Not all civilian M45s go through the Custom Shop. The pistols with no front strap checkering are production line guns. I believe there was also a run of grey M45s with front strap checkering that were not CS guns.

Which one to get depends on your priorities. The Custom Shop guns have a hand-fit barrel and possibly some additional attention paid to the fitment of the safeties. They are probably better pistols from a purely functional standpoint.

The USMC markings make that gun more valuable to collectors.

 

The USMC-marked pistol is from one of the early runs when Colt was using the same rollmark that they applied to the actual USMC guns. The Marine Corps objected to Colt doing that so they had to change the rollmark on commercial pistols to "M45A1" instead. The only other USMC-marked pistols on the market are the real ones that had been returned to Colt and then re-sold to the civilian market. Examples of both are usually exorbitantly-priced and something only a former Marine or hardcore collector of USGI 1911s would want to pursue.

Great info and thank you for the detailed answers. I am moving forward with the CCS as I can’t justify spending that much money for USMC

 

The CCS gun is sold already.

 

The CCS gun is sold already.

That was me who snagged. It 🙂. Trying to see if the USMC needs to find a home

 

The USMC-marked pistol is from one of the early runs when Colt was using the same rollmark that they applied to the actual USMC guns. The Marine Corps objected to Colt doing that so they had to change the rollmark on commercial pistols to "M45A1" instead. The only other USMC-marked pistols on the market are the real ones that had been returned to Colt and then re-sold to the civilian market. Examples of both are usually exorbitantly-priced and something only a former Marine or hardcore collector of USGI 1911s would want to pursue.

 

CCS M45A1 is really a good deal @ $2k price point (MSRP).

Early CCS version with Cerakote finish also have USMC rollmark and no front strap checkering like what was originally issued to the Marines. I was lucky bought one @ MSRP, not inflated price. Only drawback for Cerakote version is that coating flake off easily. Newer Ion Bond finish is much better.

 

And for those concerned, I've found that a good set of G10 grips are sufficiently inherently grippy to significantly mitigate against the need for front strap checkering on a 1911 (although it certainly doesn't hurt).

Best, Jon