Here is a mint and nearly new 1911a1 .45 Automatic meant for US Army Government Issue, and for a soldier to carry into battle, to help save lives of our American troops during World War II. It seems this particular pistol never got the opportunity to do its job. This pistol was made by Remington Rand under a US Government Contract in the mid 1940’s. During WW II times, there were many civilian product related companies that were under contract to the US Government to manufacture “war effort” related items, just as S&W was under contract to make revolvers for our troops.
Other companies that also made these for the Government were of course Colt, Ithaca, Union Switch & Signal, and Singer, who made only a very small quantity. An interesting fact about Remington Rands is that more than half the work force was women. They also produced the highest number of .45s at the lowest cost, and are thought by many to have been the best quality of all producers. They actually produced almost as many as the other three wartime producers.
The barrels were under contract to different companies. The barrel in this gun was manufactured by High Standard as was commonly found in Remington Rands.
The magazines were also made under contract and normally Remington Rands came equipped with magazines made by General Shaver, which was a division of Remington Rand, and were marked with a G, as it is on this one.
I know that in WW II there were many companies that were producing the badly needed items for the war effort. As a result, the US Government deemed certain industries as “essential industries” and the employees of those companies were then draft exempt from the military service. I would certainly imagine this would have applied to the male employees of Remington Rand during this time.
Remington Rand was formed by the 1927 merger of the Remington Typewriter Company, Rand Kardex Company, and Powers Accounting Machine Company. They were not only a known manufacturer of typewriters, but in the late 1930’s they developed the world first “dry electric shaver”.
As an interesting side note, in the 1950’s the now retired Army General Douglas MacArthur served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Remington Rand.
Remington Rand was a very aggressive company and at one time they were producing 50,000 pistols monthly. They also made strong efforts to improve manufacturing processes. As a result on some of their efforts to be better and faster, they developed the Austempering heat treating process that was perfected in the fall of 1944. I understand that process is still a standard today for many gun parts.
Ths gun was came from the DCM box & all, however the box has been lost. The person who acquired it from the DCM passed away and his brother was selling his guns, and mentioned he knows the box was there at one time, but no longer apparently.
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Other companies that also made these for the Government were of course Colt, Ithaca, Union Switch & Signal, and Singer, who made only a very small quantity. An interesting fact about Remington Rands is that more than half the work force was women. They also produced the highest number of .45s at the lowest cost, and are thought by many to have been the best quality of all producers. They actually produced almost as many as the other three wartime producers.
The barrels were under contract to different companies. The barrel in this gun was manufactured by High Standard as was commonly found in Remington Rands.
The magazines were also made under contract and normally Remington Rands came equipped with magazines made by General Shaver, which was a division of Remington Rand, and were marked with a G, as it is on this one.
I know that in WW II there were many companies that were producing the badly needed items for the war effort. As a result, the US Government deemed certain industries as “essential industries” and the employees of those companies were then draft exempt from the military service. I would certainly imagine this would have applied to the male employees of Remington Rand during this time.
Remington Rand was formed by the 1927 merger of the Remington Typewriter Company, Rand Kardex Company, and Powers Accounting Machine Company. They were not only a known manufacturer of typewriters, but in the late 1930’s they developed the world first “dry electric shaver”.
As an interesting side note, in the 1950’s the now retired Army General Douglas MacArthur served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Remington Rand.
Remington Rand was a very aggressive company and at one time they were producing 50,000 pistols monthly. They also made strong efforts to improve manufacturing processes. As a result on some of their efforts to be better and faster, they developed the Austempering heat treating process that was perfected in the fall of 1944. I understand that process is still a standard today for many gun parts.
Ths gun was came from the DCM box & all, however the box has been lost. The person who acquired it from the DCM passed away and his brother was selling his guns, and mentioned he knows the box was there at one time, but no longer apparently.
