US&S 1911

[cdcourson]

Hello all,
This is my first post as I have been just observing for quite a while, please pardon any breach in etiquette.
I am fairly new to the handgun scene however I have enjoyed shooting long rifles and shotguns for quite some time. I have inherited my Dad's USGI 1911 and have done some research on the weapon and to me it appears to be a "right" US&S with no apparent armory rework. The pistol does appear to be fairly lightly used and well-cared for despite it's age. I did take it out and fired 100 rounds though the weapon without a hiccup. A very smooth shooting pistol indeed. After doing my research and coming to an understanding of how valuable the US&S 1911 is I decided to clean the gun and store it properly and not use it as a shooter. I promptly did some more research on this forum to identify a reasonably priced 1911 in .45 to use as a shooter and bought a Rock Island Tactical. I have been blazing away with it and have not been dissapointed.
I did want to post some images of the US&S to get some feedback on the gun. The images I currently have are not the best but let's see how this goes.....

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn311/cdcourson/DSCF0674.jpg
http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn311/cdcourson/DSCF0675.jpg
http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn311/cdcourson/DSCF0676.jpg
http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn311/cdcourson/DSCF0677.jpg
http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn311/cdcourson/DSCF0678-1.jpg

I hope the photos posted okay, any thoughts, opinions, or feedback would be greatly appreciated. I would also like to say that this forum is an awsome resource and I am grateful for the knowledge imparted by all the participants.

CD Courson

[Hawkmoon]

I'm not expert enough to risk commenting on the correctness of the pistol, but it looks great and the fact your father carried it in the military makes it irreplaceable anyway. I applaud your decision to preserve it and shoot a shooter.

Welcome to the forum.

[Gator Monroe]

Get a Correct "period" :geek: USGI pistol belt ,holster & mag pouch and your in buissness !

[socaldan]

It looks like a 1943, and a beautiful heirloom.
hopefully its future is as kind to it as its past.

[TattooPaul]

From the pics posted it appears correct. They are great finds and from what I see, it appears to be a very nice one. If you pull the grips they should have reinforcing ribs with a "K" inside a star (Keyes Fibre Co. supplied US&S) and the narrow rings around the grips look correct. The hammer looks correct. The trigger is a stamped one and in mid-'43 is when the switch was made to that from the milled ones. Thumb safety, slide stop, etc. look correct as well.


Congratulations and welcome aboard!

[Gator Monroe]

From the pics posted it appears correct. They are great finds and from what I see, it appears to be a very nice one. If you pull the grips they should have reinforcing ribs with a "K" inside a star (Keyes Fibre Co. supplied US&S) and the narrow rings around the grips look correct. The hammer looks correct. The trigger is a stamped one and in mid-'43 is when the switch was made to that from the milled ones. Thumb safety, slide stop, etc. look correct as well.


Congratulations and welcome aboard! Which company had reinforcing ribs inside the grips that had the number 2 on them ????????????????/

[Scott Gahimer]

The pistol is original finish and correct as manufactured, as far as I can see. It looks good to me. I too applaud your decision to preserve this pistol and buy another modern one to shoot.
BTW, you don't necessarily need to remove the grips to see the markings and ribs on the inside. Just shine a light up the mag well and take a look.
The US&S trigger is different from other manufactured stamped triggers used in WWII pistols. The checkering runs top to bottom without the border on US&S triggers, and the bright polished blue finish is the first thing to look for.

[rondawg]

Man, how sweet is that?!?! What a priceless heirloom! I tip my hat to you sir, for your decision to preserve it, and congrats on your Rock Island! Thanks for sharing the photos!

[lenb]

You've got a beautiful example of a US&S there! I sure love the DuLite finished guns. Thanks for sharing this one with us!

[drollerindy]

The number 2 on the inside of the grips is a mold number. It is nice if both grips came from the same mold, but I'm not sure it's bad if they didn't.

Doug

[Scott Gahimer]

It is highly unlikely to ever see a set of grips with the same mold numbers on each slide.
The molds were numbered in order to quickly identify the mold in case of a problem. There was no effort made to match grips by mold number. We don't even know if there were ever mating left/right molds with the same numbers at the same time during production. I don't think there were, because I don't recall seeing them mated up on pistols.

[Gator Monroe]

The number 2 on the inside of the grips is a mold number. It is nice if both grips came from the same mold, but I'm not sure it's bad if they didn't.

Doug
Thanx Doug ...

[TattooPaul]

Is there a star inside either, or both of them?

[lenb]

I agree that one doesn't usually find matching numbers on the left and right Keye's grips, but I actually have a mid production Ithaca that seems to be all original, and it has both left and right early non-reinforcing ring grips with the same number 2. It surprised me that they actually matched, and I guess it was probably co-incidence that they do.

[BT2012]

Thanks for sharing your pics with us. Your US&S is beautiful and I'm glad to hear you are going to preserve it. This is a priceless piece of history you own.

[Gator Monroe]

I will trade you an 81 El Camino (Completly Original) for it ! :bf:

[bgiven]

I agree that one doesn't usually find matching numbers on the left and right Keye's grips, but I actually have a mid production Ithaca that seems to be all original, and it has both left and right early non-reinforcing ring grips with the same number 2. It surprised me that they actually matched, and I guess it was probably co-incidence that they do.

Len,

Wouldn't those grips be for an earlier production Ithaca....????? I'm assuming your mid-production is a 1944.....

Bob

[TattooPaul]

Ribs made there appearance around - mid 1943, but until they used up up previous stock, they could have either. Keyed brand will have a star, nonetheless…