I'd think that a 1911 that was made in the 1930s through the 1940s, used during WW2 and then put away until now, would have a collector interest.
They do!
My cousin was issued one in the Gulf War and said it was a POS
Entirely possible. Also entirely possible your cousin doesn't know what he's talking about. And what I mean by that is that, judging the GI guns by any standard OTHER than the one for the GI guns means you don't know what you are talking about. A lot of folks will name a gun a POS because its not what
they think it ought to be, instead of using the standards of what the gun was designed and built to be.
It seems likely that many of the guns the CMS may offer for sale, may have been used for 20-30 years and have mixed parts and been repaired any number of times.
It's not likely its guaranteed. The last purchase contract for 1911A1s (other than some very small numbers for special units & testing) was done in 1945.
All of the guns the CMP might get have been in service since
at least 1945!
I was one of the guys who maintained, inspected and repaired 1911s in the 1970s, back when they were still the standard service pistol. I saw numerous 1911s still in service next to their 1911A1 brothers.
Mixed parts? Absolutely, IF the gun was ever repaired. Some guns never have been. Since 1923 when the 1911A1 became the standard, the military has maintained 1911s with 1911A1 parts
as needed.
There is no "wrong" parts configuration, there is only "as originally issued", and "as service maintained parts" configurations.
Repaired a number of times? again, yes, quite possible, some guns saw heavy use, if not a lot of firing. Other guns might have spent their entire service lives in arms rooms, only doing guard duty and range quals.
During my time as a Small Arms repairman the majority of pistols that came into my shop were for damaged sights. As long as springs met spec for length and the guns passed their function checks, things didn't get "fixed", or replaced as "upgrades".
When the CMP guns finally do get to the market, the price will be what the market will bear, where ever that finally settles out.
Till then, its rather pointless to speculate what that price will be, isn't it?