Colt Govt. 45 question

Hustech

My aunt has a Colt Govt Model 45 that came from my Great-grandfather. He was in the Navy during WWI. The serial number is 79##, which dates back to 1912 issue. It has "United States Property" printed on the side. The gun is in absolutely great shape for its age.

I have read that many of these govt. issue handgus were re-built during the war and the slide may not match the gun. How would you know this? I would never part with the gun, but I would like to know the value for insurance purposes. Any history or information would be greatly appreciated.

Hawk Carse

It would originally have been blued, not Parkerized.
It would have the Colt "horsie" in a circle on the left rear of the slide and the latest patent date on the left side of the slide should be 1911, obviously not the 1913 shown on later guns.
There are a lot more fine details that go into authenticity, originality, and condition to determine dollar value. For example "absolutely great shape for its age" is not a recognized condition for establishing collector interest and dollar value. Its condition now is what counts. You can put a lot of wear on one in short order or you can take care of it for a long time.
Every single mark on the gun means something. It is not known any more what all of them mean, but a lot are very significant.
Short of buying reference books, you can get the most on the subject at: http://www.coolgunsite.com/

The best thing to do is to take good closeup pictures of the gun from both sides and disassembled* to show every mark on frame, slide, and barrel, and post them here and/or at
http://forums.1911forum.com/forumdisplay.php?f=30
http://forum.m1911.org/forumdisplay.php?f=81

*Be SURE you know how to at least field strip a 1911 without marring it up. If it does not already have an "idiot mark" under the slide stop from hasty reassembly, adding one now could cut hundreds of dollars off the value.

perry shooter

Hawk Is correct each and ever mark has a meaning for instance the Barrel Should have a H or Hp on the barrel and it needs to be in the correct place to be the original barrel that came in the pistol as issue. These pistols with it's original finish and original parts can even if the pistol shows some honest wear on the finish "not rust or pits" can be worth 10 times what a pistol that has been rebuilt by replacing parts like Barrels, Grips and hammer and sear and then refinished. If the serial is 6501-7500 then it was shipped to the navy if 7501-8500 then it was shipped to the army . does the right side of the slide read "model of 1911 us navy" [?]