Arsenal Rebuild or Some Kinda Fake?

General Firearms Handguns - 1911
1

A local guy is selling this pistol as an arsenal rebuild with some gunsmith modifications done to it. He said his dad had a couple of these and worked at one of the Government Arsenals that dealt with 1911s. He’s since had a smith add a beavertail, checker the mainspring housing, do a trigger job and a reblue. The markings look reasonable but are a little cleaner than most of the examples I’ve seen. I’m not too knowledgable on this sort of thing and I’m a little wary. Can anyone here look at the pictures and give me a yea or neigh? I’m not overly concerned about collectability. I understand that Arsenal rebuilds are not really collectable but if it’s really made out of Colt parts then it’s worth the guy’s asking price to me. If it’s some kind of Chinese counterfeit that I don’t know about I obviously don’t want it.

Here are the pics:

http://i1093.photobucket.com/albums/i424/invictus5475/IMG_3320.jpg

http://i1093.photobucket.com/albums/i424/invictus5475/IMG_3322.jpg

http://i1093.photobucket.com/albums/i424/invictus5475/IMG_3317.jpg

http://i1093.photobucket.com/albums/i424/invictus5475/IMG_3323.jpg

http://i1093.photobucket.com/albums/i424/invictus5475/IMG_3328.jpg

http://i1093.photobucket.com/albums/i424/invictus5475/IMG_3325.jpg

http://i1093.photobucket.com/albums/i424/invictus5475/IMG_3322.jpg

2

Unless you have some way of verifying the info he gave you, it doesn’t add to the value in any way. I would want to know who did the mods, disassemble to inspect it and fire the pistol. Even if everything is OK and verified, I wouldn’t pay over $550 for it, maybe less.

3

To me the modifications hurt the value. Value is also going to be dependent on the year it was manufactured. What is the serial # of the gun? I could not make it out from the picture. Also, the gun has some wear and scratches on it that also hurt the value. If you don’t mind me asking how much does he want for it?

4

He’s asking $750.

5

It’s a 1911 so I would say it’s WWI era.

6

So do you see anything that idicats it’s not an arsenal rebuild?

7

Go to: [b]Arsenal Rebuilds[/b]

8

It`s a Colt 1911 slide, 1911 frame, more than likely Colt. You would need to check the S/N against a list of those manufactured in WW1. Coolgunsite has a lot of info available. The AA on the frame is for Augusta arsenal, a rebuild facility. If the work done to it was done correctly you would have a decent shooter. I would not pay more than $600.00 myself.