Need an Ithaca Xpert

[Mark Hitchcock]

I am looking at purchasing a 1943 Ithaca serial 907247. 98%, Dulite finish, M1911 A1 U.S. Army on the right side of slide, crossed cannons on right rear, USP above S/N, M1911A1 US Army forward of slide stop hole.
Left side FJA, "P" under mag release, Ithaca Gun Co Inc Ithaca, N.Y. , "P" in front of rear sight. What's it worth and where's it been?
Springfield Research says it's within 10 pistols that went to OSS Singapore, and within 47 pistols that went to USS Octans. Mark

[bgiven]

Mark....Did you verify that this is a FJA Ithaca frame, and not a FJA Rand frame ??? I had a friend recently show me a new purchase.... that ended in disaster. BG

[Mark Hitchcock]

Thanks, Bob, I failed to mention that the frame has the stamp of the flaming bomb inside recoil spring well. The slide also has the same marking under the firing pin stop. Mark

[Johnny Peppers]

Remington Rand production did not start until 916405.

[Mark Hitchcock]

Thanks, guys. Now that we have the Ithaca vs RR out of the way, does anyone have any value info or where the gun might have been?
Karl Karash (spelling) 2006 price guide says for a Excellent $1,700.00, add 20% for Model 1911a1 US Army on the slide, and add 15% for Dulite. That puts it in the $2,300 ranage. What say you????????????

[exitwounds]

Mark, even though the pistol is close to certain numbers on the srs, the information is meaningless unless there is a direct hit. Close is only good enough for hand grenades and horseshoes. It is very likely the pistol in excellent condition (95% plus) would fetch that amount, especially on one of the auction sites. I recently saw an Ithaca in the 120xxxx range in excellent condition sell for $2k at a local gun show.

[Mark Hitchcock]

Thanks Exit. I have seen other post of different 1911/1911a1s, where some members have had information about the history of a gun whose S/N did not make a direct hit on SRS either. I was just curious if someone might have that kind of infor on this one too. I'd sure like to make it a Navy, but it is what it is.

Also, do you have any info on when Ithaca went from checkered slide stop, thumb safety and MSH, to serrated? My Clawson just says early models and late models. This one has the serrated and I have a set of checkered. Just wondering if I should change them out. Mark

[bgiven]

Mark, The first serial number range that was shipped to the Navy from Ithaca, was 1209150 - 1274132 in March of 1944. There were subsequent shipments to the Navy as noted in Clawson, but since Ithaca did not start to ship consecutive serial numbers until serial number 1442252, the only way to verify a Navy Ithaca, in those first shipments, is to have a copy of the corresponding shipping documents with a bill of lading, and a packing list that shows individual serial numbers.

According to Harrison, checkered to serrated was phased in late 1944 . BG

[exitwounds]

Thanks Exit. I have seen other post of different 1911/1911a1s, where some members have had information about the history of a gun whose S/N did not make a direct hit on SRS either. I was just curious if someone might have that kind of infor on this one too. I'd sure like to make it a Navy, but it is what it is.

Also, do you have any info on when Ithaca went from checkered slide stop, thumb safety and MSH, to serrated? My Clawson just says early models and late models. This one has the serrated and I have a set of checkered. Just wondering if I should change them out. Mark


The serrated slide stop and thumb safety, have been observed after about serial number 880000 on Dulite finished pistols and only Ithaca used serrated thumb safeties. I may be going out on a limb here but I believe the serrated msh started in the 1.2M range. The SRS is updating their database regularly and you may at some point in time get a hit (or not), if you check periodically.