1943 Colt M1911A1 - Got One, Finally!

[Hill536]

FWIW Checking the Springfield Research Data base does nut turn up any info on your ser no. But others in the range of yours appeared to be first issued in December 1943.

Here’s a copy of the surrounding numbers. A lot went to the OSS and US Navy.

877877 120643 OSS SSO WASHINGTON
877954 121543 OSS SSO WASHINGTON
877984 120643 OSS SSO WASHINGTON
878014 120643 OSS SSO WASHINGTON
878016 120643 OSS SSO WASHINGTON
878022 120643 OSS SSO WASHINGTON
878059 120643 OSS SSO WASHINGTON
878164 061244 OSS SSO WASHINGTON
878164 040345 OSS CASERTA
878248 010947 6TH ARMY (RECOVERED)
878259 45 OSS CBI
878299 022546 9TH SERVICE CMD
878707 120643 OSS SSO WASHINGTON
878772 090444 USS MISSION BAY
878870 120643 OSS SSO WASHINGTON
878922 120643 OSS SSO WASHINGTON
879169 45 OSS CBI
879277 090444 USS MISSION BAY
880489 062345 FT G G MEADE

 

[NavySCPO]

I see it's s/n 879586. If you are persistent and lucky you can find an Ithaca bearing that number.

Here is a page from Charles W. Clawson's monumental work:

I have Colt #944350.
According to Clawson, there is also a Remington Rand bearing that number. I haven't found it.

If you have a close look at mine, you will see it came off the line before the "crossed cannons" final inspection ordnance mark came into use. Clawson says that mark was adopted in October 1942 and appears on Colt pistols "after roughly serial number 830000." (See page 93.) Like other manufacturers, the serial numbers weren't all produced in order. Mine is earlier than the initial use of that stamp, even though it is a higher number than Clawson's "rough" cutoff.

Yours is a very nice find!

Curly

Thanks Curly, that one of yours is a beauty, looks in much better shape than mine. To me they are all special in their own way. And you almost have to be a History Professor to discern all the markings that were produced.

I was looking closer at mine, and noticed the inside of the firing pin retainer, you can clearly see how long it’s been on there, easy to read the backwards SN.

Another odd marking is on my Remington Rand, it has an ‘MB’ stamp on the right rear slide, just above the very light crossed canons on the frame. I’ve read on forums this meant the slide was magnafluxed, but never found that in print in any book I’ve seen or heard of. And I believe when the barrels were magnafluxed, they were stamped ‘M’, but not MB. As far as I can tell, MB is not a rework stamp either, odd.

I’ve requested a letter from Colt, but that’s probably a few months out. So far I’ve been told…

It shipped June 16, 1942 to Springfield Armory.
It shipped between February 3-18, 1943 to Springfield Armory.

To be clear, a sincere ‘Thank You’ to all who have provided any additional information, ship dates or otherwise, you can never have too much. Yet another with a very close SN shipped in December 42, so the February 43 date sounds like it’s close to the truth, but I’ll just have to wait on Colt to be sure. Doesn’t really matter I guess, like mine most went to Springfield, and the trail ends there.

I did notice it was in the group of SN’s that Colt duplicated, like yours? What the heck are the odds of finding one of those? Of course if the owner found out you had the other one, well, as they say, ‘The Price of Poker just went up’.

BTW - This morning I sent a MO for $405 to a gentleman in Louisiana for a ‘Colt 45 Auto, and G Stamp’ barrel… Happy Guy when I get that!

 

[NavySCPO]

FWIW Checking the Springfield Research Data base does nut turn up any info on your ser no. But others in the range of yours appeared to be first issued in December 1943.

Here’s a copy of the surrounding numbers. A lot went to the OSS and US Navy.

877877 120643 OSS SSO WASHINGTON
877954 121543 OSS SSO WASHINGTON
877984 120643 OSS SSO WASHINGTON
878014 120643 OSS SSO WASHINGTON
878016 120643 OSS SSO WASHINGTON
878022 120643 OSS SSO WASHINGTON
878059 120643 OSS SSO WASHINGTON
878164 061244 OSS SSO WASHINGTON
878164 040345 OSS CASERTA
878248 010947 6TH ARMY (RECOVERED)
878259 45 OSS CBI
878299 022546 9TH SERVICE CMD
878707 120643 OSS SSO WASHINGTON
878772 090444 USS MISSION BAY
878870 120643 OSS SSO WASHINGTON
878922 120643 OSS SSO WASHINGTON
879169 45 OSS CBI
879277 090444 USS MISSION BAY
880489 062345 FT G G MEADE

Thank you Sir! So did Springfield Armory send them on to the OSS and US Navy ‘after’ acceptance at Springfield?

