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Sidearms & Scatterguns My Mother-in-law found this in a closet....

BamaAl

BamaAl

Private
Full Member
Minuteman
Feb 26, 2012
2
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55
Harvest, AL
Recently my father-in-law passed away. He was a "collector" (aka hoarder
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) and had told stories about a 1911 his grandfather carried on D-Day that he supposedly still had. But we had never seen it and he wasn't the type to show off his stuff. Low and behold my mother-in-law is looking through a linen closet today and finds this. Colt M1911A1, US Army. Checked the serial number and the mfg date and is 1943! It had 4 mags. Two loaded with ammo headstamped WCC 82 and 1 loaded with ammo headstamped ECS 43. Near as I can tell that ECS headstamp means Evansville Chrysler, Sunbeam Ordinance plant and the rounds were manufactured in 1943. Just stunned at this whole thing. It's in amazing condition.

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Re: My Mother-in-law found this in a closet....

Thats some nice family history. Imagine what that rig has seen.
 
Re: My Mother-in-law found this in a closet....

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: NorthernBorn</div><div class="ubbcode-body">That's awesome!

What was it doing in a linen closet though? lol </div></div>

It's not anymore!
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Re: My Mother-in-law found this in a closet....

Sorry the pics aren't posting. No idea what I'm doing wrong.
 
Re: My Mother-in-law found this in a closet....

It is indeed US Army issue. It is going to my brother-in-law as soon as he can get over here to get it. The barrel is dirty as hell but is cleaning up nicely.. Just needs a little TLC.
 
Re: My Mother-in-law found this in a closet....

I don't know much about these guns. How can you tell the grips aren't original? They appear to be bakelite if I had to guess.
 
Re: My Mother-in-law found this in a closet....

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: BamaAl</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I don't know much about these guns. How can you tell the grips aren't original? They appear to be bakelite if I had to guess.</div></div>

the shape is NOT the smallest clue, but even the "plastic" issue grips were brown
 
Re: My Mother-in-law found this in a closet....

They may be period(ish) grips though. You can find grips if you wanted to make it original, but that only hurt sale value, not family meaning.
 
Re: My Mother-in-law found this in a closet....

Yeah, i bet my brother-in-law will leave it as is. What the hell, he isn't going to sell it. It will pass on to his son someday. Who knows, the original grips might be in the house somewhere. We know there are at least two more pistols hidden somewhere in the house. And based on some conversations he and I had i have a sneaky suspicion there is a 1903 buried somewhere that he used to shoot matches with back in the 60's. so far i've found two 1903 stocks and a box of targets older than me. Even found an ammo box full of military surplus 308 blanks. There is a vintage shoooting coat hiding somewhere that he told me about. He was an interesting character!
 
Re: My Mother-in-law found this in a closet....

I'm very jealous right now. What a find ! That should stay in your family forever regardless of value .
 
Re: My Mother-in-law found this in a closet....

Very, very cool.

Nice to see things like this turn up from time to time.
 
Re: My Mother-in-law found this in a closet....

Better than what my mother found in my old closet... awkward
 
Re: My Mother-in-law found this in a closet....

this proves there are some good things coming out of the closet once in a while.
 
Re: My Mother-in-law found this in a closet....

Damn wish I could find some stuff in a closet worth 2k-4k

A rare find for sure
 
Re: My Mother-in-law found this in a closet....

Great find. Wish there was stuff like that in my closet.
 
Re: My Mother-in-law found this in a closet....

Yes never let that go. Family history is huge, I shot a lever action rifle that was my wife's great great grandfather's, it is so cool to shoot a firearm that old.

Down side, my wife's hippie sister got it when my father in law passed, I have always told her that when she is hard up for money, look my way so it stays in the family.
 
Re: My Mother-in-law found this in a closet....

That's a beautiful piece of history you've uncovered. Congrats, and way to keep it in the family.
 
Re: My Mother-in-law found this in a closet....

Yep, I live in evansville and that is the ammo that was made here. It is ball ammo and steel cased. Cool find.
 
Re: My Mother-in-law found this in a closet....

wow thats cool stuff.my dad has a 1911a1 from that era he happened up on a long time ago. he wrote colt and gave serial number and they sent him the history of the gun.(maybe this service is still available) it was purchased by curtis/wright export company from colt for a pilot who flew for their company.number of guns in shipment: 1.never thought much about it till i googled curtis wright export. very interesting.
 
Re: My Mother-in-law found this in a closet....

Cool find and sorry for the loss! Sounds like he was quite the guy with stuff like that stashed away!
 
Re: My Mother-in-law found this in a closet....

Damn nice looking gun with a whole lot of history! The grips look like Rogers grips that were popular in the 80's for IPSC, very comfortable, I still have a set.
 
Re: My Mother-in-law found this in a closet....

WCC is Winchester Cartridge Company. Just last year we were seeing new Army stock marked WCC 97. This year I have a case that is WCC 02 or 04 I believe. This is in the system and not milsurp.

Never seen grips like that. My suggestion would be to post on the 1911 forum. Go under the manufacturer sub-forums and pick out USGI. Post it in there. The collectors and hoarders will be able to tell you EVERYTHING about that pistol. Down to each part and mark on each part.

And yes, WCC 82 is 1982 manufacturer ammo.

TTR
 
Re: My Mother-in-law found this in a closet....

You are lucky indeed to be able to have that pistol in your family, both for historical value and as a heirloon.
 
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