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I inherited the below 1911, and I do not know much about historical 1911s. I’m hoping the forum can enlighten me on what I have. The only research I’ve done puts the serial number around a 1913 production date. I am curious if anyone can tell me ANYTHING about it (history, re-arsenaled, any monetary/collectible value, etc.) Thank you, forum. https://imgur.com/a/rSMSq6h | ||
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Fighting the good fight |
It's a Colt M1911 - the original, before the A1 revision. It was rearsenaled after WW2 (late 1940s through early 1950s) at the Augusta Arsenal, where it gained the "AA" stamp in front of the slide stop as well as its current parkerized finish. It may had some parts replaced, but it appears to at least retain correct pre-A1 external parts like its slide, wide hammer, long trigger, short grip safety spur, and flat mainspring housing. A more thorough breakdown and close examination would be needed to determine if all the parts are Colt production or not. It also retains walnut grips, with many of them gaining WW2-era plastic grips during arsenal refurbishment. Colt's serial number lookup webpage places it at 1918 production (for the frame, at least), but other reliable sources place the production date in late 1913, and I tend to believe them over the Colt website. All in all, you've inherited a very nice example of a USGI M1911 that very likely served during both World Wars. It certainly has collectors value, though I haven't kept up on prices lately. Several years ago it would have been worth around $1500, so that or more today.This message has been edited. Last edited by: RogueJSK, | |||
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Thank you! Kind of a neat piece of history. I welcome any more information anyone has | |||
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Spread the Disease |
Damn. Rogue must be at least part ChatGPT; maybe not even a real person at all. ________________________________________ -- Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past me I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain. -- | |||
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A couple of years ago I was offered a Colt WWI 1911 in excellent condition. Walnut grips and I did not see any arsenal rebuild stamps. Two lanyard loop magazines were with the gun as was the GI box that matched the gun. Also with the deal was an issue pistol belt and holster. $3500 was asking price but I was too broke to take advantage of the deal. End of Earth: 2 Miles Upper Peninsula: 4 Miles | |||
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| Fighting the good fight |
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THANK YOU for posting the full serial number! A lot of people want detailed information about a historic pistol, then blur out the serial number making it hard to track down 473837 would have been in one of the following shipments originally 10/3/18 bush terminal NY 10/15/18 bush terminal NY 10/23/18 bush terminal NY 10/29/18 bush terminal NY Bush terminal was the primary port for embarkation and shipment to France in WWI That late in the game, considering the time it took to cross the Atlantic it is unlikely it saw duty in combat in WWI Prior to 1943, the pistols in service were older 1911 pistols ( not A1’s ) so it is likely it served somewhere in WWII ( almost impossible to know where) and at some point was rebuilt at Augusta arsenal | |||
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fugitive from reality |
You have a fairly rare 1911 as it survived at least one rearsenal trip and wasn't upgraded to the A1 configuration. I saw several original 1911 framed pistols when I was in the USAR in the late 1980's but only the frame was original. The rest of those pistols were all A1 parts. _____________________________ 'I'm pretty fly for a white guy'. | |||
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Hop head  |
is this from SRS data? https://chandlersfirearms.com/chesterfield-armament/ | |||
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I was just stunned to earlier see a 1912 Colt 1911 currently at auction at $8700 with 57 bids in and 9 days left. My jaw dropped. I had no idea. | |||
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Production for the Colt 1911 was VERY low prior to 1917 when the US entered WWI. I would expect that a 1911 produced in 1913 would have a 4 digit serial number because these pistols were numbered sequentially. In numbers in 1913 the US Army had 100,000 soldiers and this number includes all ranks from Private to General. IMO only about 10% of that number would be issued a handgun so you are looking at a predicted demand requirement in 1913 of perhaps 30,000 total pistols to equip the entire army at that time. In addition while the Authorization to produce was signed in 1911 it took at least a year to build a high volume production line for this pistol so actual production didn't start until 1912. To sum it all up this is a case where that 1918 production number is correct for this serial number. I've stopped counting. | |||
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| Fighting the good fight |
There are a several 1911 serial number lists out there, that attempt to correlate serial number to year and sometimes even month of production. That said, they're not 100% infallible, further evidenced by the fact that they don't even match each other. For example, one (endorsed by the National Park Service) puts M1911 production in 1912 at 17,250 followed by a further 43,149 in 1913, with a final serial for 1913 at around 60400. Another puts M1911 production in 1912 at around 20,000 followed by another ~63,000 in 1913, with a final serial for 1913 at around 83800. These both put 1918 production serials in the 200ks-400ks range. Not the 40ks. But Colt's serial number lookup seems to disagree. So it's hard to say what's correct. | |||
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| Fighting the good fight |
And here's where I facepalm. It's a 473k serial, not 47k serial. So yes, it's 1918 production. (But my point still stands that there were more than just a few thousand M1911s produced in the 1912-1913 period.  ) | |||
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Raptorman |
I have a 1913 with a 50,000 serial. It got rearsenaled in 1942 and received new wooden grips, long hammer (they kept the goddammed short grip safety) and knurled curved mainspring housing. I'd love to find a flat mainspring housing and a long grip safety and use it with the short paddle hammer I sourced (still bites like a bitch). ____________________________ Eeewwww, don't touch it! Here, poke at it with this stick. | |||
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My clawson big book which lists all the shipments of colts from 1911 to 1919 and where they went | |||
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