1911 North American #5

[gbethu]

I was at that auction….the gun was about 25% and poor finish. The buyer paid the 31K PLUS an 18 to 20 % commission to the auction house.

[gbethu]

The pistol looks like a reblule (soft corners on the metal, new sheen to it) with grips that look recently made.

Can you imagine Chuck Clawson using a refinished gun in his reference books ????? If so, you probably don't know Chuck

[glindes]

Which Clawson's book please...

Fortunate to find this beauty. It was used in Clawson's big book as a reference for the North American model.

I have a couple Clawsons...but sounds like one I don't have...Can you give details? Title, date, edition etc? 'Still learning here. Thanks Geoff in DE

[Johnny P]

I have a couple Clawsons...but sounds like one I don't have...Can you give details? Title, date, edition etc? 'Still learning here. Thanks Geoff in DE

How about photos of those Clawson pistols.

[gbethu]

I have a couple Clawsons...but sounds like one I don't have...Can you give details? Title, date, edition etc? 'Still learning here. Thanks Geoff in DE

Colt .45 Service Pistols, Models of 1911 and 1911A1 by Charles W. Clawson printed by Edwards Bros. , Ann Arbor, MI 48106. 429 pages

[milgunsguy]

Here's an interesting comparison:

See: Cool Gun Site North American Arms 1911 photo entitled: "Slide stop and trigger"

I open Google, go to to the Cool Gun Site, find the photo, then open Google Chrome, go to the Culver website, the click on the first photo from this posting. Then go back and forth between Google and Google Chrome.

[Johnny P]

Couldn't get that to work. These two pictures?

[gbethu]

serial #5 vs #87

[milgunsguy]

Thank you, Johnny P.

The metal on #5 lacks square corners where it should have them; it looks like it was polished prior to a reblue. The polishing rounded those corners.

Look at how rounded the metal is at each point of redirection in the machining of the parts.

For example: on the lower edge of the slide stop lever, at the forward end of the slide stop and takedown notches in the slide, at that curve in the flat side of the frame above and in front of the trigger guard, and where the flat side of the slide begins to curve upwards over the top of the pistol.

I am going to leave commenting on the slide markings to the real experts.

[KeithNyst]

For what it's worth, here is a link to an older GunsAmerica posting of #63 with many detail photos.

http://www.gunsamerica.com/957251118...Condition.htm#

[PhillipM]

The remarkable part about it is the lack of an idiot scratch. Nice find and thanks for sharing.

[KeithNyst]

The remarkable part about it is the lack of an idiot scratch. Nice find and thanks for sharing.

It actually does have a pretty good scratch; see photo, bottom row, 2nd from left.

[gbethu]

The metal on #5 lacks square corners where it should have them

Ummmm …it does have them . That is a subjective and questionable opinion about the manufacturing capabilities in 1918 and your vision.
Yes you are the only one "see" them. Funny that Clawson and Julis Kosan never noticed……. What a couple of novices…. Glad to see there is one expert who can spot things from a crummy photograph that invalidates opinions of well informed
people who actually have had them in their hand to compare with other known models. What a bunch of dummies to have been sucked in to a Clawson opinion. Thanks for your insight. I sure have learned a lot by reading your post…..and it wasn't about the originality of #5.

[milgunsguy]

The pictures speak for themselves.

If you can't see the differences between #5 and the other NA picture that Mr. Peppers posted then it doesn't really matter whether they exist; you're happy.

[Rob Greer]

Here is another picture of the slide legend from #87, and one of #24 for comparison.

#87...


...and #24