October 30 - November 2, 2018 Firearms, Militaria, & Sporting
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 10/30/2018
According to the factory letter, this pistol was shipped on October 7th, 1916 in a shipment of 5,000 guns to the Russian Government. These were all in the commercial serial range with blued finish and in .45 ACP. According to the book on the Model 1911 by Joe Poyer, approximately 66,000 1911s were shipped to Russia between 1916 and 1918; 51,000 were shipped through the London agency and factory stamps were Cyrillic, leaving less than 15,000 shipped from the United States in English, making them more than three times rarer. Features are all period correct including Type II rear sight with beveled edges, Type II checkered wide spur hammer, Type I long smooth trigger, Type IV two tone tempered magazine with no stamp at base, diamond truncated checkered walnut stocks, checkered slide stop and safety, flat smooth mainspring housing with loop. Because this was a commercial gun there are no military inspector stamps. It is finish in the commercial blue with verified proof in triangle on left front trigger bow. Left rear trigger bow is stamped with the letter "Y". Right side of frame is simply stamped "GOVERNMENT MODEL" with serial number. Left side of slide has patent dates with pony at rear and on right side stamped "COLT AUTOMATIC CALIBRE 45". The barrel is blued with polished cylinder, an "N" and "P" stamped on bottom. CONDITION: Straps are thinning to approximately 50% with the balance of metal on both slide and frame remaining at 95% or better of the original Colt high polish blue finish; most of the wear along muzzle. Frame does have a light drag line from takedown. Bore and action are near mint. Overall, a beautiful condition and extremely rare Russian Military contract Colt 1911.