CMP 1911 (round 3)

[jobu07]

I was late jumping on the CMP 1911 train and saw around the second week of September that they were accepting applications, so I merrily filled out my application and sent it in regular snail mail. I received an email from them on 03 OCT that I had been assigned my randomly generated number, 33181. I believe they started this sequence at 33001, so I count myself fortunate.

A couple of weeks ago I received the call from their Anniston shop that “my number was up!” I selected the service grade option. I had heard the field and rack grade guns were less likely to be rearsenaled, but when I spoke with this lady she said it was completely luck of the draw, so I suppose I was swayed toward what would be a nicer option.

After a little FFL drama it shipped overnight mail and I happily picked my new 1911A1. I ended up with a Colt frame wearing a Remington Rand slide. The finish is in very good condition, but you can see some marks where it was carelessly put away in a rack.

Overall I am happy with this genuine service handgun but I probably wouldn’t do this again. I liked the novelty of it more than anything else. I do believe I’ll take advantage of the M1 program again, though.

Anyway, what you all came here to see, pictures:

 

[Cemetery21]

My number was 33191, very close to yours. I received a refinished 1939 Navy frame with a post war hard slide. I chose Field grade, hoping to get a matching slide/frame in older condition. It didn't work. It would be a great shooter with the hard slide, but I have plenty of shooters.

 

[Meeks36]

Just curious as to how much you paid?

 

[Cemetery21]

Check out the CMP sales here: https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001Inc...uzXxYs3Bv_EIEaG1H2EOhARVV-DnMsgaqv6yGz4QEbw==
1911 pricing is:
Service Grade $1250. Pistol may exhibit minor pitting and wear on exterior surfaces and friction surfaces. Grips are complete with no cracks. Pistol is in issuable condition. Pistols may contain commercial parts.

Field Grade $1150. Pistol may exhibit minor rust, pitting, and wear on exterior surfaces and friction surfaces. Grips are complete with no cracks. Pistol is in issuable condition. Pistols may contain commercial parts.

Rack Grade $1050. Pistol will exhibit rust, pitting, and wear on exterior surfaces and friction surfaces. Grips may be incomplete and exhibit cracks. Pistol requires minor work to return to issuable condition but is functional. Pistols may contain commercial parts.

Range Grade $1100. These are 1911 pistols for those that want a part of history and a shooter, not a collectable. These are 1911s that have been modified in some way, and may have some commercial parts. No two (2) pistols are alike, the modifications / parts could be any of the following: Night Sights, extended Beaver Tail, Rubber Grips, Barrels, Oversized Slide Release, Target Triggers, Adjustable Rear Sights, Tactical Match Hammer, Competition Grip Safety, Sight Rib, Slides, Checkered Front Strap, Ambidextrous Safety, Different Finishes. Some of the manufactures of these parts are: Bar-Sto, Wilson, Ed Brown, Pachmayer, Hogue, Caspian and Bomar.

 

[tominboise]

Interesting. I got an email this AM from the CMP, saying they had extended the due date for round 3, due to Hurricane Ian. I did my paperwork this morning and mailed it off. It will be interesting to see what's left when I get the call.

 

[Cemetery21]

I did my paperwork this morning

My buddy sent his off yesterday. I've been following the CMP forum and it looks like folks are still being offered all grades, but who knows how long that will last.

 

[243winxb]

 

[tominboise]

If I could order two, I'd get a service grade and a range grade. Since I can only get one, service grade if still available.

 

[tachelberry]

I submitted my information Sept 22nd. My number is 35024. I'm in for a bit of a wait. I am still waffling between service or field grade. I am hoping for even wear and matching manufacturing between slide and frame. Based on what I have been seeing from round three I think my expectations are a bit high. Regardless, I will be happy with what ever I get. It will be a genuine old war horse.

 

[jobu07]

I submitted my information Sept 22nd. My number is 35024. I'm in for a bit of a wait. I am still waffling between service or field grade. I am hoping for even wear and matching manufacturing between slide and frame. Based on what I have been seeing from round three I think my expectations are a bit high. Regardless, I will be happy with what ever I get. It will be a genuine old war horse.

I was hoping for a matching slide and frame with modest wear. I think it shows really light wear but sadly the frame and slide don't match. Such is life. It's nice to have something with the prominence, the old war horse as you said.

 

[Madcap_Magician]

I should get my call in the next week or two, and I can't decide what grade to go for.

 

[CDW4ME]

That is cool!
If you want to get a little something extra for your money post those pics on 1911 forum and ask about Duracoat or having it milled for a dot.

 

[Speedo66]

For the guys whose slides don't match their frames, would it make sense to try and set up a thread here with people who might want to exchange slides to make a match?

I know zero about 1911's, only having had one for a short time long ago, so I'll ask, is this even feasible?

Edit: I started a new thread on this, more exposure there, less thread drift here.

 

[Madcap_Magician]

For the guys whose slides don't match their frames, would it make sense to try and set up a thread here with people who might want to exchange slides to make a match?

