M1911/A1 serial number

[hhnay]

Hello, I have reciently aquired a colt M1911 from my wifes grandfather. The serial number is on it and I have done as much research as to find who the original recipiant was but to no avail. It's got all the correct markings to be a millitary issued colt. The serial number is 772234. The story goes that my wifes grandfather went to a reunion some years back and a captain of his outfit gave it to him since he did not keep his. I was wondering if there is any way to find out who it orriginally was issued to by the serial number. If you have any suggestions please let me know. Heath Nay

[exitwounds]

You might try the sn# on the SRS (www.armscollectors.com/srs.htm), you may get a hit, if not it will show you the ten closest numbers above and below, which may or may not be useful. One of the others may be able to give you more specific info., I myself don't know any of those shipping records. Do you have any pictures, always interested in seeing a '42 Colt? :)

[hhnay]

sure i will upload them here in a few minutes. thanks for the info. would love to hear from others as well.

[Scott Gahimer]

1942 Colt 1911A1 772234 was originally issued to me...and I'd like to have it back! ;) Actually, there is no way of knowing who was issued the pistol unless you have firsthand knowledge of it. The military did not maintain those kinds of records.
The Springfield Research Service database consists of info taken primarily from the National Archives, and no info on this pistol is listed there. The nature of the database is NOT to be construed as complete shipping records, or even shipping records at all. It merely serves to show where specific weapons were on a specific date, or specific info about the weapon on that date, for example "lost/stolen" or "missing". Now and then you'll see a listing of someone's name beside a weapon's number, which may indicate an issue or sale. In those cases, one would have to pay SRS to locate the source document and issue a letter on it's content and provide a copy of the original source document.
Look forward to seeing your photos. If all original, those are some nice pistols in that serial range. I have a few guns all around that serial range.

[John]

This is very interesting Scott. Hhnay, please post some pictures of the pistol here. If you need help on posting them, check the FAQ link, above.

Rgds

[exitwounds]

Serial number 772234 was part of a contract for 90,000 weapons manufactured by Colt (Colt's Patent F.A. Mfg. Co.) and consisted of sn's 710001-800000. Reference:
O.O. 472/872 dated Sep. 5, 1941. I did not intend for the srs to be a source for shipping records, rather a source where you may have been able to find a little bit more information about the weapon.

[Scott Gahimer]

Just to narrow down the info provided by exitwounds a bit, this specific pistol was shipped to Springfirld Armory in a 2100 pistol shipment on April 17, 1942. The destination in the Colt records indicate Commanding General, Springfield Armory, but that is only a shipping address, and does not indicate in any way that the pistol was actually shipped to the Commanding General for his use or issue.
My clarification on the SRS database info was for Heath's benefit, as I'm sure exitwounds already knew that. Someone unfamiliar with SRS info commonly seems to confuse the info with shipping or procurement records. While SRS info does include some info taken from those types of records, they're not complete nor intended to represent shipping records, unless so stated on a specific weapon. This concept can be hard to grasp for a novice or non-collector who is researching a weapon and is unfamiliar with resources like SRS.