 

[Hill536]

The Springfield Research Svs (SRS) is a listing of the whereabouts of pistols, rifles and other small arms that came to the attention of Springfield Armory. The SRS records for WW1 pistols is much more complete than WW2 and later.

The SRS records reflect in some cases shipping to their initial destination ie. Army base or unit, USAAF bases, then Navy yards ships and the USMC.

I own 882866 which shows no record but for 881933 shows a record of Colt shipping to Springfield.

SRS records for this and later years are sketchy at best for individual small arms but they do give a fairly good estimate on shipping.

A letter from Colt Archives will answer where they sent it and then the trail goes cold.

Some pursue the records of the national archives which is something I’ve never done.

 

[Golddollar]

Some pursue the records of the national archives which is something I’ve never done.

I put in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the Department of the Army for the history of the 1911A1 .45 automatic pistol that I received from CMP. It was also made in 1943. My request was acted on with no charge. The Army was only able to find records dating back to 1995 but that was more than what I had before.

Edit: Should have looked it up instead of trusting my memory. The first record reported was from 1992 instead of 1995.

 

[BabaBlueJay]

Epic find!!! Congratulations, always good to see someone find their treasure!

 

[Hill536]

I’ve got to ask who you addressed the FOIA to, or if you specifically asked for Army records or for all gov’t records. Eg: I have a pistol known to having come from the Marine Corps but started out being issued to the Navy.

Also how long did the FOIA request take?

Thanks for your input.

/Ken

I put in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the Department of the Army for the history of the 1911A1 .45 automatic pistol that I received from CMP. It was also made in 1943. My request was acted on with no charge. The Army was only able to find records dating back to 1995 but that was more than what I had before.

 

[VaTom]

I’ve got to ask who you addressed the FOIA to, or if you specifically asked for Army records or for all gov’t records. Eg: I have a pistol known to having come from the Marine Corps but started out being issued to the Navy.

Also how long did the FOIA request take?

Thanks for your input.

/Ken

US National Archives might have records from manufacturers from WWll. When I got my 1943 Ithaca I contacted Ithaca but their records from war years have been lost over the years. I had a friend who worked for archives but is now retired. He could research and find all sorts of things. He was able to find records from Civil War showing a muster list of Confederate POWs released in June 1865 from Point Lookout, Maryland and my great, great grandfather’s name was listed.

Might be worth a try.

 

[Golddollar]

US National Archives might have records from manufacturers from WWll. When I got my 1943 Ithaca I contacted Ithaca but their records from war years have been lost over the years. I had a friend who worked for archives but is now retired. He could research and find all sorts of things. He was able to find records from Civil War showing a muster list of Confederate POWs released in June 1865 from Point Lookout, Maryland and my great, great grandfather’s name was listed.

Might be worth a try.

Thanks for the lead.

 

[Golddollar]

I’ve got to ask who you addressed the FOIA to, or if you specifically asked for Army records or for all gov’t records. Eg: I have a pistol known to having come from the Marine Corps but started out being issued to the Navy.

Also how long did the FOIA request take?

Thanks for your input.

/Ken

I placed my FOIA request with the Department of the Army because the Civilian Marksmanship Program started out with the U. S Army. It was the best starting point I could think of. Maybe I will make a request with the US Archives office for a more comprehensive search.

From beginning to end the whole process took about 4 months. It took 3 months to get an acknowledgment but after that things moved pretty quickly.

Good luck.

 

[Hill536]

I placed my FOIA request with the Department of the Army because the Civilian Marksmanship Program started out with the U. S Army. It was the best starting point I could think of. Maybe I will make a request with the US Archives office for a more comprehensive search.

From beginning to end the whole process took about 4 months. It took 3 months to get an acknowledgment but after that things moved pretty quickly.

Good luck.

FWIW I learned about CMP from a member of this forum who worked for Anniston Arsenal. He said they got guns from all branches and sent them on to CMP.

Their sales and particularly the auctions contained a lot of USMC Arsenal marked guns which you never saw prior to CMPs entry into the arena.

Thanks for the input. Perhaps I’ll try the Archives out.