Colt 1911, Goverment issue

[jmaubin]

A colt model 1911, army issue, was offered to me "to buy", I checked the serial # and found that it was made in 1913 and yes it was made buy Colt, not springfield. The question is it legal or illegal to own a Colt stamped with "United States Property"? I was told that it had been taken home by a solider when he was got out of the army after WW1.
Does the age of the pistol and how long ago this happened have and bearing in this matter?
I would really like to buy it but only if it were ok to do so.

 

[TiredOleMan]

Dont military issue Garands sold to the public have the same stamp ??

 

[kingpin008]

Believe it or not, there was once a time when you could buy surplus GI 1911's through the mail. I'm betting one or two of those might have had "United States Property" still stamped on them somewhere.

Buy the gun, and enjoy it.

 

[Keb]

(almost) All ex Military 1911's have that stamp.

 

[TexasRifleman]

Many things marked "US Property" are sold as surplus. Guns, tools, aircraft, cars, etc.

Nothing special about it.

Unless it's something that's current issue I wouldn't worry. Current issue gear I'd want the seller to prove it was sold as surplus but other than that I wouldn't give it a second thought.

 

[Rio Laxas]

I have a sporterized Lee Enfield with the same markings that my grandfather bought after WW2. I did have a police officer think that it was stolen after she saw the inscription during a traffic stop (case was in the back seat), but she ran it through the stolen gun database and it came back clean, so what could she do?

 

[rcmodel]

No, it is not illegal to own one marked "United States Property".

Every GI 1911 ever made had the same stamp on it, and there are a gazillion of them in circulation now.

rc

 

[HKUSP45C]

Heck, I own an Ithaca 1911 marked "Property of the US Government"

It's a sweet shooter.

 

[Oro]

The only caveat about these guns is that many were, ahem, "liberated prematurely" from government service after WWI and WWII. If anyone looks at one of these, make sure the s/n is still in place on the right side. Many folks filed off the "US Property" mark of the filed off the S/N. The op's clearly has one, so no worries, but if you see these without a s/n, you need to worry and not buy it. This is a big crime to the ATF. The penalties are levied on the possessor, not the person who originally did it.