M1911a1 ID help please!!

[bees03]

Recently acquired a NM and need a little help. I believe it was made by ithica about 1943 and later taken out of service and re-done as a national match See what you think?
United States Property No1228843 on right side of frame with the number"1" on the right front of the trigger guard.
There are the initials "FJA" on the left side just below the slide release and a "P" just below the mag release. There is a "+" on the left front of the trigger guard.
The slide has NM 7791435 on the left side with an Elliason rear sight with no other markings. Am I close?

[exitwounds]

The frame is a '43 Ithaca as you stated, FJA is the inspector mark of Frank J. Atwood, Col. the number 1 and + are factory inspection/proofs used after about sn 900000. To be a true NM rebuild the weapon should have NM stamped on the frame, and the rebuild arsenal stamp (SA or RIA) in addition to other markings and features depending on when it was built. I attached some detailed drawings showing the dates and features of NM pistols. I believe www.coolgunsite.com also has pictures and details of NM pistols.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y231/m67/NMSlideFrame.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y231/m67/NMSlide.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y231/m67/NM45details.jpg

[John]

Is this a USGI pistol, or a Commercial one?

[exitwounds]

Is this a USGI pistol, or a Commercial one?

From the serial number bees03 has an Ithaca frame (USGI), the charts I supplied are for NM pistols built from USGI weapons.

[John]

Pardon my ignorance, but were they any NM USGI pistols? In other words, did US Army ever bought NM pistols, instead of the standard 1911 and 1911A1?

[Johnny Peppers]

The Ithaca marking, UNITED STATES PROPERTY, serial number, and FJA all indicate that this was and is a military pistol. Springfield Armory and Rock Island Arsenal both converted these pistols into match pistols for the Camp Perry matches. In addition to the NM pistols built from standard military issue pistols, commercial pistols were also bought by the government. Most of these pistols exhibit either U.S. or U.S. PROPERTY, making them military pistols also.

[PZ93C]

Pardon my ignorance, but were they any NM USGI pistols? In other words, did US Army ever bought NM pistols, instead of the standard 1911 and 1911A1?

No. As far as I know, the US pistol team had match pistols built from exhisting frames. However, there were new National Match slides made by Drake, IIRC.

Brian

Nevermind. I see Johnny's reply. I guess there were new NNM pistols bought by the Govt.

Johnny, what vintage are the commercial NM pistols bought and are any confirmed pistols in collectors hands?

[Johnny Peppers]

Bill Jenkins has a good book, "U.S. Military Match and Marksmanship Automatic Pistols", which shows a lot of the commercial pistols purchased by the various branches of the military for their pistol teams.

[bees03]

Thanks all, this is great info and is a great help. Although this pistol has all of the Ithaca marks on frame and what I believe is a genuine match slide, it has none of the marks consistent with factory rebuild match weapon and in fact has a mark IV barrel and 4 prong collet vs a serial numbered bushing and barrel with is common for a NM. This is a nice weapon but not at all what I thought it was. I have learned some valuable lessons from this although I have had great fun doing the research.