In order to participate in the GunBroker Member forums, you must be logged in with your GunBroker.com account. Click the sign-in button at the top right of the forums page to get connected.

Old 45 autos

beltfedbeltfed Member Posts: 690 ✭✭✭
edited March 2003 in Ask the Experts
Hello Ya'll
Went to a yard sale this weekend and started talking to the guy about guns.One thing led to another and wound up doing some trading with the guy. I wound up with two 45 autos. One a colt it sez united states property m1911A U. S. ARMY. serial no 9265xx good to very good condtion. Heres whats diffrent the frame and slide have a little crown with B.N.P. stamped underneath.The top of the barrel is stamped with the crown and B.N.P 45" .900 underneath that it sez 7 tons per and a small square and two " hassh marks. Also sights are diffrent the rear are a lot higher and narrower they come up and like hook forward the front is a lot higher than the standard and has a small dimple or dot. The sights look miltary and not after market. The guy said he bought it from a vet years ago. Does anyone have any info on this gun? Is it british or from canada maybe? On the left side near slide release it's stamped G.M.D. Also wound up with a remington rand also marked U.S. PROPERTY M1911A serial no 19729xx not one scratch or wear mark on the gun at all. He had also bought this gun from a vet who had paperwork were he had been given the gun for some deed, but could not locate it. The guy I traded with use hold a ffl and we did bills of sale with driver license no's SO I feel he was stright up. And a good friend of mine lives near him and has bought and sold stuff to him befor. Any Ideas on the and what they might be worth? Also on the colt kinda underneath the M1911A and down from the B.N.P. it looks like two crossed crosses with three numbers in the open spaces around the crosses. I think the numbers are 1 3 8 ? Thankyou Beltfed

Comments

  • rldowns3rldowns3 Member Posts: 6,096
    edited November -1
    I'm no expert but it sounds like you got two nice older pieces there.
  • rufe-snowrufe-snow Member Posts: 18,649 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    The proof marks on your Colt are English. "BNP" under the "CROWN" is the proof mark that has been used by the Birmingham Proof House since 1955.
    The ".900" is the length of a .45 ACP chamber.
    The "7 tons per small square" denotes the proof presure per square inch.
  • p3skykingp3skyking Member Posts: 25,750
    edited November -1
    The BNP stands for "British Nitro Proof" and is either a Lend Lease (gift?) or a contract weapon. The UK marks and proofs everything. Early this century, they put "NOT BRITISH MAKE" on any foreign weapons inported. The 7 tonnes is just their way of telling the proofing load. It is a WWII marking. The GMD is an "accepted by" stamp for the US Government.

    The Remington Rand is pretty run of the mill, but was the best .45 made and least expensive Government Model during the war.

    As far as value, they are not pots of gold, but do fetch a bit now-a-days. Check current bids on GB.

    <P>
  • nmyersnmyers Member Posts: 16,875 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    The only thing that I disagree with skyking about is his suggestion that you get prices from GB.

    You might be comparing apples to oranges, since you don't know enough about .45s to determine the originality of finish & parts of your new guns. (Certainly the uneven sights of the Colt indicate that it's been messed with.) Besides, half of the .45s I see offered on GB are not accurately described. So, you'd be comparing something you don't know about to something that someone else doesn't know about.

    Assuming that your guns work, I would think that they would probably be worth in the $400-600 range. If (and that's a big IF) the Remington Rand is all original, it could be worth twice that.

    By the way, ALL vet bring-backs are stolen government property. However, so many .45s have been legally sold by the government that no one cares anymore, as long as the gun isn't on the DOJ stolen gun list.

    Neal
  • mark christianmark christian Forums Admins, Member, Moderator Posts: 24,456 ******
    edited November -1
    Are you sure that the marking is GMD? I have never heard of that inspector. Is it possible that the marking is GHD? That would be Lt. Col. Guy Drewry, who inspected (among other firearms) Colt .45, .38 and .22 caliber revolvers and automatics from 1930-57. Just curious to see if the markings are different than the usual.

    Mark T. Christian
Sign In or Register to comment.