The pistol began life as a 1975 Colt Gold Cup National Match. A fellow who has been a long time acquaintance and fellow law enforcement officer owned the pistol and had sent it off for custom work. While we were never close friends, we always stopped and chatted when we saw each other, the conversation usually centered around guns. His health began to fail and he sold the pistol to another mutual acquaintance shortly before he passed. I had an opportunity to get the pistol as part of a trade. I had seen the gun before but did not know any of the details about it. I knew that it had been a build from a big name smith, but was pleasantly please when I stripped the slide off and found "J. Hoag" stamped on the cartridge pick up rail.
I contacted Mr. Hoag, unfortunately he did not have any records for a complete build sheet.

On another board though I did communicate with someone that used to work in his shop. There was definitely some slide to frame fitting. Other features include:
BoMar rear sight
Custom front sight
Hand beveled mag well
Squared and hand checkered trigger guard
Hand checkered bordered front strap
Hand checkered MSH
Hoag grip safety
Thumb safety appears to be factory and custom built up/silver soldered
Slide release appears to be factory and custom built up
Full length guide rod
Colt National Match barrel fit to barrel bushing
Hard Chrome frame and small lower parts
Hand checkered hammer (maybe a Nastoff?)
Herrett skip line checkered grips.
During my conversation with Mr. Hoag, I commented that I took it to the range and that it shot like a f'ing laser gun. He replied "I am glad that someone is actually shooting one" followed by a little chuckle. I assured him that this piece would see range and holster time, no safety queen. Again, he was pleased.
I have replaced the Herretts with a set of Pachmayr Signature grips with silver Colt Medallions and sans the front strap.
