seems to be NEW.
1911 frames manufactured by Essex Arms in Vermont. Essex originally started making their cast frames at their facility in Island Pond, Vermont. They started in the 1970s. They always used 4140 steel (which is good). After that the needed machine work was performed manually on multiple machines with dedicated jigs. They do have a solid reputation for being very durable.
In the late 1990s Essex Arms was sold. They moved to Hardwick, Vermont. A huge investment was made in re-tooling. New casting machines with new forms which allowed for a "pressurized casting" to assure a complete casting and increase steel density. Rather than manually machining the frames, state of the art (at that time) CNC machines took care of those operations. Resulting in superb frame quality.
After the big investment made, which was financed with a loan, they could not stay in business. Essex made frames only 2 1/2 years at the new Hardwick facility before going out of business.
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