SOLD - Rare Colt 1911A1 - Military/Commercial Government Model

Description

1/7/22 - This is a rare, early post-WWII pistol that was shipped in late 1946.  Immediately following WWII, Colt had some military parts left from the WWII M1911A1 government contracts, and utilized those parts in their first post-war commercial pistols. This is one of these hard to find guns. According to Clawson, this variation was made between serial numbers C220001 to about C222000, from October of 1946 to January of 1947. Not all pistols in this early 2,000 pistol serial range appear to have all military small parts.  These early 1946 pistols evolved slightly, most notably with the elimination of some hand polished areas, the addition of the Government Model marking and finally the transition from surplus military to commercial manufactured parts. From Clawson, "exterior surfaces were highly polished with special finishing wheels, then chemically blued with a non-glare matte finish on top of the slide".  For detailed information, please see pp. 77-83 and p.208 of Colt .45 Government Models 1912-1970 2nd edition by Charles W. Clawson. This pistol is all original Colt factory finish and in excellent condition. There is minimal bluing loss, just a little high edge wear and a few minor surface scratches.  Excellent, bright bore. Barrel is marked COLT .45 AUTO, which is likely later than 1946 by a few years. Rare and desirable among Colt collectors.