Remington Rand in spam can ?

[glockshot]

I have a chance to buy a sealed in the spam can Remington Rand 1911.My concern is what condition the 1911 may be in after 70 years.I don't know how they were packed,cosmoline I would think.The last thing I want is to spend a lot of money to find a rusted hunk of metal.If I get it,not sure I would open it,but still would like to know..Does anybody know or have any experience with this ? Any ideas on the value of this in today's market? Thanks for any help...I'll post pics if I'm lucky.....
I'm being told that 1911's didn't come that way.Thanks for any help on this.

[Chris W.]

Wondering if that's how they packed the 1911's that were stored in the Navy inflatable life rafts ??? Supposedly each life raft had a 45 pistol and ammo stored with the survival gear ?? Is their any markings on the spam can ??
Chris

[glockshot]

I have not seen it yet,but the guy says the can is marked Remington Rand.I will be seeing it this weekend....

[Ltdave]

1911A1s were for the most part packed in a tagboard box wrapped in some VCI paper...

[Johnny P]

From a Remington Rand document dated February 20, 1945:

"Dip in rust preventative oil AXS-674 (fifteen minutes). Let drain on rack twenty-five minutes.
Wrap in creped waterproof, greaseproof grade "C" type "3" paper AXS-840-1. Put in foil bag (Butvar Type A-51). Press out air or use vacuum to remove air and heat seal,

This sort of refutes the old "still packed in original cosmoline".

[Chris W.]

Has anyone here seen the 45's that were packaged in the survival gear on US Navy inflatable life rafts??? Don't know how they stored the supplies and gear, but it was impervious to salt water and not serviced but once in a blue moon, storing a pistol for this application, a spam can would almost seam logical. These rafts were set to self-release from outside storage on ships upon sinking and self-inflate.
Chris

[glockshot]

I have spoken to Hayes Otoupalik and Scott Meadows and they have never seen this type of packaging either.So we will just have to wait till I see it.

[PhillipM]

I'm very interested to see what it is. As an aside, I searched around and I can't find any evidence Remington Arms made spam can ammo.

[glockshot]

Well,here is the latest update.....The guy was to be back in town last week with the goods.I called his cell twice and left mags,the last asking for him to call me and let me know if there was a problem,if we were still going to do the deal...Not
A response.....Nothing !! I'm not going to kiss his a$$....so,unless he gets it touch with me,it's a done deal....I have no idea what happened...Had no reason to doubt his intentions....Sorry for the undo excitement...

[seagoatami]

Wondering if that's how they packed the 1911's that were stored in the Navy inflatable life rafts ??? Supposedly each life raft had a 45 pistol and ammo stored with the survival gear ?? Is their any markings on the spam can ??
Chris
after reading all the replys you got, in my opinion it looks like a deal you should shy away from, sounds like it may have been stolen from a navy life raft, there is no statuete of limitations on stolen fire arms to the best of my knowledge. ps fire arms are title B equipment that means they have to be signed for and they are tracked.

[emmagee1917]

after reading all the replys you got, in my opinion it looks like a deal you should shy away from, sounds like it may have been stolen from a navy life raft, there is no statuete of limitations on stolen fire arms to the best of my knowledge. ps fire arms are title B equipment that means they have to be signed for and they are tracked.

A vet passed away . A friend sold his firearms for the widow because their son was an ex-felon . One dat her hot water heater started leaking and my friend went over to help . As they were clearing a path to the heater , they found a bag with two AR15 type guns in them . He brought them to me to ID , they were late '60s M16s . He freaked out , I took them and stripped them down and had my friendly neighdorhood sheriff take the two lowers . The military no longer had any intrest in these as their records only went back 19 years as that was the statuete of limitation on stolen firearms . The Sheriff kept the lowers for their use and we sold the rest.
Chris

[Chris W.]

Never got to look at the supply packages that were attached to the life rafts. In training we were taught that these rafts self-released from the upper structure of the ships as the ship was sinking and self inflated. Attached to these rafts was a basic supply pack with some canned fresh water, basic food and other survival items, think the rafts were designed for 20 or more men and round in shape. Included with the gear was a pistol, reason was most likely sailors were not armed at the time of abandoning ship. Never saw this " survival pack " included with the life raft. ( thank god ) But it was understood from the captain to the lowest rank sailor that these rafts were not to be touched in any way for any reason, it's easy to understand why. If this pistol in a spam can was indeed from on of these rafts, punishment would be beyond severe, at least while the ship was in service. Think it could have well come from a ship that was scrapped though. How it got to the current owner would be interesting, and I'm sure that they could be tracked. If this was survival gear from a life raft, couldn't pay me to own it if pilfered from a raft. ( old sailors bad luck in it's worse form )
Chris

[Andouille]

If it's in a spam can, how is it known to be a Remington Rand and how is the serial number known? i.e., how do you legally transfer the pistol?

[bnrg]

Long time ago Springfield Armory (the real one) had a display of cut open 'spam cans' filled with M3 grease guns, packed in grease for long term storage. I believe the guns were placed in the can and then it was topped off with liquid grease. Guns not removed in this display but they looked in good shape.

[Ron James]

Why would the Navy pack a gun in a spam can?? Even in a life raft ? Sorry, that sounds pertty ridicules to me. Sorry abut that, there is something wrong with that story.