A NIB Colt 1911 Custom Shop Reproduction

American1776 · Oct 17, 2021

Just acquired a NIB Colt 1911 Custom Shop 1911 (level III model).

It’s immaculate in every way. Wax paper wrapped magazine and pistol, booklets from the early 20th century.

Amazing piece of art. Anyone know more about these?

Enjoy the pics.

VaTom · Oct 17, 2021

I have the 1942 1911A1 reproduction from the custom shop. The run of 1911A1's was around 2,500 units in 2001-2002. Same type of packaging set-up. Blue box with the small reproduction military box inside, etc. The 1911A1 is parkerized. Don't think they sold that well and price was high for the time.

I bought mine off the big auction site in 2008 and got it very reasonable. It had some scratches on the frame which the owner disclosed which lowered the collectability. The parkerized finish is not as good as original ones. I think I paid $950. Every once a while you will see the NIB ones listed on auction sites. The last time I saw one a couple of years ago the buy now price was $1500+. Probably much high now.

I shoot mine instead of my all original 1943 Ithaca. Its is a great shooter. Here is a picture.

American1776 · Oct 17, 2021

VaTom said:
I have the 1942 1911A1 reproduction from the custom shop. The run of 1911A1's was around 2,500 units in 2001-2002. Same type of packaging set-up. Blue box with the small reproduction military box inside, etc. The 1911A1 is parkerized. Don't think they sold that well and price was high for the time.

I bought mine off the big auction site in 2008 and got it very reasonable. It had some scratches on the frame which the owner disclosed which lowered the collectability. The parkerized finish is not as good as original ones. I think I paid $950. Every once a while you will see the NIB ones listed on auction sites. The last time I saw one a couple of years ago the buy now price was $1500+. Probably much high now.

I shoot mine instead of my all original 1943 Ithaca. Its is a great shooter. Here is a picture.

That's very nice! I've always been a fan of the arched MSH.
It's true that the prices of these, in New condition, are really sky high. (I paid under 2k for this one, but it was well over 1,500).

When you think about, you're getting a Colt custom shop gun with historical significance. Anything under $2,000 is reasonable, for what you get.

VaTom · Oct 17, 2021

From my research after I bought mine, I read where that when the reproduction 1911A1 came out in 2002 the list price was $1200. Quite high at the time. Don't know how Colt determined the number to make. Sure that held back the demand. I agree that it is still a Colt and a custom shop at that.

ladder13 · Oct 17, 2021

Got one when they first came out. I wanted the Carbona Blue but settled. It’s unfired.

BTW, there was a recall on these guns but I cannot remember for what, it was minor. If need be I can search my papers for the particulars.

American1776 · Oct 17, 2021

ladder13 said:
Got one when they first came out. I wanted the Carbona Blue but settled. It’s unfired.

BTW, there was a recall on these guns but I cannot remember for what, it was minor. If need be I can search my papers for the particulars.

Thanks for posting your beauty!

As for the recall: I just did a search. The recall is not for my particular manufacturer number, which is 01911ANV (Anniversary).

The 1918 and WWII repro’s do fall under the recall.

Thanks for the heads up!

ladder13 · Oct 17, 2021

American1776 said:
Thanks for posting your beauty!

As for the recall: I just did a search. The recall is not for my particular manufacturer number, which is 01911ANV (Anniversary).

The 1918 and WWII repro’s do fall under the recall.

Thanks for the heads up!

You are correct!

VaTom · Oct 17, 2021

My WWII reproduction serial # WMK15XX does not fall under the recall according to a search I just did. Appears that none of the WWII reproduction 1911a1 fall under it.

Thanks for the information.

Some more show and tell pictures. Second picture from top down:

1943 Ithaca 1911A1, Colt 1942 1911A1 Reproduction, S&W 1917 Commercial. Got to love the 45ACP!

.357magger · Oct 19, 2021

Have the "1942" Colt repro.

