The TRUE value of a 1911a1

S

SharpCdn

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I was curious how much a pistol like this would be worth on today's market. I have since discovered the true value...

It is a really neat piece, looks like it might have been in the middle of things in WW2, so it is really not a minty piece by any means.

Prices for these seem really high in the US, but I realize this is a different market in Canada.

Any help pricing this would be appreciated. The pics are crappy cellphone pics. I will try and post better pics tomorrow.

I appreciate everyone's input!

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Appears to me that it may be one of the "Lever Arms" (sold "as is" for $250) imports from Viet Nam after the communist victory. The communist sold warehouse's full of U. S. "left for the ARVN" supplies for easy immediate cash. Because of poor storage in a jungle humidity area, they came here in various states of pitting from mild to "rusted junk". Most all had been thru various "armory refit or repair" before being left for the Viet's so not many are "# or component matching". Basically just a "usable gun that most looked real rough". They are all marked "property of U. S." so none of them could be repatriated stateside.
 
I remember Lever selling those 1911A1's back when. He even had some early 1911's in the batch. He donated one as a prize for an IPSC Championship, matte blued by the late Rod Philipsen to hide some of the pits.
I was present when the winner (who shall go un-named) offered it to Richard Heinie as a platform for a build. Henie laughed and referred to it as a "paper weight". He refused to do anything with it, citing a soft GI slide, new parts and the work required to bring the frame into spec.

Still, they brought a few people into the game who couldn't have afforded to otherwise.
 
Can't really offer an opinion on the OP's 1911A1 given the pics.

However, I bought a few of those Lever 1911/1911A1's circa 1990. When he had some real dogs on for $99 each.

Some of 'em cleaned up okay & made decent "shooters"

Before:
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After:
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NAA.
 
I appreciate your feedback so far guy's.

I guess its not as valuable as I thought...maybe I will just hang on to it.

It is really neat in hand, really looks like it has been through something. I would love to know its story.

Maybe the pictures don't capture its true character very well :).

Here are a few better quality pictures.

I might fire some ball ammo through it and show groups sizes after the weekend. The bore looks pretty good.

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If it shoots well, might as well blast away with it. In this condition it is not overly valuable but all M1911A1's are still pretty cool...

Cheers,
-Steve
 
Back in the early '90's when the as already mentioned 1911 and 1911A1 were imported, they came in crates out of East Germany wrapped in Cuban newsprint.
Also heard from the dealer they were used in the Bay of Pigs during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Some were rough, some not too bad, some with shot out bores, and priced fairly cheap.
 
So far, from what I have heard, it's possible that this pistol has been in USA, England, Cuba, Germany, Vietnam and Canada. It could be any or all of those places and more...that is pretty interesting.

There is some lead in the bore I need to remove, and then I will test it for group size.
 
The frame is early 1944 production Remington Rand. Check under the firing pin stop on the slide to see if there is a serial number there. Guaranteed it won't match the frame but may help date the Colt mfg slide. If it has no serial number then it's a Colt replacement slide. If it has a serial number then at some point it got disconnected from it's matching number Colt mfg frame. The lack of an arsenal refurb proof [ie SA = Springfield Arsenal etc] would tend to indicate the mix-master [mismatched slide & frame] didn't happen there - but even that is not definitive. The magazine is Colt mfg but not military but modern commercial variety. The grips are of course are not 1911A1 vintage military, either.


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KidGlock said:
I love these old wartorn guns. All the character. I never was into shiney perfect looking guns.
Click to expand...

+1 for me on that, too.

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If you could see her history from the time she left the factory spankin' new, what stories she could tell, eh?


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SharpCdn said:
So far, from what I have heard, it's possible that this pistol has been in USA, England, Cuba, Germany, Vietnam and Canada. It could be any or all of those places and more...that is pretty interesting.

There is some lead in the bore I need to remove, and then I will test it for group size.
Click to expand...

Chances are even with a good bore group size won't be that great. Many of the design features that make the 1911A1 a fantastic combat pistol as issued make it a little disappointing on the range. These guns are designed to work under tough conditions with considerable slop in the mating parts that has a detrimental effect on good accuracy. Over the years fortunes have been spent accurizing military 1911 pistols. They are plenty accurate for combat use though and will work under horrendous conditions which is what the objective was when it was designed,
 
So, I took it out to try it for accuracy. I fired at 20 yards resting my arms on a table at the range, and 10 yards standing unsupported.

Definitely combat accurate, and not nearly as bad as I expected. I am very pleased, especially since I found the sights very difficult for precise aiming in the bright sunlight. The groups appear to have two distinct groups within them, that could be my sight picture...

Here are the groups:

10 yards - 7 rounds (1 magazine) unsupported. For scale, the first group measures 3" outside to outside.
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10 yards - 14 rounds (2 magazines) unsupported.
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20 yards - 7 rounds (1 magazine) resting my arms on a table.
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20 yards - 14 rounds (2 magazines) resting my arms on a table.
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It was a lot of fun to shoot it. I think I will be hanging on to this for a while longer.
 
NAA said:
... The grips are of course are not 1911A1 vintage military, either.
Click to expand...

Brownells can fix him up: http://www.brownells.com/handgun-parts/grip-parts/grips/index.htm?avs|Make~~Model_1=1911__Government&avs|Manufacturer_1=hayes%20tooling%20%26%20plastics%20inc
 
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