WTK...1943 Franken-Colt value

[-hanko]

I go to my pawnbroker this morning picking up a couple of FN PBR's. In front of me is a woman talking about pawning her father's WW2 pistol.

It's marked 'M1911A1 on the frame, sn 109xxxx; that makes it Colt manufactured in 1943. Frame is parked, has the arched mainspring housing with the lanyard loop. Finish is a solid 95% (carried little/shot little).

Otoh, the slide is marked 'Remington Rand'. It's also parked with just a touch of holster wear on the front edges.

No idea if the slide was changed during the war or later; no time to field strip or go deeper into the frame to see if parts are correct WW2 vintage.

1911 experts...any thoughts as to how much the pistol is worth, given the slide and frame are the right vintage, but the complete pistol is not correct??

Owner left still thinking about selling the gun or not, so pictures may follow, maybe.

TIA

-hanko

[leelaw]

Offer her $200, I'll give you $300

[-hanko]

Offer her $200, I'll give you $300

I'd thought of that, though I'd probably sell it off at at least $350; at least..

Other ?? with no time to ask would be about bring-back paperwork. It had Pachmyar (sp??) grips installed but the real things in the case, along with 3 vintage Colt mags.

My pawn-lady is pretty compassionate...spent 20 minutes talking to the woman about the sentimental value of the pistol, yada, yada. At the end, she recommended the woman not put it in pawn...turned to me & said give the woman your phone number

But that wasn't enough, out of pawn was a 99% Remington 121 .22 pump gun. But there's more...a beautiful 742, an old all-original rifle with a perfect correct stock and corncob fore end. Even better, it's chambered in .257 Roberts, a rare chambering and ideal for deer and antelope. I'm tempted...

-hanko

[-hanko]

I'm guessing this was in Idaho, and not the Bay Area ?

Indeed.

I can't recall any pawnshops in the SFBA that still sell guns. Immert in San Carlos has a usually nice selection of used long guns, prices vary from insane to "they have no idea what the gun is worth"...it's those that I'll snag but you hop on deals like that immediately or they're gone the next day.

-hanko

[-hanko]

For anyone here that has an interest in WW2 1911's, this website came up in a response to a post last night on arfcom. Thought it might be interesting...

http://www.coolgunsite.com/pistols/arsenalrebuilds.htm

-hanko

[Prince50]

Just an FYI, Remington Rand and Colt duplicated a small run of numbers during the war.

If the inspectors initials are FJA on the Left side. It is most likely a Remington Rand Frame.

Also Colts have a Big N little O for the NO just before the SN. RRs have a normal sized NO.

As to your question, if all parts are period specific, but mismatched, you have a decent shooter worth about $700- $750. The Remington Rand slide can be sold for anywhere from $125-$300 depending on the variation.

Variation one spelled out the New York on the left side, and is worth much more.
Variation two said N.Y. but the text went all the way to the slide serrations still worth good $$

Variation 3 was N.Y. but left about an inch from text to slide serrations. Worth about $125 in good original condition.

Then a proper colt slide can be found for about $300. If you reassemble the pistol in original configuration, it will be worth more. It can only be original once in it's life, but it is far easier to "restore" our pistols than say Lugers where lots of parts were numbered.

Darin

[-hanko]

Darin, thanks very much.

-hanko

[Matt P]

Excellent information in here on the Rands, and other older 1911s.. Thanks very much guys for the education.

[-hanko]

Matt, I'm getting more from afrcom first, calguns.net 2nd, and 1911 forum a distant 3rd. It's surprising what you can glean from someone else's question...glad we're all learning.

Arfcom sometimes gets an unfair hit or 2 here...I've been there since the AR15mailing list. Sometimes it's hard to detect a nuclear flame v. a tap on the shoulder on the general forum, but it's hard to beat the tech stuff anyplace else on the web.

Btw, anybody know the reason for the absolutely-frantic-you-must-not-post-a-FS-ad warning on the1911 forum.

I joined the 1911 board in 2003 for info, first post was last night about the colt/remington-rand pistol (I didn't lurk there much either). It's changed a hell of a lot.

-hanko