looked at a Savage 1911 last nite.

[Chuckindenver]

at our Militaria club meeting, a fellow showed me a 1911 that he had purchased through the NRA back in the 1950,s.
a nice Savage 1911 , a Colt 1918 frame, AA marked with nice dark blue finish,
has the paper work and the shipping box it came in..he asked me to take the pistol down, and check the barrel ect, has a drawing number marked barrel, marked on the botton side close the the barrel link,
noticed the spring guide was cracked, and damaged, told him i would give him a replacement,
asked me if it was worth more then 500.00....as the sales clerk at the gunstore offered that to him.
told him i would more then double his offer, if he trully wanted to sell it.
with paperwork in his name, likely on the open market his pistol may retail for closer to 2500.00 maybe more, he was shocked.
he also has a M1D that he wants to sell me as well, this weekend, i may have them in my hands,
even if i dont buy them ill ask if i can take some pics of the 1911 to share here.

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[badabing]

told him i would more then double his offer, if he trully wanted to sell it.
with paperwork in his name, likely on the open market his pistol may retail for closer to 2500.00 maybe more, he was shocked.
even if i dont buy them ill ask if i can take some pics of the 1911 to share here.

It's not worth that much. It's an arsenal rework with an AJ Savage replacement slide and they aren't all that rare. AJ Savage received a contract to produce M1911 pistols during WWI but never delivered a completed one. The war ended and all contracts were cancelled. Savage complained and eventually the goverment bought the slides the company produced. Some ended up in the civilian market as surplus but quite a few went into reworks. AJ Savage went out of business around 1920 or so. This not the same company that is located in New York, they were in California but it was the same person and I think his son was involved as well. I have an M1911 in the 500000 range that has a Savage replacement slide and I would be very happy to find somene who would pay me $2500 for it.

[Rob Greer]

Well, I guess you could say that I'm shocked as well. I certainly would not pay $2500 for it. Agreed $500 is far below the mark... and I would consider your offer of $1000 fair. I personally would not go much higher though. This is simply another arsenal re-work of a 1918 Colt with a fairly rare slide on it. I don't have a Savage slide, but I don't need one in my collection that badly either. But, are the Savage slides really that valuable? Bottom line is... it is as valuable as someone is willing to pay for it.

[badabing]

They aren't that rare but they don't grow on trees either. I can't think of the seller but at one time there was a company selling them via mail order...Bannerman's maybe? Anyway, the pistol is a rework that's been reblued since then. The government didn't blue pistols when the reworked them, they parkerized them.

[Rob Greer]

I had a 1916 Colt USMC that was re-blued after being re-worked at Augusta Arsenal. Along with the pistol was a notarized letter from an individual that suposedly work at AA and said this practice was done ocassionally. Just typing that makes me say "yeah, sure!" The old advice is ringing trough my head... buy the gun, not the story! Anyways, I have seen that pistol making the rounds through a few auctions since I sold it.

[Johnny Peppers]

Probably the most desirable variation using the Savage slide is the Colt replacement frame with the Savage slide, as both are still in the original blue. During WWI there were runs of spare frames that had no acceptance marks sent to Springfield. These were sometimes put together using the Savage slides, and are a variation.
Those that have been through rebuild command a slight premium, but not very much. The story of pistols being pulled out and blued at Augusta Arsenal doesn't hold much water. The first question would be why, as phosphate was the finish used on rebuilds per ordnance requirements. Secondly, who would have know it was a USMC receiver?

[RayP.]

Here's one on a 1918 Colt frame #166993,RIA rebuild,not fired since DCM release,lettering is kind of weak from the sandblasting over pitting,I have another #4706xx(don't want to go look at #)metai is excellent but been blued,no arsenal stamps,had for over 50yrs,never fired it yet either. RayP.

[Chuckindenver]

thanks for the imput, and heres my observations on the Savages slide Colts.
iv watched clunky junky ones sell for well over 1500.00 on GB, that were likely home made, no AA, SA, or RIA markings, and a mix of non GI parts.
this is not a refinish, i know a refinish when i see one, other then some wear from being handled over the last 50 years, its right as rain. frame shows more wear then the slide, he also has the box, papers and shipping info in his name from the NRA, date sold, ect..that in itself makes the pistol rare, not super rare, but rare, and pretty cool, with history.
from what iv read, the Savage slides were used during rebuild and or repair, and marked AA.
then sold via DCM, NRA ect, in the late 50,s early 60,s, pistol still has the original Colt diamond grips, in nice shape.
the spring guide has been broken for many years, and the slide works rough in spots do to that.
when and if he calls me to buy the pistol, ill be happy to share the pics, and im sure youll agree that its as nice as i say. and in original blue finish, not reparked, as many iv seen.
that in itself makes the pistol pretty nice.

[Johnny Peppers]

If it is not refinished and the receiver and slide are in the original blue finish, it is probably worth the $2500 with the paperwork. If it is Parkerized, even with the box and paperwork it would be a long stretch to be worth that amount.

[Rob Greer]

I still would not pay that kind of money for it, but that's me. My interests lie elsewhere with these guns. This does sound like a nice piece with documentation. If you like it, and it is all correct and as described, I think you would most likely be quite happy with it... especially if you can get it for short money.