An Old Warrior Finds a Home (A little gun show story)
My shootin' buddy and I were talkin' Friday...before I went to the gun show this weekend.
We were talking about my penchant for buying old, kinda beat up guns that I didn't really need, that I wasn't going to do anything with. And I'll admit, I'm prone to do that. There's just something about a gun with a nice patina, maybe even some scratches, and maybe even some tiny rust spots that appeals to me...imperfect guns. I'm imperfect and kinda beat up now, myself, so maybe that's why, I don't know.
I did go to the gun show, with no intentions of buying anything...never mind the wad of cash I withdrew from the bank on Friday to take with me.
Maybe I'll do a report on the show itself in another post, but suffice it to say, the place was jammed and the dime-a-dozen guns were selling at a steady rate.
I found several really nice G.I. 1911A1s...Remington Rands, Ithacas, and even one Remington-UMC (it sold really quick). Looked at a Remington Rand and a super-nice Ithaca, but I have one of those.
As I was walking out the door to another building, here was this old Colt just laying in a case, no plastic tie through the action, and a handwritten index card with the price on it.
I looked and looked and looked at that gun. Went back several times. But I'd also found a Remington Model 11...one with the game scenes on it, but which the military had bought for the war. It was all correct, numbers, markings, all that stuff...flaming bomb and so on. So I was stuck. Couldn't afford both of 'em. So I ended up leaving without either one. Just could not make up my mind.
Bringing this little story to a close here, I kept thinking about that Colt. Now, I never go to a gun show two days in a row. Never. Just don't do it.
But I went back today. Wandered around. Actually traded a pistol I'd had for sale on the forum here for a gun I liked, but that's another story.
Went back to the Colt. Sat there behind the guy's table, fooling with it. He told me his out-the-door price. I made a counter offer. He declined. I gave in, paid his price. I knew I was going to. My counter offer was just gun show bargaining B.S. He knew it and so did I.
So here a few photographs of the pistol. A 1918 Colt. United States Property. Got Major John M. Gilbert's inspection stamp on it above the magazine release. It's hard to see in these photos. As near as the vendor could find out, this one shipped in April of 1918, giving it plenty of time to make it over to Europe before November 11 of that year. I don't know that it did, but it's nice to think it did. The magazines in the photo are WWII mags I have for my other .45s. The one in the pistol appears to be original to the pistol, but hard to tell, really. I'll take the pistol to the range one day this week.
So I don't know where the old pistol has been over its lifespan, but it's come home to me now. No more laying around on a table gettin' dry fired and cycled and pawed over by gun show patrons.
This is actually my first vintage Colt 1911. It's kinda beat up looking, isn't it? Do I care? What would your first guess be?
EDIT: Shortly after posting this, I received a note from Lee Barner, a forum member who knows a thing or two about 1911s.
I gave Lee the serial number of my pistol (it isn't all that legible in the photo), and a bit later, Lee sent me another message.
He informs me that my old Colt actually shipped on February 6, 1918...one of 4,000 shipped to Springfield Armory.
Now how about that! A piece of the puzzle falls into place, thanks to the knowledge and interest of a fellow forum member, proving once again that there are some really nice folks here.
Nice find and I have gone back to gun shows on the 2nd day, have found some nice bargains.
FYI, I know you have 1911's. A friend of mine does too. He bought a Commercial Colt 1911 circa 1920. It was nice but had been shot and used.
I went by his rural home a few days later, he just came in from shooting his new prize. As I was looking it over I noticed the recoil spring was so weak a 22 LR may have cycled it. We checked but did not see any damage to the frame. I demanded he park it until he put in a new one and he agreed.
Cleaning and checking for a cracked frame upfront is nice but on the old guys also check the spring.
You may already know this, just trying to help.
Hope it shoots well for you. And yea I do like 1911's.
How do you make those pics in an all white background?
Thanks.
The white background? It's fairly simple, really. It's all in the lighting. And of course having the purest white you can find for the background material. I do not use cloth of any kind for stuff like this.
