Colt 1911 British proof marks

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Tarn

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I have a chance on buying one of these,i have done some searching but wondered if anyone has one in their collection......if so can you tell more about these.

The info i have for the purchase is that he thinks its in .455, i do not know the age yet.......or many other details.
 
Just because it has stamps doesn't mean it's a .455 There was a British lend lease program back in WWII and many Colts and RemRands were sent over and marked with the English stamps and have made their way back to Canada and the US. They don't seem to hold as much collector value as one would think but it would still be a nice addition to your collection. How about some pictures?
 
If the deal goes through,i will post pics...............i was only told about it Thursday,so i have to find out more details once i get to work.
 
Tarn said:
The info i have for the purchase is that he thinks its in .455, i do not know the age yet.......or many other details.
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Many .445's had .45ACP barrels fitted on re-import....or have both barrels. The last one I saw, mint with both barrels and historical providence was in the $15K range.
 
I've have one that was left to me about 10yrs ago. It is registered as a .455 but has a .45 slide and barrel. From the info I received from Colt it was made in 1916 for the Brits and there were only about 10,000 made. I asked CFC about the .455 registration and they advised it will always be registered as such. It is still a great shooter and I have the original bakelite grips and two of the two toned mags which I saw on e-bay before Virginia tech going for about $150.00 US a pop. By the way it also has the W prefix serial number.
 
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Hitzy said:
If it's got brit stamps, it will be .455. Nice collectible piece.
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Not necessarily....

If it's a Colt mfg 1911 in .455 then the serial number will be "W" prefixed.

As 'dannyair' stated there were also many other Colt 1911 and WWII vintage USGI 1911A1's in .45ACP that were 'lendleased' to the Brits. They would've acquired the Brit proofs either via military proofing there or later when entering the civie market.

To the original poster: Pics of 1911 showing the Brit proofs would be helpful.
 
A Very Very sad day,the old boy sold it.............to a Movie prop
guy and is being deactivated as we speak!!!!.I wish i was told about this a week earlier.It was indeed a .455.

Bugger!....................
 
Waste of a nice gun. I could have rambled for hours about insignificant details of the Brit .455.
Also fairly easy to see if it's been changed from .455 to .45acp. Ones rimmed, ones not, drop a round in the barrel and see if it seats properly.
 
lister said:
Waste of a nice gun. I could have rambled for hours about insignificant details of the Brit .455.
Also fairly easy to see if it's been changed from .455 to .45acp. Ones rimmed, ones not, drop a round in the barrel and see if it seats properly.
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I'm sure mine has been changed from .455 to .45 ACP. Mine has the W prefix serial number on the frame and was registered from it's beginnings atleast in Canada as a .455 but now has a .45 barrel and slide. I put about 500 rounds through the old .45 barrel before changing it out for a newer .45 barrel and have put about 1000 round through it without a hitch. The barrel that came with it was pretty rough as a result of using corrisive ammo I believe but I kept it anyway.
 
British proof marks can be any of the following:
1) British ordnance proofs on an arm made for UK military service.
2) British commercial proofs on an arm offered for commercial sale in thr UK.
3) a combination of 1&2 on a surplus arm offered for commercial sale in the UK.

The 45 ACP Govt model was extensively used in the Great War by Britain.
 
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