Argentine Colt 1911, help

[Gunsby_Blazen]

I have an old Colt 1911. It was made for Argentina by colt and says model 1927. The handgun has matching numbers in the early nine thousands. I have tried to find information on it but don’t know that much. Someone told me that Colt made about 10,000 of them and that is about all I know. I don’t think it is a Sistema, but it says 1927 on it hence my confusion. Do Sistemas have the prancing pony? Another thing, it says on the slide that it was manufactured in Hartford CT, so I don’t think it is a Sistema.

Anyway, can someone straighten me out on all this? And, how many of these are floating around out there?

 

[VHinch]

IIRC, the Argentine Army contracted Colt to provide them with 10,000 1911's. These were delivered in 1927 and 1928. Sometime later (1945 I think) Colt licensed DGFM to produce 1911's in Argentina, which is where the subsequent eleventy billion Sistemas came from.

 

[Gunsby_Blazen]

So, what i have is most likely a true Colt, correct?
Not a Sistema?

 

[VHinch]

Correct. You have a true Colt.

Not a thing wrong with Sistemas though.

 

[Gunsby_Blazen]

Thanks a bunch,
Concerning that it has a great deal of ware, would it be advisable to have it refinished or should I just leave it be?
I don't know if it is collectible, as it has matching numbers.
Like I said, it has some heavy ware.

 

[Kman]

Don't refinish it until you have found a similar one and seen the price tag. An oily rag will be that pistols best friend.

 

[Gunsby_Blazen]

Thanks

 

[JCF]

Congratulations... I had a 1911 built on a pre-Argentine frame. Sadly, the slide was mismatched (still Colt, but mismatched). I traded it to bow4828 for a very pretty BHP. The BHP is a gorgeous gun... but I regret not hanging onto that 1911.

 

[Mad Magyar]

Nice pistol...By chance, does it have a matching # mag?

 

[Jim Watson]

Don't refinish it until you have found a similar one and seen the price tag.

That is a good way to put it. These days, everything over about 90 days old is a Significant Historical Artifact and a Valuable Collector's Item, and prices are just going out of sight. Largely because the really nice stuff has retreated into big collections and there is not much left on the open market.

There is even a thread here about the minutae of Mosin Nagant variations and why a Cossack model is desirable amongst all the rest of the Communist surplus.