For table top stuff like this, I use two or three big pieces of white foamcore, sometimes just two. It's the stuff people mount photos on before framing. I light it with two small but powerful studio lights, and throw enough light on it to just about totally blow out the background without making too much glare on the gun.
Other people use a light box to get the same effect. I do it this way because it doesn't limit the angles from which I can shoot.
You just have to experiment with the light and camera settings until you get it the way you want it. I make a lot of mistakes.
Need a photographer to screw up a photo shoot for you? I'm your huckleberry.
Nice find and I have gone back to gun shows on the 2nd day, have found some nice bargains.
FYI, I know you have 1911's. A friend of mine does too. He bought a Commercial Colt 1911 circa 1920. It was nice but had been shot and used.
I went by his rural home a few days later, he just came in from shooting his new prize. As I was looking it over I noticed the recoil spring was so weak a 22 LR may have cycled it. We checked but did not see any damage to the frame. I demanded he park it until he put in a new one and he agreed.
Cleaning and checking for a cracked frame upfront is nice but on the old guys also check the spring.
You may already know this, just trying to help.
Hope it shoots well for you. And yea I do like 1911's.
Thank you for the advice! I'm certainly no 1911 guru like others on this forum, so tips are always appreciated. I check the gun out as best I know how. Actually more concerned about almost-invisible cracks in the slide than about ones in the frame. Especially around the slide stop notches. I'll know more about this one after a trip to the range. Was a nasty day here today and I didn't feel like getting out in it.
Thank you for the advice! I'm certainly no 1911 guru like others on this forum, so tips are always appreciated. I check the gun out as best I know how. Actually more concerned about almost-invisible cracks in the slide than about ones in the frame. Especially around the slide stop notches. I'll know more about this one after a trip to the range. Was a nasty day here today and I didn't feel like getting out in it.
Sorry, actually slide was what I was thinking and typed frame.
A while back I bought a 1966 Colt National Match. I know they have a weaker spring for lighter match ammo. I looked it over as best as possible before I bought it. The Slide on the NM also has some machined out areas that make it more prone to crack.
I put an 18# spring in it so I can theoretically shoot 230 gr hardball safely. 185 gr match ammo also so far has worked well.
Neat gun. I'm going back to my LGS this week to look at a Remington Rand WWII model. He had $1500 on it. I figure I can get it around $1250. Maybe it will be gone and I will save some money. I kind of want it though.
Nice gun. Any idea what Springfield armory did with the guns?
Absolutely no idea. The U.S. entered WWI on April 6, 1917. My pistol went to the armory in February of 1918, I guess. By May of 1918, there were over one million U. S. troops stationed in France, most of them on the front lines.
I think it's reasonable to believe that mine went to Europe. If so, it'd be even more interesting to me to know what happened to it after the war. Who brought it back? Where did it go? How did it end up here...with me? Things like that intrigue me, and I'm sure I'll never know the answers. Except for that last part, of course...it ended up here with me because I bought it from a guy at a gun show.
Neat gun. I'm going back to my LGS this week to look at a Remington Rand WWII model. He had $1500 on it. I figure I can get it around $1250. Maybe it will be gone and I will save some money. I kind of want it though.
Hope you get it...and if you can get it for only $1250, so much the better. I have a 1943 Remington Rand and love it.
My first 1911 was a Remington Rand. It cost me $750 close to 18 years ago. At the time it was the most I'd ever paid for a gun. Couldn't find a WWII Colt for near that price . I really like the Rand.
My first 1911 was a Remington Rand. It cost me $750 close to 18 years ago. At the time it was the most I'd ever paid for a gun. Couldn't find a WWII Colt for near that price . I really like the Rand.
Do you still have it? I really can't think of anything not to like about the old Remington Rands.
This 72-year-old Remington Rand shoots as good as my 3-year-old Colt Series 70.
An Old Warrior Finds a Home (A little gun show story)
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