I know zero about 1911's, only having had one for a short time long ago, so I'll ask, is this even feasible?

There's a mixed bag of opinions about this. The CMP forum has a thread of people trying to match slides and frames, but also there is a strong current of people who are in the 'leave well enough alone' camp. Obviously most people would prefer matching parts, or at least matching slide and frame. But government 1911s are a lot like M1 carbines or Garands, they were mostly not matching after the war, and a lot of people view that as part of getting a government gun - getting re-arsenaled, re-parkerized, and having broken or worn parts replaced is just part of it being an issue gun, so trying to 'correct' it would make it less authentic. Plus CMP guns have impeccable provenance, and once you start monkeying with the parts, it loses that. So a fair number of people, even those with less-desirable contract slide replacements from the 80s and 90s, are just keeping them as-received.

Also even if you did match manufacturer for slide and frame, they may still not be correct to each other - you could have a 1939 Colt frame and a 1945 Colt slide, and really all you'd have is a 1911A1 where the slide and frame were made by the same manufacturer, but it wouldn't be any more 'correct' than if you had a 1943 Ithaca frame with a 1943 Remington-Rand slide. And that doesn't even get into the small parts.

 

[jobu07]

There's a mixed bag of opinions about this. The CMP forum has a thread of people trying to match slides and frames, but also there is a strong current of people who are in the 'leave well enough alone' camp. Obviously most people would prefer matching parts, or at least matching slide and frame. But government 1911s are a lot like M1 carbines or Garands, they were mostly not matching after the war, and a lot of people view that as part of getting a government gun - getting re-arsenaled, re-parkerized, and having broken or worn parts replaced is just part of it being an issue gun, so trying to 'correct' it would make it less authentic. Plus CMP guns have impeccable provenance, and once you start monkeying with the parts, it loses that. So a fair number of people, even those with less-desirable contract slide replacements from the 80s and 90s, are just keeping them as-received.

Also even if you did match manufacturer for slide and frame, they may still not be correct to each other - you could have a 1939 Colt frame and a 1945 Colt slide, and really all you'd have is a 1911A1 where the slide and frame were made by the same manufacturer, but it wouldn't be any more 'correct' than if you had a 1943 Ithaca frame with a 1943 Remington-Rand slide. And that doesn't even get into the small parts.

You make some great points. The surplus community as a whole detests any sort of parts interchanging. If someone reached out to me and said "I've got a Colt slide to swap out with your Remington Rand slide, I may take them up on it. But I don't know if I would go out after it.

I've changed stocks on milsurp guns to make them funcitonal, changed triggers and small parts, even added some that are missing. Who knows what the right answer is, but as long as we are trying to keep these milsurps as "original" as possible we're probably fine. But then again I'm probably wrong, it's happened before.

 

[243winxb]

CMP NRA video on the 1911 pistol sales. , posted on February 24, 2021 https://www.americanrifleman.org/content/artv-civilian-marksmanship-program-m1911-pistol-sales/


5 minutes into video, this 1911 is showing a lot of history.

 

[Madcap_Magician]

CMP forum won't let me register, apparently neither my Gmail nor my work e-mail are good enough to convince them I'm not a spam account.

But I was RGN 33790 and just got my call ten minutes ago.

The lady from the CMP was super polite and also absolutely shut down my attempt to cajole her into maybe grabbing a Colt frame, Colt slide gun with before I even got the request out of my mouth, undoubtedly because it's the first thing everyone asks as soon as they pick up an unknown caller from a 256 area code. But she was nice about it.

I was agonizing over what grade to select right up until she asked what grade I wanted and went Service Grade. Field Grade was tempting for the price cut and what's probably better odds of getting a gun with more original parts and less refinishing, and Range Grade was tempting just because you'd never know what sort of odd gun you could get, and it would have been certainly worked on by some armorers. But ultimately Service Grade won out in the heat of the moment because it's the only grade where rust will exclude a gun from the grading criteria.

Called my FFL five minutes later, hopefully the lady I spoke to there was e-mailing their FFL to the CMP as we spoke, and then with any luck, tomorrow or Friday at the latest I'll be picking up a CMP case from my local gun store!

 

[Madcap_Magician]

My buddy sent his off yesterday. I've been following the CMP forum and it looks like folks are still being offered all grades, but who knows how long that will last.

It can vary. They basically open one case at a time, and whatever is in that case is what they're offering. So you could have a very low number, but maybe you were at the end of a case, and they only have a few left and you have fewer grade choices. Or you could be a high number, but the first person to get the call when they crack a new case and you have all four choices. So far I have not seen anyone report not getting all four choices, though.

 

[Jimbo80]

I got mine in the first lottery and was only offered field or service grades. Having spent a good bit of time perusing photos on the CMP 1911 forum some of the field grades were nicer than some of the service. I think that a field that hasn’t been reparked is nicer than reparked service.