[Keb]

I have been trying to get a friend to sell me his old 1943 US 45 which looks to be in 85-90% condition. He got it long ago for $15 on a gov't program.

The slide is Colt Government US Army.

Looking more carefully, maybe it isn't all Colt Army. The left side frame stamp is good old FJA at the trigger guard ( not the Colt inspector ) , and it is in the range of duplicated Colt/Ithaca serial numbers... 879xxx. I do not have the audacity yet to perform a field strip.... the guy has had it for maybe 50 years and says he didn't shoot it.

Sorry, no picture, but except for a few scuffs in the ?Parkerizing, and some sweat corrosion on the grip-backstrap, and a little wear in the barrel, it isn't bad looking. There is nothing on the right side indicating a re-arsenal job.

So, where does this put it in the collector value picture? I'm tring to figure if it is a post war cobble-together, or if Colt gave engraved slides to Ithaca to put on their frames. I suppose the answer is on the frame and other branded parts.

[MMCSRET]

40 years ago when I was serving on a worn out WWII Gearing Class destroyer we had a lot of 1911A1's, Ithacas, Remington Rands, a few Colts. Every friday on the forenoon watch the duty armorer came around to the watch stations and exchanged weapons and cloth gear. Then took the belts and holster covers (white cotton) to the laundry and the 1911A1's to the armory. Disassembled the guns, put all parts in a pan of stoddard solvent and washed all the parts, dried them, lubed them and reassembled the pistols with whichever part was first at hand in the pile. No gun was ever assembled with the same parts, it was not uncommon to see all three brands mixed on the same gun. Collectebility? I don't know.

[rcmodel]

+1 to what MMCSRET just said.

The Army did the same thing. Arms room cleaning solvent tanks, and a few bored GI's that got assigned to clean guns instead of KP doing it.

I have also seen GI's pool their resources when cleaning guns in the field many times.
The one with the toothbrush does the slides & frames, the one with the cleaning rod does the barrels, and another one with oil and a rag does the oiling. Parts mixed in a steel helmet or two.

Or pictures of huge piles of M-1 Garands behind the WWII front lines, being torn apart and stocks & barreled actions stacked like cord-wood while being cleaned & repaired.

Every time I read another thread about a "correct" old GI weapon, I get a chuckle!

If it's "correct", somebody stole it before it saw much service at all!

Or the DCM / CMP put it together out of their parts bins.

Are else spent a lot of time & money rounding up parts on eBay or gunshows with the right markings on them.

Unfortunately, it does affect collector value somewhat on guns like yours.

rcmodel