What ever happen to all those 1911s?

[nognig]

I thinking to myself today, what ever happen to all those WW2 1911s? There were literally millions produced and they would all qualify as C&R now.

Did they sell them off quickly after the war? Are there still a lot in use?

Anyone?

NN

[Bushbacker]

Close to 2 million 1911A1s were produced in WWII. They were used during WWII, Korea, Vietnam and up until the late 80s. None have been produced for the military since WWII so the existing ones were rebuilt over & over. Many of course were lost in combat, too beaten up to repair, stolen, sent to other countries, taken as souvenirs, etc., etc. Some were destroyed during the Clinton adminstration. There just aren't big stocks of them sitting around. I seem to recall a few were rebuilt and modified and are currently in use with some special ops units.

[Yamadad]

Gone, gone, gone. :shocked: :crying:

[js1392]

They are some still in active duty service (MEUSOC or Nat'l Match guns). The rest are in people's homes, museums, police property rooms, and at the bottoms of lakes and rivers. Many of them have been melted down after being used in a crime or turned in after a "gun amnesty". There's probably quite a few under potato fields in Europe, rusting away in the jungles of the S. Pacific, and at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. Undoubtedly, some gang banger out there is carrying one somewhere. When I was a young police officer, I had to book one into our property room, after a guy threatened another guy with one. It was a Colt 1911 from around 1917. I'm certain that it got melted down. I almost cry anytime I think of it. Fortunately, one 2,000,000 serial range Colt, will be passed down to my son.

[Rick O'Shay]

The German U-boats sank hundreds and hundreds of merchant ships in the Atlantic, transporting munitions and supplies to the Allies. I shudder to think about all the Garands, BARs, M1 carbines, 1911A1s, machine guns, and Thompsons that never made it into battle and now rest at the bottom of the sea.

I have often wondered about lend-lease as well. I know we "loaned" plenty of Garands and M1 carbines to a long list of countries, but I've never seen information on the 1911s.

[Butch]

Originally posted by Bushbacker
Some were destroyed during the Clinton adminstration.
Brilliant huh?

SPEND a 'million' tax dollars to get rid of something that could have been sold - LEGALLY - for a 'million' dollars......

This obviously used to be a K-38 S&W target revolver:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0603/ButchG17/Smith-Wesson/CutupK38.jpg


:patriot:

[Rockrivr1]

Hummmmm. Weren't most of them still packed in grease when they were shipped and then sunk while heading over. I wonder if there may be a "mystery" box in a sunken ship somewhere filled with still good firearms. We'll one can dream can't they?

[Butch]

Originally posted by Rockrivr1
Hummmmm. Weren't most of them still packed in grease when they were shipped and then sunk while heading over. I wonder if there may be a "mystery" box in a sunken ship somewhere filled with still good firearms. We'll one can dream can't they?
Funny you should mention that.....I found these at the Springfield Armory Museum when I was there in 2002:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0603/ButchG17/Springfield/45s.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0603/ButchG17/Springfield/M1M2containers.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0603/ButchG17/Springfield/M-3s.jpg


:patriot:

[SeriousStudent]

Wow! You can have that barrel of 1911's. I call dibs on that Ma Duece in the tall silver barrel. :)

[MrBruceWayne]

As wasteful as it may be to think about all those weapons that had gone down in the Atlantic, I feel a whole lot worse thinking of the Merchant Marines that went down along with all those unissued firearms.