Turning to the SF brain trust for assistance.

Good friend wants to gift her significant other with a pistol comparable to what his dad would have carried during WW2. He was U.S. Army Air Corps and served as Communications, Radar, and Cryptographic Security Officer. I assume the right pistol would be the 1911A1, but am open to correction as needed. Any suggestions I can give her on a source would be most welcome. Her budget is $3500, but I have no idea if that is realistic to get something year/model appropriate. She is not looking for some museum-quality piece, just something to commemorate service.

Thank you all in advance for any guidance offered!

Either 1911A1 or apparently a S&W M1917.

These guys are a good source for historic 1911s: Rock Island Auction if you are looking for actual WW2 specimens. There are other sources, and of course, modern replicas.

The Army also used Smith and Wesson M&Ps. These were called the hand ejector, and later the Model 10. This the Model 10, .38 special K frame that is still in production.

But the 1911A1 was the very most common pistol for the U.S. in WWII.

Air forces used a bunch of S&W M&P .38 Specials. A nice Victory Model would be in the middle hundreds of bucks.

$3500 would buy a very nice real USGI 1911A1 of one of the less common contractors. A US&S maybe, not a Singer.

A new made "imitation Army surplus" from Tisas would be very inexpensive, short hundreds.

I was also thinking pre- model 10. Although mine is from 1947 (S). A cherry victory model might be tougher but a modern 10-5 bull barrel could be a decent representation. Perhaps a snubby.

How did I know everyone here would be a total wealth of information! Thank you all!

Trying to confirm, but possibly the Colt 1903 Pocket Hammerless as well. I know some pilots carried them, it might not be totally out of the realm for radar officer to carry one.

You can buy a genuine S&W Victory revolver that shipped during the war for under $600 these days. I've also been watching genuine Colt 1911's from the same period sell for under her budgeted number of $3,500.

I expect that if they were issued a sidearm it would be the 1911A1 and nothing else. The USAAF did issue the S&W Military and Police revolver but that was mainly to Base Guards in the US proper and the Military Police. As for why the 1911 was what was issued to any battle group it's very simple, it's Logistics. There were basically just 4 specific type of small arms ammo that went thru the battlefield logistics system, the Browning 50, the 30.06, the 30 carbine, and the 45 ACP. One principle our army learned early on was that for small arms ammo KISS was the only way to insure a constant flow of the correct ammo to the troupes on the front lines. Contrast that to the absolute mess for the French Army in WWI where they were grabbing for anything that fired a bullet, even black powder single shot rifles.

PS: I will note that many pilots did carry sidearms but they weren't issued sidearms, they were personally owned weapons that the senior officers turned a blind eye to. Typically it was the S&W Military Police in either 38 special or 38/200. Note the 38/200 was a British Service caliber with a bore size of 0.360 inches and a shorter larger diameter case than the 38 special, so they were not interchangeable. Following the 2 different 38 calibers it was whatever the pilot could find. In the Pacific theater that usually was the 45 ACP because of all the Marines present with a willingness to swap a 1911 for a bit of beer or booze.

Well, for what it's worth, here's a first-hand account of a Cryptographic Security Officer who was in from '43-'46.

quote:

I also read every incoming message. If it was a priority message, I had to phone the addressee. If it was top secret, I had to operate the decoding machine, then strap on an .45 caliber pistol and carry the message to the addressee.

https://ethw.org/First-Hand:My..._Force,_1943_to_1946


There, no guesswork, no speculation. That's what one of those guys said he used for a sidearm during the war. However, back to speculating: It doesn't mean that was a universal thing, only that it's very likely it was a 1911.

quote:

Originally posted by rkentm:
Turning to the SF brain trust for assistance.

Good friend wants to gift her significant other with a pistol comparable to what his dad would have carried during WW2. He was U.S. Army Air Corps and served as Communications, Radar, and Cryptographic Security Officer. I assume the right pistol would be the 1911A1, but am open to correction as needed. Any suggestions I can give her on a source would be most welcome. Her budget is $3500, but I have no idea if that is realistic to get something year/model appropriate. She is not looking for some museum-quality piece, just something to commemorate service.

Thank you all in advance for any guidance offered!

Where did he serve?

stateside, euro theater, or pacific?

that would matter,

frontline or close maybe a 1911,

stateside , or rear maybe a Victory or 1917


doubtful a 1903 or 1908 Colt would have been issued

Both my grand dad and my grand mother carried S&W Victory model revolvers in WWII. (US Navy)

Pop-pop had his guys “throw them over the side” when they were issued 1911s. And I inherited his.

WWII side arms could be:
S&W Victory model
1917 revolver Colt or Smith
1911A1

Send a packet to the CMP for an honest to goodness USGI 1911A1 for about a thousand bucks.

Unless you want pristine, a nice USGI 1911A1 can be found under 2 grand with a little work.

If you want “pretty” the colt WWI or WWII reproduction can be found around 1500.

Success! Was able to locate a nice 1943 Colt, Ser. 862XXX for just under $2k, before tax.

Congrats, nice find! Looks like that was the early part of '43.

Completely tore it down and it’s in great shape, inside and out.

I'm not a vintage gun guy by any means, but that is a damn nice find.

Nice snag. Based on the grind marks and stamps in the area of the property and serial numbers, it appears to be a variant that was originally built as a commercial frame, then had the commercial markings removed and military ones applied. If I recall fairly uncommon variation. I don’t remember numbers produced off hand.

quote:

Originally posted by captain127:
Nice snag. Based on the grind marks and stamps in the area of the property and serial numbers, it appears to be a variant that was originally built as a commercial frame, then had the commercial markings removed and military ones applied. If I recall fairly uncommon variation. I don’t remember numbers produced off hand.

Appreciate that insight as I had wondered about those marks and had no idea what they could have been about.