Pre War Hawaiian Department Colt 1911

[cram1903]

Greetings folks,
This is my first time posting here on the CSP 1911 forum so I hope I'm doing this right. What I have here are some pics of a 1914 dated Colt 1911 (SN#51346) that I recently added to my collection. The pistol was acquired locally here in Honolulu, HI. Later, while doing some research, I discovered that Colt sent a batch of 1911's (SN#51101-51650 inclusively) to a Capt. P.O. Mahaffy, Hawaiian Department, Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii on 17 October, 1914. As you can immagine, I was quiet thrilled to discover that the pistol may have some local, prewar history behind it. The thinning blued finish on the slide and frame seem original and the edge wear seems to be matching and consistant. The thumb safety seems to be a later replacement and the barrel is a late WWII replacement as well. The remainder of the pistol seems matching/original. My goal is find a correct barrel and thumb safety to restore it to its original configuration. Other than that I have no further information so any thoughts, suggestions or observations are welcome.

Thanks,
Cliff

Information

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[lenb]

Hi Cram1903. First of all, Welcome to the Forum! I think you'll find that the folks here are a great source of info on these pistols, and should be able to help you determine the correctness of yours. It's always nice to see one of these earlier guns, and yours is a good looking example, especially since you have already found some of the history. In addition to the barrel and safety that you mentioned, one thing that comes to mind is that your rear sight was probably replaced at some time. I believe the correct one for this serial number range would have the curved top when viewed from the rear, and yours is the later flat-top style. These sights are replaceable, but pretty hard to find, and the barrel might also take some time to locate. But they're out there, and the search can be part of the fun. Enjoy your new treasure, and thanks for sharing.

Len