Originally Posted by
Col. Colt
Yes, Colt shipped new M1911 pistols Directly to the AEF's Armory at Greenville Piers, New Jersey - the Port of Embarkation for the AEF. I have a Colt that was thus shipped in the first week of January, 1918. (217,xxx number if I remember right.) I believe there was another M1911 book (not Godwin, Clausen) that had this listing.
The gun looks like it got sent "Over There", and perhaps the owner was perhaps a mite too busy for daily cleaning and oiling - almost new inside, some light frosting of the bore and very nice except for a few surface pits in areas where it might have lived in a wet M1916 holster until November, 1918. Never rebuilt, so it might have come home in someone's pack. CC