Old Colt 1911, the frame anyway

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US property marked 1911, the serial number 45,120 dates the frame to 1913.

1911/1911A1 Production Numbers

Not expert enough to know if the slide is original to the frame, there are however, individuals who do. Is that the early grip tang?, or the A1 version? The safety is the old safety. Long, early type trigger. Later arched mainspring housing. The sights appear to be the military sights, but those tiny sights went all the way through WW2. Might call them, snag free!

this one was represented as all original WW1

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An all original WW1 is worth thousands!

While there is nothing wrong with an old 1911, do be aware those early pistols were made of plain carbon steels, and unheat treated. So, no +P with that frame and pay attention to frame peening issues. When I was shooting IPSC in the 1980's, the absolute fastest shooter in the area was using a nickle plated WW1 Colt 1911. And the frame had cracked just above the slide release cut, but otherwise it was going good. He shot a lot of ammunition through the thing, but still, I would be gentle with an older pistol. Standard pressure or less.
 
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Pelo801

As NIGHTLORD40K pointed out, your "new to you" gun has a Colt Government slide (post WWII commercial), a newer mainspring housing, and grip safety. The serial number of the frame puts it as being made by Colt for the U.S. Army in 1913. Other than that as long as everything checks out okay, you should be good to go with your 1911.
 
tark
Modifying a gun in that condition is a crime against humanity.

Yeah but the OP didn't modify the Colt; the damage had already been done somewhere down the line! He was just helping out a fellow co-worker who was trying to raise some capital by selling off some of his guns.

At least it has a Colt frame and a Colt slide to go with it!
 
tark


Yeah but the OP didn't modify the Colt; the damage had already been done somewhere down the line! He was just helping out a fellow co-worker who was trying to raise some capital by selling off some of his guns.

At least it has a Colt frame and a Colt slide to go with it!
Understood. And I'm not at all against modifying a 1911, I spent 21 years doing exactly that for Les. But I am dead set against altering any high conditioned all original Milsurp. Or an extremely rare one. A Singer 1911A1 in NRA garbage condition with no finish remaining would still be worth thousands, just because it is a Singer. They only made 500.
 
And the frame had cracked just above the slide release cut, but otherwise it was going good.
I saw quite a few of those while working, from all kinds of different manufacturers. It seems to be the only crack on a 1911 frame than can be ignored.
 
Receiver is 1913 military 1911, slide stop is period, hammer and thumb safety may be. Grips are 1911 style, with added shield. Mainspring housing and grip safety are 1911A1,

Slide is EITHER 1950s commercial OR 1950s military replacement that has been polished and blued along with the receiver. The markings are the same, just that the government replacements were Parkerized.
 
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Everyone can imagine, post WW2 there were a lot of old obsolete pistols on the market, but new Colts were expensive, and hard to get. WW1 was only 40 years before. I remember the Vietnam war, and that was 60 years ago! And that seems recent! So post WW2 someone cobbled together a working 1911, probably using surplus GI parts. And that was common. There were lots of men who had worked as Armorer's and they could build up a 1911 very reasonably.

The All Guard Bullseye Pistol Team has military WW2 1911's on the firing line.

MNJ3781.jpg

Dan Morgan, the All Guard Team Captain, also happens to be a gunsmith and he has rebuilt out of Government inventory, a bunch of military 1911's for Bullseye Pistol shooting. I talked to Mr Morgan, and he has wear criteria on frame rails. Can't rebuild a frame indefinitely.

A shooting Bud of mine, a Vietnam Veteran, he had one of his 60's Bullseye Pistols at the range, it was a customized Colt, with a C after the serial number. Colt commercial 1911's were expensive and hard to find.

Today, someone with a 1913 frame would be looking for parts to restore the thing to an all original pre WW1 configuration. And if they could, it would be worth a big chunk of money.
 
I appreciate all the insightful and informative responses. Like mentioned, I was just trying to help a guy out and get a nice pistol as well. I knew it was cobbled together from the start but I think it's still nice looking.
 
US property marked 1911, the serial number 45,120 dates the frame to 1913.

1911/1911A1 Production Numbers

Not expert enough to know if the slide is original to the frame, there are however, individuals who do. Is that the early grip tang?, or the A1 version? The safety is the old safety. Long, early type trigger. Later arched mainspring housing. The sights appear to be the military sights, but those tiny sights went all the way through WW2. Might call them, snag free!

this one was represented as all original WW1

View attachment 1056069

View attachment 1056070

An all original WW1 is worth thousands!

While there is nothing wrong with an old 1911, do be aware those early pistols were made of plain carbon steels, and unheat treated. So, no +P with that frame and pay attention to frame peening issues. When I was shooting IPSC in the 1980's, the absolute fastest shooter in the area was using a nickle plated WW1 Colt 1911. And the frame had cracked just above the slide release cut, but otherwise it was going good. He shot a lot of ammunition through the thing, but still, I would be gentle with an older pistol. Standard pressure or less.
Looks like a high polished repop.
 
I appreciate all the insightful and informative responses. Like mentioned, I was just trying to help a guy out and get a nice pistol as well. I knew it was cobbled together from the start but I think it's still nice looking.

It is nice looking. I do love the history behind objects, and now you can share the story with your friends. Having a 1913 frame is neat.
 
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