Does anyone know at which point US miitary use of the M-1911A-1 exceeded stocks of the older M-1911?

I know that some of the revised guns were bought in the 1920's, but not a huge quantity. And the Navy ordered 10,000 guns in 1939.

When did orders for the 1911A-1 start to come in large quantity? I'm guessing that it was before Pearl Harbor, but that most .45's on hand until 1943 were probably 1911's.

What about Parkerized finishes? I think I read they date to about summer of 1941. (Earlier millitary .45's were blued.)

Thanks.

My understanding is that all 1911s in circulation at the time of the 1924 upgrades were either culled from service and modified or had the parts swapped out when returned to an arsenal for rebuilding. As near as I can tell the parkerizing didn't begin until sometime in the early- to mid-1930s.

Of course there would be variables. Stateside issue would be the affected the quickest, with outlying posts (say, the Philippines) having a considerable amount of lag; I have a number of pictures of the pre-war/early days (most of them in storage) showing certain weapons that appear to still wear a blued finish. Mostly handguns and Thompson submachine guns, but the occasional BAR and Springfield.

But getting back to your question...I'm not certain how many 'new' 1911s were ordered with the -A1 improvements, though it seems that a fair number of older models were upgraded. A friend of mine has one such animal, that being a 1911 frame sans stock cutouts, parkerized, and with the later arched mainspring housing, plastic grips, and short trigger.

**CONJECTURE FOLLOWS**

Therefore, I believe it's safe to say that even in order numbers are small for the improved models, it's entirely likely that the vast majority of 1911-type pistols in service by the start of the war were either factory -A1s or older frames arsenal rebuilt to the new specification.

Of course it's difficult to say things with any certainty because - without fail - there pops up a picture of a blued World War I-era 1911 issued to somebody's grandpa in Korea, or pinched out or an ordnance locker in Viet Nam, or spotted in an armory before somebody left for Kuwait.

But I stick with my above guesstimate that the majority were either of the newer type or modified to such within a few years of the introduction of the 1911A1, and to the certainty that there's someone here on the board more knowledgeable than myself if I should be wrong.

Just out of idle curiosity...this for a project, or a general-interest item?