April 24-25, 2019 Extraordinary, Sporting, & Collector Firearms
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 4/25/2019
Offered is a one of a kind Remington Model 1911 UMC military semi-automatic pistol. The entire pistol was manufactured by Remington under contract by Colt to produce pistols during World War I; from August 1918 until 1919. They produced 21,677 pistols during this time period with the last delivery to the Ordnance Department in May of 1919. The frame on this pistol is stamped "UNITED STATES PROPERTY" on left side. The letter "E" can be found stamped on the left trigger bow and bottom mainspring housing, both exclusive to UMC. The blued barrel is simply stamped with a "P", which is also correct for this model. Right side of slide stamped "MODEL OF 1911 US CALIBER 45"; left side is stamped "PATENTED DEC 19 1905 FEB 14 1911 AUG 19 1913 COLTS PT. F.A. MFG. CO." with "REMINGTON UMC" in circle, right of circle is stamped "MANUFACTURED BY REMINGTON ARMS UMC CO. INC. BRIDGEPORT. CONN. USA". Back of slide is stamped "E". The right side of frame has no serial number nor are there any inspection stamps; there never were and never removed. At the bottom of the right side of frame under grip is stamped "X1". All standard features to include long smooth trigger, flat mainspring housing with loop, checkered wide spur hammer, checkered slide stop and safety, beveled edge U notch rear sight, small blade front sight, and diamond checkered walnut grips. Referring to the book on the Model 1911 by Joe Poyer, page 90 shows front row of checkering on the Remington hammer that was cut in half by the final polishing technique; the checkered grips are pictured on page 140, No. 3 with 13 to 13.5 diamonds per inch; magazine is a two tone, tempered, pinned base with no markings and no lanyard loop; Remington slide markings can be seen on page 336. There is no recorded information that has survived detailing the UMC Model without a serial number. One theory is that these were possible parts clean-up guns at the end of production, but many of these have no number at all. This example does have a serial number of "X1" and it is our opinion that this is most likely the first one off the line that was manufactured to see if all tolerances were correct before entering mass production. This, like the other opinion, is simply conjecture as we will probably never know the exact reason, but the X1 first production manufactured for testing, seems to hold more water as there are no other X1 examples. In either case it is an usual, early example that saw no real use, whereas parts clean-up guns would still be manufactured to be used. CONDITION: Aside from the mainspring housing, which is a soft patina, this pistol retains approximately 95%+ of the original military blue finish with razor sharp legends. There is a light drag line and a couple of minor surface scrapes under slide lock. Grips are near mint. Bore is near mint or better and shiny. It is in near mint condition overall showing little to no use.