Watchdog
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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.
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.
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