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WWII Commercial/Military transfer pistols
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The Following 6 Members Say Thank You to Scott Gahimer For This Useful Post:
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04-22-2009 12:28 AM
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My goodness, Scott, what an amazing display of beautiful pistols! I'm growing more and more interested in the commercial to military conversion pistols. Looks like another variant I'll have to add to my wish list. Thanks for sharing and for the great examples.
Len
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WOW! Scott how long did it take you to collect that many C/M colt's?
I had no idea one person could have that many.
I only have one C/M and thought i was lucky.
What a great collection.
Last edited by lboos; 04-22-2009 at 04:46 PM.
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Well...I'm not exactly sure how long it took. And I've owned others as well, but did not retain all of them. I've passed on others. Sad to say, but I'm still always looking for more of them, too.
About 7-8 years ago I decided I wanted a "run" of C/M pistols, to include pistols in all the serial ranges...860xxx, 861xxx, 862xxx...up through the 866xxx range. I had 2 or 3 at the time.
Then it started getting a little more complicated to find pistols I needed in specific ranges. To further frustrate things, I found and bought some great pistols in the same serial range. 860147 is a nice early C/M. 860703 came from a 92 yr-old retired Army flight surgeon. 860819 is one of only 2 known W.B. final inspected C/M pistols and the highest known W.B. inspected pistol in general.
So I got attached to them and ended up with some "duplicates'.
But I decided years ago, if I was going to have duplicates, they might as well be something desirable. I finally completed the "run" last year.
After examining enough of the C/M pistols one can see the slightly different methods the Colt craftsmen used to convert the commercial pistols into military pieces. Peening, grinding, sanding, etc. Some of the pistols have surfaces that were beautifully converted with little signs of buffing or peening. Others are rough as a cob. Some are peened so badly you can barely read the new markings. Most show remnants of the old markings. Most have relatively smooth, dark finishes. A few have a slightly rougher surface, indicating more sandblasting.
Colt G and S barrels that are "P" proved were both used in these pistols.
They are just neat to look at. It's fun to have something to look for. I regret passing on some of the C/M pistols I've looked at in the past.
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Gosh Scott, what a beautiful collection! I only have one and, like Iboos, thought I was lucky to have it. Mine is #864157 and is GHD inspected. Very smooth, soft finish. It also belonged to a medical officer in the CBI Theatre.
Thanks for showing them.
steelsmith
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Thanks. I'd like to see you post your C/M transferred pistols here in this thread, too. I'm just hoping to get the ball rolling.
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Scott, When i got it several years ago it had these keys grips on it. This year i replaced them with the correct grips. sorry about the pic., cheap camara.
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Looks like a nice pistol. I remember speaking with you about it a few years ago when you posted asking for some information on it. Thanks for sharing the photo. Got one of the other side, too?
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Scott, thanks for sharing your beautiful pistols. They are unique pieces of history at a time when our country needed all of their resources to fight a world war.
Last edited by dbarn; 04-24-2009 at 07:54 AM.
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Scott, I remember talking to you on the phone now, You walked me thru. taking it apart my 1st time, And im still about as slow as i was then. I have not fired it sence i talked to you. I've been having trouble with my cam. I try'ed to take some new pic's yesterday but they came ouy pretty bad. I'll try and take some more in a few day's.
Your display of your colt's is outstanding.
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