Mine is not a safe queen.

LOTS of fun to shoot.

VaTom · Oct 19, 2021

.357magger said:
Have the "1942" Colt repro.

Mine is not a safe queen.

LOTS of fun to shoot.

Is yours the WK serial # or the WMK serial #? If I am correct the first 1,500 were WK then the next 1250 were WMK. The production run was supposed to be 4.000 units but I understand they stopped before that number. I have a copy of a review of these from a shooting website written by D. Kamm. May wish to google it.

I shoot mine also. One negative is that the roll marks (Colt Logo,etc.) on the slide aren't very deep and are thinner than original 1942. The trigger and mainspring housing are also different than an original 1942 as on the original they were checkered during that year. Serrated misprint housing on Colts didn't come until 1944.:As you can see from my photos the parkerization on mine is darker than yours.

Trying to reproduce a pistol exactly as the original made in 1942 would be difficult. I believe they sold new for $1,000 which at the time you could still get an original WWII 1911A1. May have hurt sales. Anyway I enjoy mine and feel fortunate to have one!!!

DWalt · Oct 19, 2021

I remember when the WWI commemoratives came out in the late 60s. They were a tough sell, as it wasn't too difficult to get the real thing cheaper back then. The distributors were offering big discounts to get rid of them. I wish I had bought several.

zzclancy · Oct 19, 2021

Can't go wrong on these 1911s.

You know the 9mm kills the body but the 45acp kills the soul.

Don't go there. No caliber wars.

Ruger 13 · Oct 19, 2021

Very nice Colt!

6string · Oct 19, 2021

I passed!

I remember looking at a couple of those WWI 1911 "reissues" when these were initally floating about. This was somewhere between 10-20 yrs ago. They were about $900.
The originals were nicely polished and blued. These reissues have very ugly displaced metal from the roll marking, while the metal prep work looks like it was done with a coarse wire brush.
How is this a Custom Shop offering?

Like the company itself, a pitiful shadow of it's own past.

VaTom · Oct 19, 2021

Correction of my post #10 regarding Serial Numbers of the WWII Colt 1911A1 reproductions. I checked my files and notes from when I bought mine. The WWII 1911A1 reproductions had two sets of serial numbers.

WK prefix from WK01000-WK01948 (949)

WMK prefix from WMK01000-WMK02525 (1526)

Only 2,475 of the WWII 1911A1 reproduction were made by Colt Custom Shop. In an article I read the intended production was supposed to be 4,000. Suppose the buyers market didn't meet expectations.

chief38 · Oct 26, 2021

Colt makes GREAT 1911's and all of my 1911's are Colt's. Not saying there aren't other great manufacturers but I have always had terrific luck and experience with Colt's.

This was part of a special "throw back" run somewhere about 20 years ago.

John F. · Oct 28, 2021

The WW1 repros came out in carbona blue, in the first run. As I recall, it was limited to 3000 pistols. I read that Colt had the carbona blue done by a restoration shop, as they don't have equipment for that finish now. These sold well and were considered more accurate as repros than the WW2 1911A1 repros (markings internally, etc.)

In looking at several of them at the time they were on the market, I noticed 2-3 that had a color mismatch between slide and frame. Others
were perfect. Friends I've known who shot them reported they were very accurate and reliable.

They then did a second run of them, this time with rougher finish and black oxide, meant to mimic the 1918 "Black Army's" in which the polish was lowered and the finish not as good. This kept them from exceeding the promised limited production numbers of the original Carbona blue first run.

The chief complaint on these was that Colt didn't polish the slide flats after stamping to clean up the "puddled" metal from stamping the markings,
as was done on the originals. Several years ago, I saw one NIB sell for
$1600. No telling what a good, NIB Carbona Blue repro in the box with all accessories would sell for now, but I have a feeling they will continue to rise.

All the best,
John

A NIB Colt 1911 Custom Shop Reproduction

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