What ever happened to all the service .45's when the military swithched to Berettas?

[Got_Lead?]

What happened to all the thousands of military 1911's when they switched over to Berettas?

I remember shooting combat pistol matches with my Guard unit in the 80's with .45's. The armory in my artillery unit didn't exactly specialize in accurizing these gals, they were all rack grade, and most were pretty loose.

We would get a dozen or so from the armory, then disassemble them, and select out of parts a few that were resonably tight for our matches. Later that year, I got on the State Hi-Power team. These boys were shooters. Wow, what I'd give for the pistol they issued me. That gal was built like a brick *house. Some armorer knew how to build em.

I wonder what hapened to all the service grade weapons that were replaced with the, ahem, cough, cough, superior 9mm's? It's too bad the DCM couldn't have gotten these.

I heard Clinton had them all ground up.

 

[Apocalypse-Now]

there's been a plethora of military 1911's of all makes at recent auctions i've been to. ithica, union switch, colt, remington, and even a singer. there's tons available if you want one and have the money to spend.


clinton didn't grind them up lol

 

[medalguy]

Sent to Anniston, pulverized, then run down a conveyor belt and guys looked at the remains. Anything recognizable is taken out and torch cut. Nothing gets outta there. Tax dollars hard at work.

 

[colt1911fan]

probably what they do with the un-serviceable M9s and M16s cut em up or melt em down

 

[Shadow 7D]

Actually, the DOD has a program where they sell them to local PD and Federal PD's at something like $25 each,
BUT the must be returned at the end of their service and crunched like the above^^^^

 

[MagnumDweeb]

Ole' Slick Willy went and had tons of 1911s, M1 Garands, and M1 Carbines destroyed. Him and his progressive buddies didn't want folks having cheap collectable guns for odd-strange-BS reason or another. Granted this was the administration that tried suing the gun industry into extinction. Guns that would have easily sold for $200 a piece were destroyed and had the steal harvested for less than $2 a pop. But hey Ole' Slick was enjoying the dawn(and subsequent sunset) of the tech market for which he had no hand in, so with the economy on the up and up with a surplus he could get away with anything for the most part till the Congress and House got switched back to American.

Today's day and age I'd drop $200 without looking back for a rack grade ugly to see 1911, it'd still be a shooter that I could tinker with over a lifetime. And M1 Garands and M1 Carbines would just be good plinkers and hunting rifles.

 

[Old Fuff]

Actually it was president Lyndon Johnson who ordered that all military-owned handguns that were surplus or unserviceable be distroyed. Not satisfied that the DCM could not sell them to NRA members anymore, he tried to do away with the DCM itself. Next, they put a provision in the 1968 GCA that prevented guns shipped overseas under Lend Lease from being re-imported. :banghead:

If this upsets anybody, remember to vote in the next election.

 

[wild cat mccane]

eyes rolled so hard it hurt.

 

[JROC]

I have a buddy with a Remington Rand Type 1. It's surprising how good a shooting and accurate a gun it is seeing as it's probably seen a lot of service. I believe it's either a 42 or 43 year model gun.

 

[M2 Carbine]

The $17 dollar NIB GI 1911A1 I bought from the government in 1962, delivered to my door by the postman.
I still have it.



$14.50 03A3 and 03A4.
I still have them.





How times have changed and we have gone from being citizens to being subjects of the government.

 

[Got_Lead?]

M2:

My jaw just hit the mousepad, and I'm drooling. Beautiful.

 

[Chief_Cabioch]

it appears I have ended up with one......and I love it...mine was made by Auto Ordnance.....West Hurley........like My Thomson

 

[otomik]

i was under the impression they gave a large amount to mexico. similar to israel's m16s.

 

[GLG20]

Capt Crunch also did the lion's share of M14 rifles. IIRC 80% were destroyed.

 

[broken]

i have a guns and ammo book around here somewhere from about nineteen ninety four/five that talks about a few hundred thousand old .45"s and other ex army or gi pistols/rifles destroyed in the ninetys.talked about being worn out and torch cut.

