I’m seriously considering buying a 1943 Remington Rand 1911A1 (serial NO 1285XXX) that someone I know is selling for a friend’s estate sale. Story has it the guy who passed had it given to him by his grandfather who served in WWII (not sure what capacity). I’ve looked it over at it’s condition is fantastic. The inner barrel looks superb and marked HS with a P on the other side (may be slightly larger than the P stamp found near the safety button…I can’t really tell). The inside of the frame near the hammer has what looks like a 6 or a 9. Towards the front of the frame is a U and possibly an E or a 3? It also has the FJA stamp behind the trigger near the top of the handle. Also has the Ordinance Dept stamp but is a light stamp. It comes with 8 mags (some with R, S, and possibly another letter I can’t recall). I didn’t break it down too far because I don’t yet own it or have experience stripping a 1911. I understand a 95-100% original is worth some bucks but rare. This gun came with a US service leather holster in great condition made by Warren Leather in 1918. Inside looks to be identification initials and a seven digit number of who carried it. It makes me think this was brought back to the States by a soldier and may be quite a find. I’d really like to learn the history of this gun and approximate what it might be worth. Any advice or direction you could give would be very much appreciated.
That is a beautiful pistol in fantastic condition. The hammer pin is indeed installed incorrectly but can be fixed in a couple of minutes. If asking price is less than $700 as you posted I’d knife anyone between me and it to buy it.
A Remington-Rand in that kind of condition can go anywhere from $1200 to $2000.
Big thanks to both Ttwwaack and Sinister! I agree Sinister, I’m hungry for comments like the one you made. I feel like a kid getting his first BB gun. Super excited this opportunity fell on my lap! Do you guys know where I can find documentation on how to field strip this gun?
Buy it ! If you are going to shoot it get a Wolf recoil & firing pin spring. And please don`t change a thing, it looks all original. The WW 1 holster looks great . A light application of Neetsfoot oil on the exterior and your done. Good luck.
So I shouldn’t fire it on the original recoil and firing pin spring? I don’t plan to make this a shooter, but I do want to see if it will function before I buy it. Plus the itch to fire a historical WWII era 1911 is unbearable…especially after holding this bad boy. Feels damn good in my hands.
You could, but play it safe. The Wolf spring kits are available on gunsprings.com, i believe.I use wolfs springs in my 1917 & 1918 Colts.Use standard ball ammo you should be fine. This pistol is an excellent find, good luck to you again.
Don’t replace anything. If you want to shoot it, just shoot it.people needlessly replace shit all the time because the interwebs said so. Chances are it has less than 2k through it at most and has sat around for 60+ years. When you start tossing parts in, regardless of how temporary or easy to install they are, it’s just another opportunity to fuck it up in some way or another. Enjoy a fine piece of history!
While I don’t buy in to replacing springs a whole lot, in this car it makes sense. You are dealing with 70 year old springs in a gun that has only partially heat treated slide. Some at 1911.org advise no shooting at all but I do shoot my 1918 era gun but did replace recoil and firing pin springs. If you were to damage this old classic it would not be easy to replace. Only use factory ball or light reloads no plus p or hollow point stuff.