SOLD - Late Union Switch & Signal M1911A1

SOLD

$5,250.00

UPC:

SKU:: 1095400 - 35656

Description

3/3/25 - This is a late and rare Union Switch & Signal made 1911A1 from October of 1943. This is one of the last thousand or so Union Switch 1911s ever made! It is all original and correct with about 50-60% finish remaining. The pistol has some uniform thinning or patina to the finish throughout but no areas of corrosion or rust. Proper proof marks include P on frame and slide, and RCD inspector proof on frame. Concentric circles on the barrel bushing. HS marked barrel. 'L' marked magazine. The grips and bore are both in very good condition but there is some smoothing of the plastic in the grips and of the rifling in the barrel.

The Union Switch & Signal company of Swissvale Pennsylvania, primarily made railroad signaling equipment but received a contract on May 5, 1942 for the manufacture of M1911A1 pistols. The first pistols were accepted by Ordnance inspectors in January 1943, but the company received word that their contract would be canceled. Within a month U.S.&S. had signed a contract to supply carbine parts. On March 8, 1943 the company was officially notified that their contract had been cut back from 200,000 pistols to 30,000 pistols. However on June 26th, when the contract was nearly complete, and many of the workers had been transferred to Carbine operations, the company received a letter of intent to purchase an additional 25,000 pistols. The last of the pistols was shipped on November 27, 1943. 55,000 Union Switch and Signal pistols were delivered serial numbered from 1041405 to 1096404. U.S.&S. pistols are the second rarest of the M1911A1s (55,000 produced), only the Singer is rarer (500 produced). None of the Union Switch & Signal 1911A1s have the crossed cannons ordnance stamp. We are told these were issued to the Army Air Corps during the war.