This pistol was also included in the very first shipment of 50 pistols sent to Springfield Armory on 4 January 1912. Only the first 51 of these iconic pistols were produced in the year for which they are named, making this example a 'true' Model of 1911. Contract Colt Model 1911 pistol, serial number 21, is one of the earliest we have ever had the pleasure of offering at here at Rock Island Auction Company, topped only by serial number 14 in our September 2021 Premier Auction. Seriously unbelievable.Assembled on 28 December 1911, this U.S. What an amazing piece of engineering to be 100+ years old and compete with modern pistols at an elite level with so little modification. I've only very recently started learning about all three of them and I can't even believe how much fun it is to be into 1911s. This was one of three (out of 50+) guns we saved from my father-in-law's estate 16 years ago. Wow, I've gone down a real rabbit hole here. For that reason I realize I don't want to use it as a range gun much longer, and I really like the idea of buying a gun that's a century older, but with the same design. I'm seriously infatuated with this gun's history and I want to keep my 1913 in firing condition forever. My next purchase will almost certainly be a 2013 made Colt Government model. I realized too late that I was talking about a Les Baer on a Colt forum hahaha. Thanks again to the advice here I have placed a recoil absorber into the gun, and tomorrow I plan to put 300 rounds through it at the range.

They wooden grips look and feel much better than the plastic ones, and since I plan to use the gun I cant see a reason to keep using the inferior plastic grips due to collectibilty. The wooden ones are debatably closer to the original 1913 stocks than the WWII plastic ones refitted at Augusta.

If I was going to show it to a collector or try to sell it, I could easily put the plastic ones back on.

I understand that the plastic stocks are the 'original' (replacement) stocks and the wooden versions I added are not.

Model of 1911 us army serial numbers