Colt 1911 govt serial C61535

[vinson]

Hi guys, I'm new to the forum but very interested in the history of old 1911s. I have an old Colt 1911 govt serial C61535 with British proofs and a broad arrow and C on L of frame near trigger guard. Any idea of the history of this firearm. Maybe an Canadian lend lease? Thanx

Information

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[LimeyCarbineLover]

Vinson i have a C prefixed M1911 45 auto also ( C160**) and was told that this is not a military 45 at all but a rarer Colt "Commercial"....pistol.Believe Johnny Peppers is the Colt guru Vinson he will be able to guide you correctly.
Nice looking gun by the way lovely early Lozenge grips

Regards

Lloyd

[Johnny Peppers]

Vinson i have a C prefixed M1911 45 auto also ( C160**) and was told that this is not a military 45 at all but a rarer Colt "Commercial"....pistol.Believe Johnny Peppers is the Colt guru Vinson he will be able to guide you correctly.
Nice looking gun by the way lovely early Lozenge grips

Regards



Lloyd

Not ignoring the question, but I gave a detailed explanation of my thoughts on the pistol where it was posted on another forum.
JP

[jmoore]

Squarely in the middle of the Russian Contract pistol run, IIRC. Which makes it scarcer than usual. The British gov't release markings are quite odd.

[jmoore]

Why the Canadian connection?

Is there a C broadarrow marking somewhere?

[jmoore]

Why the Canadian connection?

Is there a C broadarrow marking somewhere?

Well, for those of you who don't want to hunt for a photo of the Canadian property marking, here's one out of vinson's Photobucket album (photo 8 of 28, also see photo 7):




Thanks for the link, Johnny Peppers! And thanks for your effort on vinson's behalf, especially! Some folk are kinda combative over on that forum, no? Might put some people off "help mode" altogther!

[Johnny Peppers]

Thanks for the link, Johnny Peppers! And thanks for your effort on vinson's behalf, especially! Some folk are kinda combative over on that forum, no? Might put some people off "help mode" altogther!

The moderators on the forum are a pretty patient bunch, but for his efforts the guy that disagreed with everything finally managed to get himself banned from the forum.

[AlanD]

I first saw this pistol discussed on the 1911 Forum. It is particullay interesting in that it is the only 1911 Government Model -not 1911A1- that I have seen, with the Released by British Govenment markings. It has British commercial proof marks including the Not English Make, which was used from 1925 to 1955. It does not have any British military inspection or ownership marks that I can see.
Without a Colt letter it is really imposeble to tell if it saw service with Canada first and then ended up with the British, or the other way around. It certainly ended its service with the British and entered Britain after 1925.
Under Lend Lease the following is listed in official records. Pistol M1911/1911A1 British Empire 39,592. Canada 1,515.
Note that the above description is M1911 AND 1911A1. One can only wonder how many 1911's were supplied in the above. As the pistol is a commercial example I would tend to favor it going to Canada first and then ending up in British service, this is only supposition though.
This pistol certainly warrants a Colt letter.
I am currently writing a book on British Mititary Secondary Issue Small Arms 1920-1980. I would like to include this example in the book.
Vinson - I will contact you by PM.

Regards

Alan David
Sydney

[badabing]

What type of information were you looking for specifically? History of a particular firearm is often times very difficult to obtain. If you want to spend $100 - maybe more I'm not sure what they charge now - you can send a letter to the Colt Historian and they can tell you where it was shipped to when it left their factory. After that, it's up for grabs. What did you grandpa have to say about it? It was made in 1916 and somehow got to England. It was there until at least 1952. It may have been shipped back to the U.S. when it was released by the British Gov't. During the 1950's up to about 1968, it was pretty easy to buy guns by mail order. Importation of firearms to the U.S. was not that difficult and were sold by a variety of stores through catalog sales. Judging by the condition it wasn't used very much and it's possible not at all. That's about all I can tell you and no, it was most likely not part of Lend Lease.

[vinson]

Thanx guys, appreciate all your input