Is this a British WWI 1911 Pistol?

[cplstevennorton]

I posted this on an earlier link but I have a new qustion. I have a 1914 Colt Government serial number C9102. On the top of the frame there is an arrow stamp marking. After thinking that this was maybe a Canadian proof mark, I read in my Clawson big book that this mark is actually a British Government ownership mark. You can see the marking on page 139 in the big book, and 76 in the small book. I thought the British govenment only bought the W serial number marked .455 1911's. But when you look at the summary of the 1911 foreign sales in the back of the big book, it shows they did ship several hundred in different shipments in my serial number range in .45 cal.

Now my question, it looks like it has a British government ownership stamp, but there are no British stampings on it whatsoever anywhere else. Reading more into it, Clawson desribes there were many markings on the later W serial number series, but he doesn't mention really anything about the early 1911's that went to the British government.

What do you guys think, is this one of the early British pistols?

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[2777]

If it doesn't have british proofs,it's Canadian.The Brits
Proofed everything.Your arrow marking is called the
" Canadian broad arrow".A factory letter will verify this.
It might come back shipped to a dealer(agent) in NY,
who handled some of the Canadian sales. I can't remember his name.I hope this helps. Bob

[Johnny Peppers]

Does it have the other markings described on page 139 of Clawson? As suggested, a letter will tell you exactly when and where it was shipped.

[cplstevennorton]

No, no other markings whatsoever. That is what puzzles me. In fact, I almost missed the arrow stamp. But yeah that is the only stamp on it other than the factory Colt stampings.

I might just have to do a factory letter to find out.

[Jim K]

That area of marking was always used by the factory for whatever reason they felt necessary. The presence of the "G" on a commercial pistol would indicate a frame originally made for the U.S. government contract but diverted to commercial production, possibly after rejection by the extremely picky Army inspectors. In my limited experience, the British property mark (broad arrow) was always put on by the British military (not the factory) after acceptance and always on the outside where it would clearly indicate crown property. Marking it in a hidden part would seem to defeat its purpose.

The markings on those guns in that area have been partially documented by Clawson and others. My .455 contract (W10752x) has "K", "3" and "E", but no broad arrow. I think the broad arrow in that position is more likely to fall under Clawson's comment that, "Other letters, numbers, and geometric symbols identified as factory marks indicate 'in process' inspections at various stages of manufacture."

Jim