Make: Remington Rand

Model: M1911A1, CMP Service Grade

Serial Number: 1388788

Year of Manufacture: 1943

Caliber: .45 ACP

Action Type: Single Action Semi-Auto fed by Removable Magazine

Barrel Length: 5"

Sights / Optics: The front sight is a short serrated blade with a ramped rear face fixed to the slide. The rear sight is a square notch dovetailed into the slide. The rear sight has punch-marks on each corner of the notch and there are two punch-marks at the rear edge of the dovetail to peen the sight in place.

Stock Configuration & Condition: The grips are two-piece checkered brown Keyes Fibre panels with reinforcement rings around the screws and reinforcement ribs on the inside. The grips have fairly even handling wear, a little more notable in the right panel, with scattered nicks and scuffing. There are tool marks in the rings around the screws. The checkering is generally well defined. There are no chips or cracks. Overall, the grips are in about Very Good condition.

Type of Finish: Parkerized

Finish Originality: Arsenal Refurbished, the barrel is a post-war replacement.

Bore Condition: The post-war replacement barrel's chrome-lined bore is mostly bright with sharp rifling. There is no erosion in the bore, just a little stubborn fouling. In this writer's opinion, the bore rates 9/10.

Overall Condition: This pistol retains about 87% of its current metal finish. The finish is lightly thinning at most edges. There are some scattered light nicks, scuffs and scratches. The grip areas show handling wear. There is a light "idiot mark" under the slide stop on the left of the frame. The action shows operational wear. The screw heads range from sharp to tool marked with strong slots. The markings range from clear to worn and incomplete. Overall, this pistol is in Very Good-plus condition as Arsenal Refurbished, CMP rated the pistol Service Grade.

Mechanics: The action functions correctly. We have not fired this pistol. As with all used firearms, a thorough cleaning may be necessary to meet your maintenance standards.

Box, Paperwork & Accessories: This pistol comes in a tan plastic CMP branded case with a CMP Certificate of Authenticity, Army Technical Manual, cable lock, and single post-war 7-round magazine.

Our Assessment: The 1911 and 1911-A1 pistols served the military of the United States from 1911 to 1985, through two World Wars and the Korean and Vietnam wars. The design was the end-result of a series of developments by famous gun designer John Browning, starting with the Model 1900. The advances he made were revolutionary at the time, so successful that they are considered commonplace today. Browning not only developed a pivoting and then a tilting barrel for a locked system, he developed the concept of "the slide", now synonymous with semi-automatic handguns.

During the inter-war years, the design was further refined with an arched mainspring housing, relief-cuts behind the shortened trigger and some minor changes to other small parts, resulting in the 1911A1. This new model would be the US sidearm during WWII, and saw production by a few different companies. Production would be contracted to a typewriter company, Remington Rand, a company which made switches and signals for railroads, Union Switch & Signal, and one firearms manufacturer, Ithaca Gun Co. This example has a frame and slide made by Remington Rand in 1943 with a post-war replacement chrome-lined barrel.

It stayed in US inventory for some time, eventually being sold to the public by the Civilian Marksmanship Program in March of 2024 as a Service Grade. There are no markings to tell us where or when it was refurbished, but the chrome-lined bore would indicate it was well after the end of WWII. The pistol is in Very Good-plus condition, and with its good bore and strong mechanics, would be well worth adding to a collection, especially for those who missed out on the CMP's release of these pistols. Please see our photos and good luck!