Ya see the new Colt 1911A1?

Our shop just got four of the 1911A1 WWII Reproductions, and sold the first one in less than two hours. It appears there is a market for a quality "reissue" of a WWII 1943 GI Pistol, in it's original pasteboard box and waxed paper. They are issued by the Colt Custom Shop, which is how they get around the "no modern safety devices" legalities.

Part of the appeal is definitely nostalgia, but if the run is limited to only 4000 guns, I would wager that the Colt 1911 collectors will keep the price up. It is, a "collectable", and there are plenty of people who like that sort of thing. Time will tell - Pace Car Corvettes, for example went to double their selling price and then back to a little over the original sticker.

As for quality, this is a pretty exact reproduction of a 1943 Colt military production gun - right down to the inspectors marks - and it is definitely tighter and smoother than any WWII GI Colt I've ever handled. As for comparing it to a Kimber or Springfield (which isn't it's market) I'd a lot rather take this one out of the box and go to war with it than take any of the clones. Current production Colts are the best 1911s ever made, period. Don't let an overly tight match fitted slide fool you about "quality". There's a bit more to it than that.

It will be interesting to see how the market treats this model. I would vote for Colt to reissue the completely original pre-WWI 1911, (and lower the price a couple hundred bucks). The original guns are true historical artifacts and getting too valuable for regular, hard use - thus a true reissue that you could afford to shoot daily would be nice.

Always glad to see an old friend back in town, Col. Colt

"Beware of Counterfeits and Patent Infringements"

[This message has been edited by Col. Colt (edited 07-18-2001).]

Gumby, I used to be from Wichita, how are things?

Getting to your friends report, I'm a little doubtful as to his veracity. Points:

- Colt has never used a plastic mainspring housing pin on any 1911. It would indeed be odd to offer such an innovation on a WWII Reproduction.
- Since the parts were (just like the originals) probably parkerized at different times and in different batches they can indeed vary in color - JUST LIKE the wartime originals did. Most US GI guns built during WWII had color variations in the parkerizing of individual parts - this is indeed "how it was".
- Scratches? Who was handling it when it got scratched? I would have refused to buy a scratched collectable. All of ours have a nice, smooth finish in the original wax paper wrap.
- Ever look at GI 1911A1 internal parts? They usually show tool marks, etc. As long as they gauge and work ok, the Army was happy. The gun sounds more "GI" all the time.
- The A1 sights were indeed still relatively small, but they were a Partridge squared cut rather than the rather thin "U" shape of the original 1911. Our guns accurately reflect this.

Your Mileage may vary, I guess, but none of our four guns would seem to validate your friend's claims.

Warmly, if Curiously, Col. Colt

"Beware of Counterfeits and Patent Infringements"