I measured the play on my old Colt Government and the vertical play is .004" to .006" depending where I measure from. The horizontal play is about .005" to .007", again depending where I measure. I'm thinking of having the frame to slide fit re-fitted. Does anyone have an opinion on this issue?
That's not all that loose, though I like to see things a bit tighter on a carry or general-purpose gun... Max of .005 in either direction. Vertical play is the more critical of the two, but the amount of play in your pistol is about average. It doesn't start to really affect function until it reaches .012 inch or so, and I've seen pistols looser than that shoot pretty respectable groups.
Tuner, thanks for the reply! I just saved a trip to the pistolsmith and $100.