 

[1911Tuner]

"it appears I have ended up with one......and I love it...mine was made by Auto Ordnance.....West Hurley........like My Thomson"

I hate to bust your bubble, Chief...but that's not a USGI pistol.

Thompson/Auto Ordnance marketed some GI-looking pistols back in the 80s that were made almost entirely of castings. Slide...Frame...even the extractors were cast. If you were lucky enough to get one that runs, you should go play the lottery.

The WW2 contractors were as follows:

Colt
Remington Rand
Ithaca
Union Switch & Signal
Singer

 

[HisSoldier]

I saw a photo taken in Croatia or Serbia that showed tens of thousands of handguns, mostly HP's but quite a few 1911 types that were going to be crunched up, seems that glock or someone offered to "regun" the government but demanded that all other brands being replaced be destroyed. Really sad, many of the 1911 types looked brand new.

In return they gave a very good price for their plastic polymer soulless guns.

None of the guns in the bins to be destroyed were soulless. Perhaps they go to a better place.

 

[DoomGoober]

Sell the guns to the people, help the deficit!

 

[ATBackPackin]

Actually it was president Lyndon Johnson who ordered that all military-owned handguns that were surplus or unserviceable be distroyed. Not satisfied that the DCM could not sell them to NRA members anymore, he tried to do away with the DCM itself. Next, they put a provision in the 1968 GCA that prevented guns shipped overseas under Lend Lease from being re-imported. :banghead:

If this upsets anybody, remember to vote in the next election.

Old Fuff or anyone who can answer, what is DCM?

 

[ken grant]

DCM----Director of Civil Marksmanship

If you belonged to the NRA you could buy 1911's,03A3's, M1 Carbines and M1 Garands.
IIRC, 1911's were $17.00, 03A3's were $10.00, Standard Garands were ? and Match Garands were $125.00.

Carbine prices I can't recall but I think $15.00.

I bought several of the above by signing up my wife,father, father-in-law and grandfather.
I had to pick them up at the REA Express Office and everyone I got seemed to be BRANDNEW

 

[Drail]

Most of the ones I've seen were worn to the point I wouldn't give much for any of them. Those guns were used and rebuilt for many years. Nice wall hangers.

 

[ken grant]

I never received a DCM gun that was worn out and I got a few of then. Most of them looked new and shot really well.
This was in the late 50's and early 60's.
A few times we went to the depot and picked up some but most came by REA Express

 

[Chief_Cabioch]

"it appears I have ended up with one......and I love it...mine was made by Auto Ordnance.....West Hurley........like My Thomson"

I hate to bust your bubble, Chief...but that's not a USGI pistol.

Thompson/Auto Ordnance marketed some GI-looking pistols back in the 80s that were made almost entirely of castings. Slide...Frame...even the extractors were cast. If you were lucky enough to get one that runs, you should go play the lottery.

The WW2 contractors were as follows:

Colt
Remington Rand
Ithaca
Union Switch & Signal
Singer
__________________

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well it may or may not be original, but for your information it has shot 3000+ rounds with no issues.

 

[EMC45]

I know a lot of the 1911s, M1s and M14s went to Crane Indiana to be destroyed. I was in the Armory When they were shipping out boxes to go to Crane. Also talked to an Armory troop and he was telling me about the match grade .45s and M1s (USN/USMC Marksmanship Teams) that went to Crane to be cut in half. Made me sick to my stomach. Had a cousin who was career Coast Guard and he witnessed old .45s being torch cut and thrown over board when they went to the Beretta 9MM. Fraud, waste and abuse...........

 

[Onmilo]

There was something like 3 million 1911A1 pistols made during WW2.
About 380,000 were still in servicable condition when I left the Army in the mid 80s and they were dispersed through all Services.
Most were very well used and in need of replacement by that time which is why the M9 Beretta was adopted.
I did get to a Special Operations Arms Room that did contain several 1911A1 pistols still brand new in the original containers however.

I still wonder what did happen to those guns, be a shame if they were torched.