Questions about care for a 1917 Colt 1911 & Value

Delkancott

Delkancott

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It show some rusting and while I don't want to restore it, what is the best way to care for it? Please consider that I'm an uber-novice. Also, there has been talk of selling it and I was wondering if anyone here knew a potential value for it or a way to determine so. It has the original US sheath (in rough shape) and two mags.

Thanks


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Please consider selling your left arm before you sell that beautiful piece of military history.

It should be cleaned up, evaluated by a gunsmith and shot immediately!

PS - If it doesn't fit into your list of keepers, let us know! I'm sure there will be quite a few folks here interested.

*
 
Leave it as is and oil it to prevent future corrosion. It has character. It's been there and bought the T-shirt and it has the scars to prove it.
 
Mike-Mike said:
Leave it as is and oil it to prevent future corrosion. It has character. It's been there and bought the T-shirt and it has the scars to prove it.
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I agree with this. It is an item from a past era which has survived, scarred but intact. Keep it and protect it from further problems.
 
Questions about care for a 1917 Colt 1911 & Value

Thanks for the replies all. It isn't on the block so to speak, but I am definitely curious of its value.


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That is an incredible find. Value to one man is nothing to another. Get miltiple opinions, oil the heck out of it after a thorough cleaning and shoot it. Show it off too.

-Proud to be dad every day, a licensed plumber most days, and wish I was a shoemaker on others.
 
[wink]Nice find that snooze button is very cool. Like to see the rest of the radio....get that rusty gun out of the way.

Great find. Time to talk to some older family members. I thought I had all my guns when my dad past away. Later found some older guns berried deep in the closet along with a bunch of ammo when we cleaned out his closet.....nice find there. For being stored in a barn it is in decent shape. I would let Gregg Derr take a look at it clean it up proper. He could recommend someone closer if Derr is to far.
I have seen guns like that with crusty holsters go for 1200+ some even more....heck it looks to be darn close to original.
 
Yes, for sure have someone like Greg Derr look at it before doing anything to it. And I think any sort of "restoration" would reduce its value. The patina is awesome.

That's a nice find and a beautiful piece of history there.
 
Hopefully you are in a free state (DO NOT ANSWER THAT!) and will never need to register it.
Because if you did, somebody could concievably take that away from you.

God has give you the gift of freedom on this holy day.
Clean it, cherish it and learn shoot it so it may never be taken from you by force.
 
Questions about care for a 1917 Colt 1911 & Value

Thanks for all the replies everyone. I received some Hoppe's Oil in the mail yesterday and will field strip it and oil it tomorrow. Regarding use, it is safe to shoot? Would shooting it ruin the patina or cause any irreparable damage?
 
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Function check it after oiling. The ammo may be worth a lot too. If from 1917 the box alone is extremely desirable. I wouldn't hesitate to shoot it if it doesn't have anything obviously wrong.

-Proud to be dad every day, a licensed plumber most days, and wish I was a shoemaker on others.
 
Questions about care for a 1917 Colt 1911 & Value

Also, regarding older ammo (at least from the early 80s), is it safe to shoot? All different calibers.
 
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I also have a 1917 Colt but it is in mint condition. I brought in down to CCG in Stoneham a year ago and they told me around $2,500
 
As the inheritor of such a piece of classic firearm history, I would NOT sell it !!!
Mine was my father's sidearm in WWII that he brought back with him. See my avatar.
Clean it up, take it to a reputable gunsmith to check out, and have fun shooting it.
Don't restore it !!! Keep it as original as possible. The patina is what gives them character.

As far as the ammo, if it's not badly corroded, I would shoot it. If you are unsure, post some pictures, I'm sure the experts here could advise you.
 
afajvan said:
As far as the ammo, if it's not badly corroded, I would shoot it. If you are unsure, post some pictures, I'm sure the experts here could advise you.
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The ammo may be okay to shoot, but may also have collector value, especially if it in in original boxes. I would put it aside for that value alone.
 
Are the boxes worth anything without the ammo? I know there's lots of .22 in boxes but I think most of the .45 is out of boxes. I will check.


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Delkancott said:
Are the boxes worth anything without the ammo? I know there's lots of .22 in boxes but I think most of the .45 is out of boxes. I will check.


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YES ! Empty boxes do hold value with collectors so be careful with them.

Condition is everything to collectors.
 
That's an awesome find. Wow.

You can function check the gun yourself if you don't want to wait to bring it to a gunsmith. If it were me I would carefully disassemble it first and visually check all the internals. If you're a novice though, I wouldn't recommend taking it apart yourself past the basic field strip. And if you do decide to field strip it, be very careful with the slide stop. In the 1911 world we have the phrase "idiot mark", which is when someone who doesn't know what they're doing puts a big scratch on the left side of the receiver above the trigger guard when they go to reinstall the slide stop. Please avoid doing that! [wink]

ETA: Actually, if you look closely you can see that someone has already idiot marked it at some point in it's life. See the arched scratch starting from under the slide stop and moving down and forward about half an inch? Someone's already done it and from the looks of it, tried to sand/rub/buff away the mistake. Not a big deal considering the overall condition of the gun, but if the gun were pristine besides that mark, it would lower the value considerably.

ETA2: Function checking the gun without taking anything apart involves dry firing, and letting the slide slam forward on an empty chamber. (among a few other steps). I would not suggest doing it considering the age of the gun, but it's done to ensure the hammer/sear engagement is still strong, and the sear spring is still good. You'll want to take it to a gunsmith first if you plan on firing it. Good luck, and don't ever sell it!
 
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Very cool. I usually look at past auctions to get a sense of what items sold for. Amoskeag has a nice catalog and publishes prices from their previous auctions. http://www.amoskeagauction.com/auctions.html . I picked up a 1911 from 1918 for around $1100, but it had been rebarreled at some point. Mine probably didn't make it to France that year, but likely was in lots of other places since.
 
Thank you again for the opinions. Would the serial number allow me to find out more about the gun's military history?
 
Delkancott said:
Thank you again for the opinions. Would the serial number allow me to find out more about the gun's military history?
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Doubtful. Unless you hit the lottery with the serial number. You can find the year of manufacture, and maybe what contract that serial number range went out on, but an individual serial number is a million to one shot.
 
I would be very careful using the term "clean it". Many many many people have "cleaned" thousands of dollars of value off very collectible firearms by not knowing what they are doing and what is desirable in the "collectors" market.

Most collectors want "authentic". If yours is, it is extremely valuable because of that. What it is NOTis brand new. Many people in an attempt to make a 100 year look new is strip away all of the character and history that a used gun brings and along with that lots of the $$$$ value that an actual authentic piece carries.

Congrats on finding a great piece of history
 

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