"Black Army"

[Johnny Peppers]

I don't think I can recall what started as a pistol with a sub par finish becoming the darling of beginning Model 1911 pistol collectors. In an effort to speed up WWI production of the Model of 1911 pistol, Colt skipped the final polish operation. This resulted in a rough dark finish that was not durable, and tended to flake off in patches with only slight handling. Also, almost half of Model 1911 pistol production falls into this "Black Army" category.

Excited collectors will ask if their newly found nickel plated Model 1911 that falls into mid to late 1918 production is one of the elusive "Black Army" models. With the nickel plating it now falls more into the "Old Silver" category.

Charles Clawson described the WWI produced 1911 pistol as having a "black finish", and from this the "Black Army" was elevated to mysterious and elusive proportions.

On this late production Model 1911 the Eagle/S12 and serial number were stamped after the pistol was finished. This caused the bluing to flake off around the markings in a halo effect.

[Scott Gahimer]

Great photos of a great example that has endured the test of time and retained finish. It obviously hasn't been handled or used much. Thanks for posting.

[Ray LaChance]

Well, for whatever the reason, I got caught by the 1911 bug 2 years ago. When I was at a gun show, a nice looking 1911 described by the seller as "rare" Black Army, caught my eye. After a little research on my iPad, I had to have it, but I couldn't pin point exactly why.

Naive for sure, but I lucked out on this one. I stumbled upon Scott's M1911info.com along with lots of his and your posts on another forum and got hooked.

When I sent it to Scott along with a dog A1 (I bought from the same guy) for inspection, I was pleasantly surprised to hear back that the mystical Black Army, was not only all original, but it was also one of the nicer ones that he inspected.

Two years later I know what the seller unintentionally meant by "rare" Black Army. The rarity comes from it's originality in such great condition compared to almost others I've seen since.

So whatever that Black Army magic was, it worked on me......

Here are a couple pics of my with credit to Scott Gahimer @ M1911info.com.

Per Colt Archive letter:

S/N - 555979
Sold To: US Governement
Shipped to: Ordnance Officer, Big Bend District, Marfa TX
Shipped: Jan 9, 1919
Mfg'd: Dec 4, 1918
Guns in Shipment: 100

[jmark]

I guess my Colt Tier III 100 Years Anniversary pistol is patterned after these pistols.

[Johnny Peppers]

The analogy of the Model 1911 "Black Army" and the P.08 "Black Widow" pretty well parallel each other. Late in P.08 production black plastic grips and magazine bottoms were an approved substitute when wood was not available. No one liked the plastic grips, and the pistols did not sell well. According to the late Ralph Shattuck, he coined the term "Black Widow" for these pistols, and suddenly the black gripped pistols became highly desirable and everyone had to have one.
Now a Model 1911 with virtually no finish becomes desirable because it is a "Black Army".

[topaz]

What was the last serial no`s on the black guns . I have a 6046** . It shows its age Bill

[topaz]

This is what I have , Thanks for looking

[Ray LaChance]

What was the last serial no`s on the black guns . I have a 6046** . It shows its age Bill

I think they ended around serial number 620000 to 630000, but I read somewhere that polished blue guns where intermixed with black finish late in production in 1919, so determining the vey last s/n may be very difficult.

I need to look it up unless someone else knows before I get to it.

Ray

[Scott Gahimer]

The last Colt M1911 reported procured by the U.S. govt. was s/n 629500.

[prewar]

Close serl number this one went to Wash DC in dec 1918 one of 1000 that went to Wash DC got fac letter on it .