US&S M1911 A1
Can anyone help me decipher the numbers on this 1911? From everything that I've researched on the US&S, it should have a 7 digit serial number on the frame. The one we have has US&S Swissvale PA USA on the left side of the slide. On the left side of the frame left of the slide lock is United States Property. To the right of and under the slide lock is EEC. The right side of the slide is stamped M 1911 A1 U.S. Army. On the right side of the frame to the left of the grip is a large B inside of a circle. To the left of where the slide lock end sticks through is NO 4893. Under that number is stamped R1 FK. And finally, to the left of the trigger the number 76 is stamped vertically. I haven't seen and cannot find anything remotely close to the numbers and letters stamped on this gun. I have pics of everything I've described and will gladly forward them to anyone who can help.
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The "Posting Photographs" thread at the beginning of this forum will show you how to post pics:
http://forums.gunbroker.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2592940 -
What you have is the proverbial "mixmaster."
That US&S WW II era 1911A1 slide is on a Remington-UMC 1911 receiver made in 1918; inspected and accepted for service under the authority of Major Edmund E. Chapman.
What looks like R1 is probably a poorly struck RIA. FK was Frank Krack, Assistant Foreman of the Inspection Division at Rock Island Armory during and shortly after WWII.
Your gun was most likely assembled during Rock Island Armory overhaul during WWII. They made no effort to keep parts of the same brand together, all they cared about was functional weapons.
Short of the big time reference books, there is good information at www.coolgunsite.com0 -
Will try to add the pics later tonight. Any clue what this mutt might be worth? I'm researching this for a friend from the Legion Post. Sadly, he let someone change the trigger, hammer, slide lock and safety to a chromed version. Will have to see if he still has the original parts. Thanks to all 0 -
It really does not matter MUCH about the chrome small parts The parkerized small parts are easy to find or for that matter any small parts that COULD be any vintage military would also not hurt the value , I take it this owner wants to keep the pistol. If this is in fact what he wants to do Value is a moot point. Now if he wants to sell this pistol IMHO he will get the most $$ by parting the pistol . sell the slide separate from the frame also separate the barrel and then but all the small parts together for the fourth sale. Your friends pistol will never have COLLECTOR value as a complete unit but a number of people might want just the frame just the slide or maybe even just the barrel. Just my $.02 0 -
I'm sure Larry plans on keeping this. He asked me to clean it and see if I could find any info on it or what is worth for insurance purposes. And hopefully, I'll do this right and the pic will be below. 
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It is getting to where a legitimate arsenal overhauled "mixmaster" is worth a good many hundred dollars. All the nice originals have been locked up in collections and there is nothing for the new guys to trade around but the rebuilds so they are gaining in price.
That assumes that the regulation small parts can be found. Bubba chrome is death to collectability.0 -
I'll pass all this along to Larry. Any clue what the EEC stands for? 0 -
Major Edmund E. Chapman, chief inspector for Remington-UMC military weapons.
Most of those other markings are factory inspection marks made by men long dead for records long lost.0 -
I am just about in shock [:0] about how quickly the replies have come in. I joined tonight in hopes of getting some info, but would have never guessed that anyone would have responded so quickly. You are all amazing. Thank you again to all!! [:D] 0 -
I am going to ask to access your knowledge one more time. With our help, I've gotten info on everything but 2 markings on this mixmaster. The coolgun web site is as fantast ic as this one is. The only info I'm lacking is the large B in a circle at the rear of the right side of the frame between the hammer and grip and the number 76 stamped vertically in large numbers between the trigger and front of the grip. Thank you again for sharing your wealth of knowledge. 0 -
I don't know what those specific markings are, but it is likely that they are factory inspector stamps.
More importantly, your frame & it's small parts were originally a high polish blue. I'm guessing that everything is now parkerized, normal for an arsenal rebuilt gun. If your friend is able to replace all the original small parts, I would guess that the market value of the pistol would be in the $600-800 range, assuming it has a good USGI barrel.
Neal0
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