Colt/Remington UMC Pistol
Quite a while ago I acquired a Model 1911 with a Colt frame and a Remington UMC slide. At that time I knew even less about these guns and for years assumed it was a Remington UMC. At a gun show a dealer pointed out that the frame, numbered in the 450,000's was a Colt/Springfield. The pistol appears to be original, everything except the slide being Colt, and the barrell marked with the H/P combination. A few years ago I posted on another gun forum and asked the question as to how this combination occurred. Most of the answers thought it was due to sloppy reassembly after field stripping but two remembered reading articles which said that in 1918 after the government cancelled the Remington UMC contract for 1911's, there were slides left over which were shipped to Springfield Armory and used there with Colt frames. Do any of you 1911 afficionados have any thoughts on this?
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It would be easier to answer your question if we knew the finish on the slide & frame. Since both parts were originally blue, if they are now parkerized it means that the gun has been through at least 1 arsenal rebuild; it was common for parts to be switched or replaced during this process.
If both parts are blue, most likely the parts were switched during a "cleaning party", or during some low level ordnance work. No one in the service was concerned with keeping all parts matched in any gun. While some Colt frames were shipped to at least one other manufacturer, some of the markings would likely have been removed & restamped. Excess slides certainly could have been used by SA for rebuilds and repairs.
Neal0 -
Both parts are blue. 0 -
Although spare frames were provided to the War Dept by manufacturers, the serial # of yours indicates that it was made as a complete pistol by Colt in 1918. It is highly unlikely that Colt would have used any parts other than theirs at that time.
There is a remote possibility that the slide was switched during testing of interchangability, but that can never be proven. There's the more likely possibility that your gun was commercially reblued at some time. We'd need to see some high quality digital photos to tell that. Or, you might want to buy "Collector's Guide to Colt .45 Service Pistols" by Charles W. Clawson. If your gun's finish is really original, there's a (remote) chance you might be able to locate the correct slide. You might also want to post your question on the M1911/M1911A1 forum at www.jouster.com.
Neal0 -
Yes, thanks very much for the information. 0 -
Also, many 1911s and A1s were "batch cleaned" and reassembled in no particular order.
All military Boot Camps (Army, Navy, Marine, & Coast Guard) required recuits to "Qualify" with the .45 Auto (7 rounds in the general direction of a target, and if you don't kill anybody accidentally, you "qualify").
These guns (as many as 25 at a time) were then field stripped, and the upper parts were dunked in a tank of GI Bore Cleaner, the barrels were given two swipes of a bore brush, the parts were air-blown dry, lubed, and reassembled (in no particular order). After all, the parts are interchangeable, aren't they?
Been there, done that....U.S. Navy Recruit Training Center, Bainbridge, MD, 1st Btn., Co. 66, Class of '550 -
There is another simple answer. Most of the 45s around today were sold to NRA members via the DCM in the 60's. Even though they were clasified as "userviceable", the delivering arsenals tore them down and checked them over for broken parts. This resulted in many of them not matching. 0
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