Colt 1911 USMC

[Johnksr]

I have had this Colt 1911 USMC, manufactured in 1917, for over 35 years. I have no idea what it is worth today. Would anybody here know what it is currently worth? All the parts have the correct markings and I have 2 two tone magazines. One has the lanyard loop and the other does not. The gun has about 50-60% of the original finish. I did a search on the net but couldn't find any for sale or up for auction.

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[Allen]

People go ape sh*t over 1911's issued to the Navy and the USMC. Over the years I have seen such (perhaps with more/better finish than yours) sell for $9,000. I am NOT saying that is the value of your gun and money flowed easier in years gone past but if you put it on an auction site such as GunBroker the bidders may run it up like that. That keyhole magazine is worth about 4-$600 in itself.

[cplnorton]

I have bought two in the past year. One was a 1917, that was all original but had a replacement barrel. I bought it at a local show as a USMC pistol. I picked it up for $3,000. But I think I got a halfway decent score.

At the OGCA show maybe six months ago I bought a 1914 USMC, very nice condition and original. I bought it for $5500 and there were two other guys behind me that would have bought it if I had put it down and passed on the deal.


If I was you, I would put my reserve on it and put it on gunbroker. Make sure you really list it well as USMC. And this is a good time to try to sell it with tax checks coming back.

I hope this helps you some.

[Chaz]

I know of one very similar to yours; mid-1917 (215...thousand something), everything correct except it has a WW2 barrel. Sold for $4,400.

[Johnksr]

Thank you all for your responses, I appears that it's worth somewhere between $50.00 to $50,000. haha
If the only way to find out what it is worth is to put it up for auction, then I guess I'll have to keep wondering because I'm not ready to part with it at this time.
I was just curious to know what it is worth.
Does anybody know which magazine is correct for a 1917 issue, the lanyard loop or the plain base. I have been getting conflicting answers from others.
Thanks again for your help.

[Duane Hansen]

The two-tone mag without the lanyard loop would be correct for the 1917 time frame.

[Allen]

Thank you all for your responses, I appears that it's worth somewhere between $50.00 to $50,000. haha
If the only way to find out what it is worth is to put it up for auction, then I guess I'll have to keep wondering because I'm not ready to part with it at this time.
I was just curious to know what it is worth.
Does anybody know which magazine is correct for a 1917 issue, the lanyard loop or the plain base. I have been getting conflicting answers from others.
Thanks again for your help.

Bare in mind your gun can not be bought off the shelf at WalMart. The price is determined by what the market will bare at the time and how badly someone wants it. There is no exact price. Someone who could give you a more accurate estimate would need to inspect it themselves, have a library of pictures or do some assumptions. If put on auction it might receive more bids one week vs another, again it depends upon who knows it's for sale and how badly they want it. The example I gave @ $9,000 was back in 2007 or so before the big recession. Others have quoted you a price of about half that for more recent purchases---I would go by those. Clawson's "small" book indicates that the keyhole magazines were issued thru mid 1913 ending near serial number 40,000 so your mag is for an earlier gun. The last Colt pistol issued with a lanyard loop mag was serial number 125,566 (1915). Yours came after that so what would be correct is a two tone mag, pinned base w/o the loop. These were issued till mid 1943 and are easy to find on such sites as GunBroker and even ebay.

[Johnksr]

Thanks Allen, It appears that I have the correct Magazine and an extra early magazine.
Every gun I still have is a gun that can't be bought off the shelf, and being in a $4500.00 ballpark is a good thing. (grin)
Of all the guns I have bought, sold or traded over the past 40 years, the ones I have now are my favorites, and I only regret selling one of them.
After reading your post, I thought that Clawson's book might be a good book to get for reference, till I found out how much they are selling for. haha
I am really appreciative of the internet and folks like you all who have this information and are willing to share it.
Thanks again.

[Chaz]

Get Clawson's small book on the service 45s. It won't cost you your first born and has gobs of good info.

[Emri]

Only sell the pistol with the one magazine. The "keyhole" magazine with the loop is worth a pile of money by itself.