Very good point . I had read that , but did not know if it was correct. You see, I also read that US&S had quite a " five-finger discount" problem. I assumed they were talking about stolen , complete pistols. What were they serial # with? If the above is true ( that they shipped a true 55,000 using 55,000 numbers with no duplicating among them ) , then they would of had to duplicate serial # some guns to fill the government's order (to replace the ser # that were stolen). If the government did not recieve any duplicate numbers in thier shipments , I think they would have been happy. The strict serial number laws we have today did not go into effect til '68 , so the manufactures could do just about what they wanted to before that , so making two with the same serial # would not be a crime and it was for a good cause.

I do know it was usual ( for carbines ,1903s and garands as example ) to NOT use all the number in a block , and sometimes overrun into other mfg. blocks and to even not use thier assigned blocks in order or jump from one block to another and back. But , as you said , that's those guns and may not apply to 1911s.

Oh , and I finally found the M at A issue. It is a 1922 rifle ser # 284 , and is called a " production control rifle " , if that helps anyone.

Thanks for the imput , it means a lot. Chris