Apparently I came into two handguns and was given a shotgun yesterday. My sisters were visiting the wife of our recently deceased uncle. My uncle had an old Remington Model 11 16 Gauge bought new I would guess mid 1930s. Awhile back his wife's dad passed away and his wife's brother took a few long guns but my uncle ended up with two handguns. Nobody wanted to take them so my uncle just put them up. The first appears to be a new in box unfired Auto Ordinance M1911A1 and he was in his 80s when he bought it. Nobody has a clue why. The second gun was in a soft case inside an ammo can. My sister took a few pictures and read me some of the writing and from her full size images I was able to make a few things out, including the 5 digit serial number.
The left side of the slide is the usual Colt name and patent info. The right side is marked Model Of 1911 U.S. Army. The serial range is 588XX and if I read this right the is an original 1911 manufactured around 1913 and pre A1.
This is what my sister sent me:
View attachment 929165
Now obviously Colt did not make Army Issue 1911 guns with a rubber Pachmeyer wrap around grip but despite wear the gun should clean up nicely and I'll put walnut diamond grips on it. I think at this point I have a Colt 1911 circa 1913. I do collect the Colt 1911 Series 70 guns but never had an animal like this one. This may be a pre WWI gun if I am reading things right. Time to take a ride down and visit my sister.
Maybe this weekend if the weather stays nice I'll ride the bike down.
Ron