First, I appreciate your patience with us "new" to collecting. I'm looking at a pistol I wuld like to buy, but want to make sure what I'm getting. It is a Colt 1911. According to the serial number, using the book I have, it would have been made in 1918. It has Property of United States Army -- but only on the slide. It doesn't have it on the receiver. Would that indicate that all the parts are not original? If so, that would affect the price, right? Againk, appreciate your help. George

George: In short, yes that would indicate that a Govt. slide has been fitted to a commercial frame. ........ Big Cholla

If it is a genuine Colt 1911 from 1918, it should say "United States Property" on the left side of the frame, forward of the triggerguard. If that is not there, than somebody removed it at some point, which was common. If the frame were a commercial frame, I believe that the serial number would start with a "C." If the U.S. property mark has been removed and the gun re-blued, than that would definitely hurt the value of the pistol. Non-correct parts for the vintage, also hurts the value. It is hard to find a all correct, nothing replaced WWI vintage 1911, as they have all been used by the military, and repaired over the years. The military did not keep the parts of a particular gun together.

Jared

1911 collector here. Most 1918-produced pistols were for military contracts and the frame should have the United States Property marking. All 1911 pistols produced in that era were marked on the slide Model 1911 U.S. Army (except for a few made on Navy contracts). Commercial production pistols would have a C prefix to the serial number.

Stocks of M1911 pistols remained in military inventories until well after WW2. Most were "re-arsenaled", sent to a military depot for overhaul, and those will seldom have all original parts and many M1911A1 parts were used during the rebuilds.

If you want to send photos of all markings to me (use the website contact page) I will reply with better comments as to what you actually have.

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Life of the party until 8:00PM

The collection of the Military 1911 & 1911A1 has become very specialized and expensive. Determining authenticity is an art.

While I think the S&W Forum is the best general forum on firearms, the specialists in Mil 1911s mostly hang-out elsewhere. There are two that I know about: 1911forum.net and m1911.org. I could not begin to tell you which is best.

I do know that the difference in price between a “mixmaster” and an “all original” Military 1911 or 1911A1 is very high, and that most surviving pistols are indeed “mixmasters” that is they have been rebuilt many times.
The state of the collectors market is such that you are unlikely to find an all original pistol unless a relative has been keeping it in a hat box for a very long time.

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Ipsis Rebus Dictantitbus

I sure appreciate the input. That has helped me a lot. If I end up buying the gun, I'll post pictures. George

Pretty much my thoughts on the subject. It is a artform to know all the details of how these guns shipped from the various manufacturers. Tanker guns, officers guns, etc...didn't always make their way through to the armorers where the mixmaster process would take place.

Finding one that is 100 percent original is a chore. Generally they are in better condition....

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Non gratum anus rodentum

All commercial Colt 1911s had a C prefix in the serial number

Good luck with your Colt collecting.

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