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Is there life after selling your 1911a1? Please enlighten this humble student.What's your question?
Is there life after selling your 1911a1? Please enlighten this humble student.
It's amazing to realize how many were actually thrown overboard by the case on orders from "on high." Bob Harris was tasked with doing that very thing at war's end. He told me that in was done in Manila Bay. Others spoke of aircraft that were burned, etc.Concerning "GI" .45s of WWII manufacture; After the war virtually all of them went thru arsenal rebuilds.
They were taken apart and all parts inspected, then re-assembled without regard to matching parts.
So, a gun might well have a frame/slide/barrel, from 3 different companies.
The small parts were made by many different companies, and were not marked, and some of the major contractors furnished parts to other major contractors.
Pretty much the only guns that escaped this arsenal work were the ones that returning soldiers did not turn-in.
At that time officers were allowed to purchase their handguns upon leaving service,, those who didn't turn one in were charged for them.
The best ones that retained all their original matching parts were usually the ones that had been issued to pilots,, carried a lot, seldom shot.
Those arsenal rebuilds were re-issued for the Korean War, then rebuilt again for issue in Vietnam.
After 2>3 rebuilds with mixed-up parts, it's no wonder that many soldiers in Vietnam complained that you couldn't hit anything with them.
Oh,, the guns built between ~1943 to ~1945, due to demand of production, were not heat-treated as well as the pre war, and early war production,, they are pretty soft steel, and usually don't have as good a finish on them.
What company manufactured your pistol?I sent a PM to medic...with a couple questions. But looking for someone who can look at a 1911 and know what original parts have replaced by us amorous.
Thanks again.
Craig
At the wars end, on the island of Samar in the Philippines, 121 PT boats were stripped of their guns and set afire.Others spoke of aircraft that were burned, etc.