By Joe Berk
There’s something about a U.S. Army 1911A1 that’s just right with the world, and when I received an email from good buddy Robby about his very recent acquisition of a Service Grade .45 Auto from the Civilian Marksmanship Program (the CMP) I immediately knew it would be something I wanted to share with our ExNotes community. Robby’s 1911A1 is the one you see in the photo above, and it is a beauty.
Robby included this video that shows him shooting his new toy. It’s fitting for our 4th of July weekend and for this blog.
Robby’s 1911A1 was manufactured in 1943 during World War II. Having been in the Colt factory and being both a 1911A1 and milsurp weaponry fan, I was curious as to how many 1911A1s Colt made during the War. I Googled the topic and here’s what came back:
Colt made roughly 102,000 M1911A1 pistols in 1943. Production spanned serial numbers 856101 to 958100. This batch included a small group of about 6,575 commercial-to-military converted pistols. During this year, Colt’s total represented only a fraction of the over 750,000 pistols produced across all wartime manufacturers. Because records were shared or duplicated, some 1943 serial blocks (like 856405 to 916404) were assigned to other makers, like Ithaca.
As I wrote above, I have an affinity for military 1911A1s that dates back to my first experiences with the Colt .45 Auto (see the blog on Command Sergeant Major Emory Hickman). Shortly after CSM Hickman taught me how to shoot the .45, I went to the Republic of Korea where I was a platoon leader in the 38th Air Defense Artillery Brigade. When I was over there, our battery’s arms room had about a dozen 1911A1s from various makers. I carried one, but I didn’t get to shoot it until I’d been in country about 8 months. We had no place to practice on our missile site, so I couldn’t shoot the different 1911A1s we had to see which one I liked best. I selected my .45 using an approach that was about as unscientific as could be. I went into the arms room and shook them all (one at a time), and I picked the one that rattled the least. I guess my approach worked well enough, because even though I hadn’t shot a pistol in several months, I won the 38th Brigade pistol championship. By the way, Robby is a competitive shooter, too, and (unlike me) he’s in his prime. If Robby had been in the 38th Air Defense Artillery Brigade 50 years ago, I wouldn’t have come home with that trophy.
Today, America’s 250th birthday, is obviously a very special day. As Bill Clinton once said, there have been a lot of people who bet against America in the last 250 years, and they’ve lost money every time. He’s right. We’re not perfect, but I am convinced we’re the closest thing to it. Enjoy the day, happy 4th of July, and here’s to another 250 years!