Unusual WWII Colt M1911A1

[Tom E Gun]

I recently purchased a somewhat "unusual" WWII Colt 1911. I thought I would share it here...

I have lusted after a really nice condition '42 or earlier Colt 1911 for some time now, but could not justify the expense given my limited collection funds. When the opportunity to acquire this particular pistol, for about a third of typical prices (for a pistol of this age and in this condition), came along I jumped at it. However, as you will see, there is a reason for the "bargin" price.

Here is the pistol:




OK, so now you may have noticed the non-original grips...

It is on the right side of the pistol where things start to get strange:





Some of you may have seen this pistol before. The previous owner posted it on another forum, in 2010, here:

http://wehrmacht-awards.com/FORUMS/s...d.php?t=412992

As you will see if you read the other thread, there are several theories about the age and possible reason for the "modifications". What do you think?

I am assuming that this is a 1942 Colt based on the 809616 serial number. I know about the replacement grips, are there any other non standard '42 parts that you can see? Although it is a shame that the right side was defaced, I am happy to be able to afford to own this interesting pistol.
Cheers
TEG

ps: I am looking for some nice original grips - please let me know if you have a source that will ship to Canada.

Information

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[browningautorifle]

Still, that's very, very neat. You almost never see such a thing...

[Sergio Natali]

Well.before other people more expert than me will chime in, I would only say that to me it's very strange that in 1944 somebody in Germany had the time to do all that work on behalf of Ober Lt Ernst Gutermann, then why they did it over the s/n?
Mmmm it doesn't convince me at all.

[Flying10uk]

During WW2, it is my understanding that the Germans normally added a suffix to the serial number of captured weapons to indicate the country of manufacture. In the case of British manufactured weapons it was an "E" indicating England but really meaning the whole of the U.K.. I would have thought that U.S. manufactured weapons captured by Germany would also have additional letters attached to show it's origin although I don't know which letters or letter was used in the case of the U.S..

Also who ever machined the stepped down pockets for the German "enhancements" wasn't very experienced in machining and looks like it's been machined by a 16 year old boy on work experience. Look carefully at the pocket edges and see where the cutter has over-shot it's intended positions.

[Tom E Gun]

Yes, I believe that the modifications were done long after WWII and certainly appear somewhat amateurish. I have seen several WWII US pistols defaced to obscure the "Property of United States" script - perhaps in the belief that the pistol was stolen from the Gov't - which was actually sometimes true, I'm sure many were declared "lost" and found their way home in a GI's duffle bag.
In the WA thread someone looked up the name of the soldier and he was old in WW1 and certainly would not have served in WWII. Plus the 64 ste Reserve Korps was a WW1 unit. Perhaps someone wanted to obscure the "Property of United States" and pay tribute to a German WWI veteran family member at the same time?

[Flying10uk]

Does anyone know what suffix the Germans did use/add to the serial, if any, to U.S. captured weapons during WW2. Was it U.S. or S.U. or something else???