Navy issue pistol??? Vietnam era

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

HMCS(FMF)Ret.

Sharpshooter
Supporting Member
Special Hen Supporter
Joined
Jun 13, 2010
Messages
2,868
Reaction score
1,749
Location
Norman, Oklahoma
I carried a Colt 1911 in 1986 (before they went to the Beretta). I was a Navy Fleet Marine Force Corpsman serving with the infantry (Bravo Company 1/1). Was told it was WWII era, and it looked like it.
 

coolhandluke

Sharpshooter
Special Hen
Joined
Jul 27, 2010
Messages
2,889
Reaction score
4,004
Location
OKC, OK
If it was a Colt 1911 I don't think it was government issue if it was in good shape. I understand that the last 1911 shipment from Colt to US military was in 1946, so if this is so, the guns owned by the military would be quite old and worn out.

This is what I read a long time ago.

1911A1s were still undergoing arsenal refurbishment until the early 80's and were issued in conjunction with the M9 until well after the Gulf War war.

Being a sidearm, a majority of the pistols had not seen a ton of use by the Vietnam war, even though they were at least 20+ years old at that point. If I remember correctly, the Remington Rand that was issued to Lasher in 1965 was still in new condition. Unless you were issued a M1911 that had gone through arsenal rebuild, chances are that the pistol would have been nowhere close to the end of its service life.
 

Chief Sapulpa

Sharpshooter
Supporting Member
Special Hen Supporter
Joined
Apr 9, 2011
Messages
3,690
Reaction score
5,053
Location
Where they bust the sod in South Tulsa County.
If it was Navy issue, it may very well have spent most of its life in a weapons locker. It's not like they had a whole lot of use for hand-held firearms at most of their duty posts, especially in the Blue Water Navy.
Late 60's, early 70's ships crews were not issued firearms; on my ship only the Marine detachment (50 of 'em) had firearms to protect the Admiral.
 

swampratt

Sharpshooter
Supporting Member
Special Hen Supporter
Joined
Nov 3, 2010
Messages
12,800
Reaction score
19,554
Location
yukon ok
No I have not got it yet.
I talked to him on the phone last week.
Still do not know what it is..
But we did not talk much about the gun.. talked about tournament fishing Sam Rayburn in April and Lake Fork in September.

I am not much on bass fishing except for farm ponds.. but he needs a partner.. his has retired.
Fish I usually go after do not have scales.
 

swampratt

Sharpshooter
Supporting Member
Special Hen Supporter
Joined
Nov 3, 2010
Messages
12,800
Reaction score
19,554
Location
yukon ok
OK Update ...
Sucks getting old for sure.
I went fishing with him yesterday to Webbers Falls and got into a bunch of blues drifting.
He gave me the gun that was my dad's.

It is a Taurus PT1911.
Sucks getting old elaborated on.
Seems my google foo shows that Taurus PT1911 did not go into production or get sold until 2005.
It is a Model 1-191101 with Heinie sight and ambidextrous safety.

No way this was my dad's gun if it was made well before 2000 maybe because my dad died of cancer in 2000.

Now My dad's cousin that I got the gun from is all happy I got the gun and had a holster made for it that is left or right carry.
He was pretty proud to give it to me.

I will not bust his bubble and tell him it was not my dads gun.
Unless Taurus made 1911's way early.

1911 001.JPG
1911 002.JPG
 

swampratt

Sharpshooter
Supporting Member
Special Hen Supporter
Joined
Nov 3, 2010
Messages
12,800
Reaction score
19,554
Location
yukon ok
No I did not care much for my dad most of the time..But my dad's cousin was a guy I really looked up to.
I feel his bubble would have burst if I had told him that is not my dads gun.

Him and my dad were good fishing and hunting buddies. They would float down the rivers for days hunting and fishing and living off the land.
 

John6185

Sharpshooter
Supporting Member
Special Hen Supporter
Joined
Oct 27, 2012
Messages
9,394
Reaction score
9,737
Location
OKC
I went to Vietnam in the mid-sixties and I heard that a guy couple bring his own sidearm to battle with him from stateside. And then they stopped the troops from bringing their own pistol. Back then a guy could ship back a gun captured in combat and apparently many were sent back. I was asked by a guy I knew fi I'd ship an AR-15/M-16 back in my Hold Baggage but I didn't want to go to jail for something I didn't own and this was 1967.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom