Old 1911 Question

[fatNINJA]

Now I don't want to turn THR into a apprasel service but I just picked up an old 1911 .45. It looks pretty good, albit a little worn finish wise. Well I got curious so I looked into it and it seems that it was made in 1947! Hell I just thought it was maybe 20 years of old or something.

So basically I'm just cuious if anyone knows where I could get a cursioury value check of it. I don't really have any money to spend or I just pay for some one to check it out. FYI the finish looks to be the original with minor rust around the grips. There are no cracks in the frame or slide as far as I can see. It functions fine although the magazine kind of sticks. The serial number is #C2314XX.

I can provide a picture if desired, although I'll need to hunt down my camera.

 

[1911Tuner]

Old Colt

Howdy and welcome aboard.

I don't have my number list handy, but if you're correct on the date of manufacture, you've got a post-war commercial Colt pistol. The last of the
government contract pistols was produced sometime in 1945, except for a
few possible overruns that were shipped after the contract ran out.

I don't know the value...but some of our other members surely do. Old Fuff,
Jim Keenan or Dana Kamm will be along shortly to try to buy..er... to give you an idea of what the gun is worth..

Gentlemen...The bidding starts at noon!

 

[Old Fuff]

Well your gun was indeed made in 1947. The finish wear may detract from the value a bit, but I suspect you can find some folks out there who will offer $700.00 or better, (maybe much better). It's hard to be more exact because the appearence does make a difference. But you do have a 100% all-steel gun except for the grips, and you can hardly find those these days. I would say you were exceptionally lucky.

Edited to add: Back out the grip screws one at a time, and then check to see if the magazine still sticks. If so, it's an easy problem to correct.

 

[fatNINJA]

Well I managed to find my camera. It's only a 1.2 mega pixel so the image quality isn't great. After a good scrubbing I managed to find that most of wear seems to be consistant to 'holster wear'. Most of the wear is upon the edges of the pistol.

I tried out your suggestion and it didn't really help. It just seems that the magazine well is too tight for the magazine. Or perhaps the magazine is simply out of spec.

If anyone happens to know someone that would like to buy or trade something for this firearm then PM me. I personally am not much of a collector so I would like to see her in the hands of someone that would take care well.

 

[Old Fuff]

Start a new thread in the Trading Post/Buy-Sell-Trade Handguns forum, titled "1947; Colt 1911 .45 for sale" and see what happens.