British Contract Colt 1911 RAF

[varifleman]

Here for your viewing pleasure are photos of my WWI RAF British military proofed Colt 1911. It was one of 400 pistols shipped to Captain Sir Connop Guthrie, Pier 60, North River NY NY on March 12, 1918. Guthrie was the Special Representative for the British Ministry of Shipping in the U.S. and a member of the U.S. Shipping Commission in 1918. It has the view mark for G.W.R. Steadman, British Inspector at the Colt New Haven Factory and the British Broad Arrow and Crossed Pennant military acceptance marks. Serial number is W 100744.

[tipperary]

Thumbnails lead only to site log in page,john

[TonyE]

Have Colt given you the definite shipping details? Colt seemed to have shipped the pistols in mixed serial number order, so unless Colt have confirmed that W100744 was in that batch of 400 on 12th March 1918 it could also have been on any one of several shipments between March and August 1918.

Strictly speaking of course these are not Model 1911 pistols as this refers specifically to the US military model in .45ACP caloibre. They are actually "Colt Government Model" pistols.

Regards

TonyE

[varifleman]

Hi Tonye; Thanks for your remarks. Yes, the Colt Archives letter confirms that pistol No. 100744 was included in the 12 March 1918 shipment of 400 pistols. I'm waiting for a few more Colt letters for further details on my Colt Pocket Model 1903 .38 ACP pistol shipped to London Agency in 1915; British Contract Colt Govvernment Model .45 ACP No. 13731 owned by 1st Lt. G.C. Wilkins (1918 Harvard graduate) and shipped to London Agency in late 1914 - early 1915, and Colt British Contract Government Model W 9212 apparently shipped in 1917. Has any further research been done on the "J.J." marking found on my 1903 PM and other Colt pistols shipped to London? The most recent imformation I've found is the the J.J. may be the initials of James Joseph Goodbody, the managing director of Colt's London Agency at that time, or of the initials of an inspector at Enfield Lock.

[Lancashire Fusilier]

Varifleman,

In connection with another Colt M1911 pistol I was investigating, Colt provided me with the following information :-

Colt M1911 British RAF Contract: S/N W91,100 to W110,696 = Jan. 22, 1918 to April 28, 1919 (Approx. 10,000 pistols were shipped to the Royal Air Force from this serial number range and were .455 Webley caliber.)

Regards,

LF

[TonyE]

varifleman - Presumably your .45ACP Colt serial No.13731 is in the "C" series and if so was shipped to the London Armoury Company, as you say, between 19th November 1914 and 22nd June 1915. These are the dates of shipments that include your serial number in the range shipped. Beyond that it is now impossible to tell. These are not British government contract pistols, as they were ordered and paid for by the LAC, mainly for private purchase by officers such as your man. It seems likely that some were then purchased by the government from LAC for the Royal Navy.

What evidence is available suggests that the "JJ" stamp is indeed the initials of J.J.Goodbody. It will not be an Enfield inspector since unlike in the US, British inspectors used a number not initials. The early Colt deliveries were inspected at Enfield and had a Crown over "E" over inspector's number. Later guns were inspected at the factory by british inspectors and had a Crown over "A" (for America) over a number. Lord Reith, later Chairman of the BBC, was a small Arms inspector in the US but his number is not known.

The other serial number you quote for a .455 inch British contract pistol, W 9212, is incomplete as the serial numbers for the .455 inch pistols start at W19001.

LF - your information is also incomplete. The 10,000 pistols quoted were from Contacts U.S.1139-MM67 (5,000 pistols and 15,000 magazines) and U.S.6755-MM264 (10,000 pistols and 30,000 magazines and cancelled in April 1919 after delivery of 5,000 pistols and 24,000 magazines). Prior to this was Contract 94/P/952 for 500 pistols shipped on 26th June 1916 (Serial Nos. W29117-W47115) and Contract 94/P/1118 for 1,700 pistols shipped between 7th September 1916 and 6th April 1917 (Serial Nos. W40460 -W97000). In addition there was a further Air Service order (no contract number given) for 500 pistols shipped in October and November 1917 (Serial Nos. W91500-W100100)

The earliest orders for .455 Colt pistols are from the LAC, 200 on 19th July 1915 (Serial Nos. W19001-W19200) and 400 pistols on 10th January 1916 (Serial Nos. W29001-W29444), but again these were a commercial order and not a government contract.

Thus in total there were 13,300 .455 inch Government Model pistols shipped by Colt in 1915-1919.

Regards

TonyE

[Lancashire Fusilier]

TonyE,

Excellent and very detailed information as usual.

Regards,

LF

[varifleman]

Tonye: thanks for your remarks; comp,ete serial number is 92124. Source for the J.J. information is "The Model 1911 and Model 1911A1 Military and Commercial Pistols" by Joe Poyer (2008) page 30. I'll repost photos of W 100744 as soon as I can modify existing photos or take new digital photos. Cheers