A correct 1914 pistol should have a long trigger...not short. It's a one-piece milled unit, and the face should have no checkering or coining.
The slidestop should be like the one in stickman's photo.
The rear sight should be narrow with a "U" notch, not the later, wider square notch.
The disconnect reset slot in the slide...instead of a simple keyway cut...should have the keyway and a shallow hole drilled just slightly forward of center.
The mainspring housing should be flat, smooth, and with a lanyard loop.
A crack in the top of the frame in the slidestop window means nothing. They all did it with a little use and won't affect the functionality of the pistol. That's why everybody started milling that portion away in recent years.
Look for stairstep deformation of the barrel and slide lugs. However much combined deformation there is means that the headspace has increased by that amount. If it's there, gauge the headspace before firing it.
Look for a small crack in the top, right side of the ejection port at the rear, just forward of or adjacent to the breechface that runs downward toward the rail. It it's there, don't shoot it at all.
Don't shoot it much more than enough to confirm function. Those old pistols were dead soft and there's no way of knowing how much it's been fired previously.
...my wife bought it for me!
