I came across a strange piece in a country store near me today. I've known the owner for a while, and dropped in to bring him a jar of chow-chow (a sort of relish for you northern types 
), and he showed me a 1911 he had just been given.
There were a couple things that struck me as really, really strange about it. It was a standard government model, had two standard magazines with it, and the barrel was plugged. He said it was a training model designed to teach troops how to take them down and handle them. The grip safety, hammer, and frame safety were functional. He allowed me to take it down and it looked identical internally to a standard 1911.
What was really odd about it was it had FN markings on it, the grips, and the box it was in. As far as I know FN never made a 1911, and I can't find any information on a training gun of this type (standard magazines, no colors, etc.)
I'll see if he'll let me take some pictures, but has anybody ever heard of anything like this?
Thanks, guys!
), and he showed me a 1911 he had just been given.There were a couple things that struck me as really, really strange about it. It was a standard government model, had two standard magazines with it, and the barrel was plugged. He said it was a training model designed to teach troops how to take them down and handle them. The grip safety, hammer, and frame safety were functional. He allowed me to take it down and it looked identical internally to a standard 1911.
What was really odd about it was it had FN markings on it, the grips, and the box it was in. As far as I know FN never made a 1911, and I can't find any information on a training gun of this type (standard magazines, no colors, etc.)
I'll see if he'll let me take some pictures, but has anybody ever heard of anything like this?
Thanks, guys!
