1918 Colt 1911 w/questions

[Joefriday22]

Hello Sirs,
I picked this up today and it appears mostly correct the best that I can tell. It looks a little better in person but it's certainly not in excellent condition. The verdegris on the grip has been removed since I took the pictures.

I'm questioning the barrel and hammer in particular. The hammer is more flat black than blued. . Any thoughts on these and the rest of the parts?

Any info would be greatly appreciated. Also, value? (I'm almost affraid to ask this question in the event that I paid far too much)

Sorry for the poor picture quality.

Thank you,
Rob

[Johnny P]

The hammer looks more like an aftermarket hammer. The original hammer may have been bobbed as they were bad about pinching the web of the hand between the thumb and forefinger, and the hammer shown may be the replacement. The barrel is late 1911A1.

[Joefriday22]

Thank you Sir.
Rob

[Joefriday22]

Possible for someone to do a SRS check on serial number 502162 please?

Thank you,
Rob

[beerme]

Hey Joefriday.
When I read your serial # I thought "darn, that seems like it is awful close to my 1918". I pulled mine out and ...yep! My serial # is a mere 6 digits lower!

Cheers!
beerme

[PhillipM]

It appears to me that the hammer and grip safety have been modified and the pistol has been refinished and as noted, it has the wrong barrel. The grips appear to be reproduction since there is miscut checkering around the diamonds. Originally it had what is called a "Black army" finish. I hope you didn't pay more than $800.

on edit: The grip safety may be okay.

[PhillipM]

Hey Joefriday.
When I read your serial # I thought "darn, that seems like it is awful close to my 1918". I pulled mine out and ...yep! My serial # is a mere 6 digits lower!

Cheers!
beerme

Amazing!

[4F4Nam]

Despite any negatives, that is still a nice piece! If you believe the prices people seem to pay nowadays, you have a $300.00 set of grips! I replace the grips on my 1922 C model so as not to break them while shooting. Nice find.

Ed

[George in NH]

Anyone care to offer their thoughts on the dimple at "eight o'clock" on the right side of the frame at the slide stop hole? The dimple looks "on purpose" to me. Even with the changes, that is a real nice 1911. Would sell in the low teens around here. George in NH

[Scott Gahimer]

Anyone care to offer their thoughts on the dimple at "eight o'clock" on the right side of the frame at the slide stop hole? The dimple looks "on purpose" to me. Even with the changes, that is a real nice 1911. Would sell in the low teens around here. George in NH

The dimple was probably caused by someone not knowing how to disassemble the pistol using a punch to drive out the slide stop.

[Duane Hansen]

The Lanyard Loop Magazine would be too early to have come with your Colt 1911 Military pistol from the factory. I believe they stopped using them by the Military sometime in mid 1916. They (Colt) used them sometime into the 1917 time frame in the Commercial Government Model 1911 Pistols. And your pistol would have been shipped in the later part of 1918.

[Scott Gahimer]

The last M1911 Colt shipped with a lanyard loop magazine was s/n 125566, the last 1915 pistol. However, a lot of later pistols ended up being issued with lanyard loop mags, due to the quantity of them already in the system.

[Joefriday22]

Thank you for all of the information Sirs. I appologize for the very slow reply. For some reason I do not get email notification for replies to my topics on this forum and I never saw all of these replies.

I was just browsing through topics on here and came across this old thread. Up until just now I was very happy with this pistol (ignorance is bliss). I'm disappointed now that I know that the finish is not original.

Best,
Rob