WWII Commercial/Military transfer pistols

[Scott Gahimer]

Here are a few photos...just for fun. They show some of the pistols Colt's reworked and transferred over to the military contract when they suspended their commercial production in 1942.

The first (5) are all renumbered pistols. Then in the photos with (10) pistols, nine are renumbered and one simply has a commercial to military transferred slide. That pistol is in the 930xxx range, and is one of about 8-10 known.
One of the renumbered pistols is 860819, and is W.B. final inspected. That pistol is one of 2 known.

There were about 6575+/- renumbered commercial pistols that were transferred and reworked to military standards. Mr. Clawson says they started at 860003 and ran (mostly consecutively) through about 866600.

Other pistols in a broader 1942 serial range had commercial parts transferred as well. The identifiable parts are normally the Colt S marked and "P" proved barrels, S marked receivers and the marked and unmarked pinned base C/M magazines.

I personally only know of two C/M pistols outside the 860xxx-866xxx range that have S marked recievers that are cut for the Swartz safety, but were not far enough along in production to require rework or renumbering. I have one of those pistols in the 872xxx range. The other one is Brit proved and in the early 90x,xxx serial range.





One of my nicer C/M pistols:

Information

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[lenb]

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

[lboos]

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.

[Scott Gahimer]

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.

[Steelsmith]

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

[Scott Gahimer]

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.

[lboos]

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.

[Scott Gahimer]

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?

[dbarn]

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.

[lboos]

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.