G.I. 1911's which have been refurbished.

[jondar]

A few weeks ago I started a thread regarding a mismatched 1911 I saw at a gun show. Got a lot of good answers, mainly owing the mismatching to the refurbishing at Govt. arsenals of the pistols after becoming worn. I think it was Mr. Fuss or Mr. Tuner who gave the date of manufacture of the pistol I now have as Sept-Oct, 1918, and indicated that due to the high demand for sidearms at that time it was probably immediately shipped to France at once after manufacture. Having said that, my question is how could I recognize if my pistol has been overhauled. It hasn't been Parkerized, still blue (not sure if original or not) and there are no stampings anywhere that indicate that it was. The trigger and manual safety lever and barrell bushing are of a darker blue than the rest of the gun. The barrell appears original with the HP mark. The barrell interior appears somewhat darkened like it had been used with mercuric primers. Is there somewhere in particular to look for markings which would indicate arsenal overhaul.? I know nothing of the previous history of the gun.

 

[Dean Taylor]

I suspect your GI 1911 has been worked on. I have a 1914 US Army GI that I have had as a shooter for over 50 years. It was given to me at age 14 by a family friend who got it in WWI. The blue at that time matched on all the parts. I have put over 150,000 rounds through it and it is no longer stock needless to say. It still runs fine and the original extractor still works fine. It is no longer a primary shooter but has great sentimental value to me. The old GI Colts are fine 1911s.

Dean
[email protected]
410-952-7848

 

[Old Fuff]

As I cannot examine the pistol, the following is mostly speculation.

The “HP” marking on the barrel was used on USGI guns at Colt’s between serial numbers 377,000 to 710,000 (late 1918 – early 1919). This would fit the time period when the pistol was made. While such a barrel could have been put in the pistol at any time during or after 1918, I tend to think that the odds favor it as being original to the gun.

At Colt, a different process was used to blue the hammer, safety lock (manual safety), slide lock and trigger then the balance of the gun. Without doing more research I’m not sure about the barrel bushing. In any case, Parkerizing wasn’t commonly used until the early years of World War Two, but by 1943 it was used exclusively, and then thereafter. Pistols, with very few exceptions, that were refinished after World War Two were always Parkerized. On the other hand those that were refinished prior to World War Two were usually blued. Before the war only Springfield Armory was doing Parkerizing, and this was on 1903 rifles.

Military guns were not highly polished, but rather wire-brushed for a sort of matt look. Therefore a high polish/bright blue on a USGI pistol strongly suggests a civilian refinish. Of course there are exceptions to any rule, but very few to this one.