Colt MODEL OF 1911 U.S. ARMY 1918 ..

[Allen-frame]

My first military arm.
Fortunate to have found it.
Purchased as an heirloom piece to leave to my son
along with my Smith & Wesson revolvers.



I only hope I look this good when I'm 97 Years old .











































Regards
Allen Frame

 

[Lee Barner]

so, how does it shoot? I have a 1918 military and a 1919 commercial that I shoot once a year. I also have permanent scar tissue on the web of my right hand from those long hammers and short grip safties. lee

 

[shouldazagged]

Amazing condition. I didn't look half that good at 47.

 

[2152hq]

Wow, that's a beauty!
I had a 1918 Colt 1911 in close to that condition at one time. The 1971 price was ,,,$65.00. That included the original holster and belt, clip pouch and 3 magazines and about 200rds of WW1 ammo.
That was about the going price at time for the pistol,,the accessories were a bonus but actually they were not all that coveted at the time.

My oh my how times have changed.

No I don't have it anymore.,,and to make it worse, the guy I sold it to a few years
later converted it to a 'shorty' 45.,,thee thing to have at the time (Mid 70's)of course.

You have a beautiful pistol,,keep it original and enjoy it. Congrats!

 

[Watchdog]

All I can say is...what a beautiful old pistol. It's hard to stop looking at it, but I have things I need to do today!

 

[beetledude]

beautiful! A great example of the finish known as "brushed blue"

 

[steveno]

your pistol has a "soft" slide so don't shoot it very if at all and then only hardball. you never know when a "soft" slide will develop a crack and then it is only a paperweight.

you might want to show your pictures over on the 1911 forum for them to look at. there are some very knowledgeable people over there for these old pistols.

 

[Memphis]

Love that gun! I have been recently bitten by the Military 1911 .45 bug. I just got a nice entry level piece, a Remington Rand 1911A1. I shot it before I bought it and liked it even better then. Of course now I'd like to add another as soon as I can. I'd love to have a WW1 1911 but will have to align Jupitar with Mars before that will happen. Yours looks like the perfect gun to enjoy and then to grace your son with it on down the line.
I am having trouble finding "in print" 1911 books to help educate me. Clawsons tomes are out of the question (without selling the Buick). I did just receive a great book by Edward Scott Meadows (U S Military Automatic Pistols Vol II 1920-1945).
All of the markings on your gun look crisp and correct. I find myself really enjoying reading and researching these awesome guns. But "they ain't cheap". Thanks for the pics.

Roger

 

[gmborkovic]

Allen, you dont look that good now, 97 is out of the realm of reality.
Great snag on the 1911. See you at #222 this Sunday 9-3? Bring it with you.

 

[PALADIN85020]

Hard to beat a good U.S. issue .45 for defense, durability and collectible value. I was fortunate that I began acquiring them when I was in my late 20s and they were still semi-affordable. Here's a couple of pics:

John

 

[Watchdog]

I have been recently bitten by the Military 1911 .45 bug.

And it didn't even hurt, did it? I was bitten by that same bug a year or so ago while I was sleeping! Didn't even wake me, but the effects hit the next morning, and I went out when the LGS opened and bought my 1943 Remington Rand. True story! More or less.

I just got a nice entry level piece, a Remington Rand 1911A1.

 

[Watchdog]

Hard to beat a good U.S. issue .45 for defense, durability and collectible value. I was fortunate that I began acquiring them when I was in my late 20s and they were still semi-affordable. Here's a couple of pics:

John

Looks to me like you're missing one...where's the Singer?

 

[PALADIN85020]

Looks to me like you're missing one...where's the Singer?

I actually found one. However, the warrior queen insisted that I couldn't take out a second mortgage on the homestead. Such is life.

John

 

[Watchdog]

I actually found one. However, the warrior queen insisted that I couldn't take out a second mortgage on the homestead. Such is life.

John

Whew. That Singer will about take your breath away, won't it? Looks as if it could have been made yesterday instead of in 1941. I've never seen one in real life. I can only imagine what it'd be like to actually have one.

With only 500 having been made, any idea of how many are actually known to still be around in various collections? I've heard as few as five are known to still exist. Wonder what the value is up to now.

 

[TLflag]

Model 1911

I've been told there were so few pistols made by Singer because there workman ship was so exact they assigned their employees to the other makers to oversee production. That would be a pretty good reason.

 

[bigwagon]

The actual reason so few Singers were made is because they were only awarded an educational order for 500 pistols. The objective was to study how to speed up the mass production process by developing processes to produce 100 pistols per hour. From what I've read the experiment was unsuccessful (they did not meet the production rate target) and no further contracts were awarded to them to produce more pistols.

 

[PALADIN85020]

The Singers were finely made and were given a very nice blue finish instead of Parkerizing or Du-Lite (although some say it's a Du-Lite finish). Examples I've seen do not match the Du-Lite finish on my 100% U.S.&S. 1911A1. Almost all of the Singer guns were issued to the U.S. Army Air Corps, and of course many of them were lost due to attrition in the air battles over Europe. It's not known for sure how many survived the war, but they are very scarce and extremely expensive when found.

John

 

[DWalt]

My first 1911 I bought from a WWI vet in about 1957-58. From 1918, still had the original double diamond wood grips with, I think, 8 notches on them. Cost me $25. I still use it. I have slides, barrels, springs, and magazines to use .45 ACP, .38 Super, 9X23 Win, 9X19mm, .400 Cor-Bon, and .22 Long Rifle on the same original M1911 Colt frame, all in a nice wooden briefcase. Still as good as the day it left Colt's.

 

[PatriotX]

I wonder what story those grip panels would tell ?


Very nice Colt, Allen. Paladin's collection is also very well-curated.

 

[moosedog]

A friend had a mint Singer that he bought back in the late 1960's. Went through a divorce later in life and the Singer went too.
No one brings it up in front of him.