Help Identify Colt Model 1911 Magazines

[jimmyj]

Hi:
I found these two Colt Model 1911 Magazines in my deceased Father's packed away property.
Dad served in the U.S. Cavalry (Horse Mounted) and later the U.S. Tank Corps.
I would like to determine the era and value of these magazines.
Thank you,
Jimmy

 

[Gasman1972]

Are there any letters on the top of the baseplate toe of either mag?

 

[jimmyj]

Are there any letters on the top of the baseplate toe of either mag?

Negative letters/marks on both magazines

 

[Muley Gil]

The very first 1911 magazines had the lanyard loop on the bottom, like the one on the right. The Cavalry didn't want to lose any magazines!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Gasman1972]

The looped one may very well be a Colt magazine, the two tone I'm pretty sure is not.

 

[2152hq]

Unmarked base plate tip (top edge) not bottom side) usually= Colt mfg.
Later in WW1 Colt subcontracted with 4 companys to produce additional magazines to fill a Govt contract.
Those contract made mags will have L,R,A, or B stamped onto the top side of the base tip.
'L' was Little Mfg Co
'R' was Risdin (sp) Tool Co
I can remember the rest.
I think some of these companys again made magazines during WW2 for Colt.

Sprinfield Armory made their own,but the folded base construction is a quick ID give-away.

Remington/UMC made mags also and like Colt,,did not mark them. But Rem/UMC mag bases are about a 1/16" shorter overall lenght than the standard dimention and are easily picked out of a group because of that feature.
There was a contract mag made for Rem/UMC by a company I can't recall the name of but it stamped it's mark 'R' on the bottom of the base. Same short mag floor plate as the Rem/UMC IIRC. and a rare one to find.

I believe the 2 magazines here are Colt mfg mags.

The full blued loop base is the earliest I believe.
(I say this assuming it's original blue and not reblued over a later cyanide dipped finished mag)
I think they refer to them as Type I magazines.
No temper line showing, no stress relieving punch& slot at the rear top edge, and no fold on the right top edge for the mag latch.
This would be the earliest of the Colt 1911 mags,,1911, 1912.

They found the mag lips were softened from the bluing process applied after the mags had been heat treated (charcoal blued/oven blued).
So they went to the cyanide hardening process to reintroduce some spring hardness into the upper portion of the mag (feed lips).

That process of the trip through the molten potassium cyanide and oil quench of a blued mag left that upper portion now in the white that was actually submerged in the cyanide.
Colt continued to use the process on all of their semi auto pistol magazines.

The earliest mags received a dip to about 1" depth. Later it was increased to include the mag catch slot.

The lanyard loop was done away with in 1916 sometime,,so I'd guess (and only a guess) that the second magazine was made sometime between late 1916 and the end of the War.
No lanyard loop and the cyanide dip extends to the mag catch slot.

 

[Gasman1972]

See if this link works.....

The M1911 Pistols Organization Forums Site - 1911 Magazine Identification

 

[s&wchad]

The full blued loop base is the earliest I believe.
(I say this assuming it's original blue and not reblued over a later cyanide dipped finished mag)
I think they refer to them as Type I magazines.
No temper line showing, no stress relieving punch& slot at the rear top edge, and no fold on the right top edge for the mag latch.
This would be the earliest of the Colt 1911 mags,,1911, 1912.

According to Clawson, type one magazines had a base visible from the side and was pinned. This magazine body extends to the bottom of the base. The rear cutout is sharp and correct for a type 1, but I dont believe it's authentic (up to serial number 4000). The two-tone looks like an early WWII Colt contract mag.

 

[John F.]

I've had a number of Norwegian lanyard loop mags, which were imported in droves some years ago and sold for about $30 each back then. They were finished in grey phosphate rather than blue or 2-tone, and most had a rather pointy profile to the loop arch, vs rounded for US mags. They also were unmarked and featured pinned bases like the colt mags. From what I can see, if your lanyard loop mag is grey rather than blue, it appears Norwegian.

Hope this helps,
John

 

[2152hq]

You're right about the mag body extending down over the base on the 'early' magazine in the OP.
The base would show from the side if it was in fact one of the original issues. It doesn't on this one. Good catch.

I'll still go with WW1 military on the 2-tone.
They were standard issue very early in WW2 also. We didn't have anything else till the Industrial War Effort got up and running.
Any WW2 mfg magazines are full blue as far as I can remember.

Mid War(2), any WW1 mfg including the 2-tone mags were to be taken out of service when encountered and replaced by the new mfg magazines of the time. The old ones were to be scraped. They were supposedly causing problems with the slide stop/hold open.

Good info on the Norwegian magazines. Might very well be the one.

 

[jimmyj]

Ball Park price range of these two magazines??

 

[dant]

Both are early ones, the lanyard one is the second type, not the first early Savage, with the wrap around bottoms, so your about half the price , the two tone is around $40-50 and the lanyard is $60-$75, more to someone who is "dying" to get one (the pucker factor....)
would have to "see 'em, handle them " to make a better, proper evaluation.........still good ones LOTS of makers of them over the years, and lots of 'doctored', faked ones also, so gotta kinda know when someone is asking "the moon,sun and the sky for pricing....."
if they were actually in your Dads 'stuff", my bet they are 'right'........

 

[Muley Gil]

I just looked at my loop magazine. It has the keyhole in the back.