Rear slide markings

There's a dent from the disconnector. Look at all that wear and hilarously bad machine work! (I'm a machinist, and the rough work is fascinating to me, since they only did the minimum to create a viable firearm, which is a lesson to keep in my bag of tricks)

What extractor?!?! Is this how these old fellas were made? Or is this extractor just absolutely gone? Amazingly to me, the pistol cycled snap caps manually just fine!

Are the grips appropriate for this vintage? (with the obligatory screw bushing coming out...staking apparently isn't 100% idiot proof)

The barrel is absolutely hammered inside and out. Lots of character with this one!

I don't care if it's accurate, but do you think this is safe to fire?

 

More markings and some magnificently horrific machine work.

I am head-over-heels for this gun. It's a 180º departure from what I usually own, but the character and potential history are just great. I only wish it could tell me it's stories.

 

More markings and some magnificently horrific machine work.

I disagree. This was a military pistol made during wartime. It wasn't meant to win a beauty contest. Those machining marks mean nothing as far as function. One could even say they allow oil.

 

It's a February 1943 shipped pistol and the first month Remington Rand shipped more over 10,000 pistols. The Type II slide is appropriate for the serial number range as is the mainspring housing. The finish looks original to me as do the P proof markings and the ordnance stamp. The grips might be later production specimens but the experts can comment on that.
In mid March 1943 Remington Rand shut the manufacturing plant down to improve quality. They reopened in May 1943 with higher quality standards

 

In mid March 1943 Remington Rand shut the manufacturing plant down to improve quality. They reopened in May 1943 with higher quality standards

Yes, and to add a bit more to this, RR began marking receivers differently.

To the OP, note how the “o” in the “No” serial number prefix of your pistol is small, and also underlined. When the plant was re-opened, receivers were subsequently marked “NO.” as a means to signify this change of RR management, as well as the improved quality.

 

That is a very beautiful thing

 

Yes, original. The stamp used for the Ordnance mark cannot magically make Parkerizing disappear - in fact, it just pushes it down into the mark except for a few places. Plus, Parkerizing (Zinc Phosphate) has somewhat the ability of Galvanizing (another Zinc process) to actually 'grow back' in very small areas where it was disturbed, so that can also obscure the effects of the stamping over many years.

 

This pistol should be Du-Lite blued, not Parkerized. Hard to tell the difference just by photos.

 

Cool pistol, congrats!!

 

Nice Looking gun. My dad worked in the Syracuse RR factory way back then.
Many years ago I bought a nice Remington Rand for $350 at a gun show, my son now owns it.
Every time I see a 1911 Remington Rand I have to wonder if my dad had a hand in building it?
Thanks for the memories.

 

Nice Looking gun. My dad worked in the Syracuse RR factory way back then.
Many years ago I bought a nice Remington Rand for $350 at a gun show, my son now owns it.
Every time I see a 1911 Remington Rand I have to wonder if my dad had a hand in building it?
Thanks for the memories.

I was a Marine M.P. in the 1970s and my issued 1911A1 was a RR with rack #1 stenciled on the grip.

Your Dad did great work my friend!

 

Thanks everyone! This helps me understand the pistol better.

I still have two specific questions:

1. With how pitted the barrel is, is there a chance it's dangerous to fire it? I'm thinking those pits are an excellent source for a crack to start, but I have no experience with this. I don't care if it's accurate, just safe. (right click, open image in new tab so you can zoom in)
   
   
2. Were the extractors originally set up with 3 miles of clearance like this one? Or is this the wrong extractor? The gun will cycle snap caps just fine, but by all modern standards, the extractor should be replaced.

 

Thanks everyone! This helps me understand the pistol better.

I still have two specific questions:

1. With how pitted the barrel is, is there a chance it's dangerous to fire it? I'm thinking those pits are an excellent source for a crack to start, but I have no experience with this. I don't care if it's accurate, just safe. (right click, open image in new tab so you can zoom in)
2. Were the extractors originally set up with 3 miles of clearance like this one? Or is this the wrong extractor? The gun will cycle snap caps just fine, but by all modern standards, the extractor should be replaced.

The pitting will not affect functioning or longevity. Theoretically it will hurt accuracy, but this isn't a match pistol so I doubt you would ever notice any difference. I wouldn't shoot lead bullets through it however as the barrel will probably lead up fairly quickly.

As for the extractor, the main thing is that it has enough tension to hold a live cartridge in place against the breechface on its own. As long as it will do that you shouldn't replace it unless you have functioning issues. Don't go replacing stuff unless you need to.

Also remember that you have a vintage collectible, and if you shoot it a lot and/or replace parts you're going to seriously devalue the pistol over time. If you're just going to run a few boxes through it a year then you're fine and should leave everything as-is.

 

Well, I too have been turning metal into chips for over 40yr. The machinery, tooling and fixtures of 1930s-40s was not what they are today. Much of the tooling Rem-Rand used was actually much older coming from storage at Springfield Armory and Singer. Rem-Rand even took a break in production to get things squared away. Frames & slides from the late 44 ~ 45 show swirl marks from Blanchard grinders. So I wouldn't necessarily call it bad machining. Merely good enough.

 

Charles Clawson said in his concluding remarks about Remington Rand:
"Remington Rand became the low-cost, high quality producer of World War II Model 1911A1 service pistols. Their achievements exceeded all of the other pistol manufacturers".

An anecdotal indicator of Remington Rand quality is the high number of Remington Rand slides and frames selected for rebuild as USGI National Match Service Pistols. I own six of them and and five have Remington Rand frames.

 

Charles Clawson ... "Remington Rand became the low-cost, high quality producer ... achievements exceeded all of the other pistol manufacturers".

... anecdotal indicator of Remington Rand quality is the high number of Remington Rand slides and frames selected for rebuild as USGI National Match Service Pistols. I own six of them and and five have Remington Rand frames.

Mine is a 1943 Colt frame with a Remington Rand slide. Jim Clark built it for the 1975 Camp Perry NRA .22 Champion as his back-up EIC Ball pistol.

 

I like it!

 

Hello, and thanks for having me here.

I have owned 1911's for many years, but always modern versions. Currently, Springfield Armory, Dan Wesson, Nighthawk, etc. I had no idea I was interested in these original M1911A1's until I saw one by chance online. I was hooked immediately! The pictures I'm attaching are fairly high resolution, so I hope the forum doesn't shrink them so much that you can't zoom in on them. Let's get right in to it with pictures and comments / questions with each picture:

Hello Sir! View attachment 632436

Left side markings View attachment 632437

Original MSH? View attachment 632438

Right side markings View attachment 632439

Originally I thought this inspection stamp was done after plating, making this pistol all original. Once I got it in my hands, I believe the pistol has been refurbished at some point, since the inspection stamp has been parkerized. Can you comment on this please? View attachment 632440

View attachment 632441


LOTS of wear! Dents from where the guide rod sits on the barrel View attachment 632442

Wear on lockup lugs View attachment 632443

Breech face has seen many cases View attachment 632444

That’s a thing of beauty!! A friend of mine inherited an unfired factory gun with a two digit serial number. It’s in mint condition. I must admit, I am a tad jealous. Shoot it a lot and enjoy it!