Gun Show right successful

D

Doc Hoy

New member
Gun show in Virginia Beach was worth the eight bucks.

I went to the show with one of my Trapdoors in hopes of reducing my number to two. Had a guy interested at 800.00 but he gave it up. Finally traded it off for two handguns.

Ballester Molina 1911 in .45 ACP from somewhere around 1943,





Serial Number is 19XXX and that is between 42 and 45. This is one which was not made precisely to Colt specs.

And a .38 Colt DA from sometime around 1920 I think.





On the DA I can not find a serial number anywhere. None on the butt. Nothing. It has a three digit number on the frame under the cylinder crane.

Both pistols seem to be in relatively good shape. Bore on both is good.

Also picked up a coupla 1911 Magazines for 11.00 each and some .38 Long Colt brass
 
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I like the Ballester. The Colt is an 1895 Colt Army Navy Civilian model. The bad news is all of them had serial numbers on the butt. The number inside the yoke is an assembly number. The gun is illegal without a serial number. It may have been polished out during a refinish but how it came to be gone is immaterial. I also don't see the rampant colt above the left grip so it probably was buffed off at some time.
 
Wonder if its....

....A clone from somewhere.

Even if it was, It'd have some national marking.

Hrumph.

Right side has a six sided star on the trigger guard up near the frame. Cyinder has a five sided star. Left side has a five sided star on the trigger guard up near the frame.

I was pretty sure the three digit number (118) was not the serial number.

I pulled the grips off and the number 7729 is scratched into the underside of the grips. No marks whatever on the frame under the grips.
 
Great deal, I think you scored.
(Too bad there isn't an Internet function that lets you reach in and touch the objects in a picture.)
 
1911...

Wrong forum but still sweet! I am too Doc. I have a U.S. Army issue parkerized Colt .45 my uncle carried in WWII. Stamped, "US Govt property." It's priceless to me. It's a G.H.D. model.

Browning was a genius. Designs that have endured the ages and can't be improved upon.

Birch
 
Thanx Birch...

You are correct, this prolly is on the wrong forum.

I should have put it on C and R.

Force of habit.
 
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^^^

We all get to know each other here. If you had posted elsewhere, we probably would not have seen it. No harm, no foul.

:cool:

Birch
 
I am not so terribly worried about it being illegal

I have no knowledge as whether it is or isn't so I am not weighing in either way.

Either way, I'll keep it and shoot it and throw it in the truck for transport to the range and back. It'll have in a case on the wall and no one will ever challenge me on it.

I'll put it in my Bound Book with the number 118 (Which we all know IS NOT the SN). But it'll never give me problems.

But it raises the question; Were there circumstances under which Colt would put serial numbers on some revolvers and no serial numbers on others?

I have examined the butt and it appears never to have had a number on it. I know you can work wonders with a file and some sand paper, but I think this revolver did not have a serial number on the butt.
 
I think this revolver did not have a serial number on the butt.
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If it left the Colt factory it had a serial number.

ilegal my bet is no as there was no law it had to have a SN on it.
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True, there was no law saying it had to have one prior to 1968. However if it had one before then it is still illegal to remove it or own it once its been removed. You might contact the BATFE and explain that it was accidently buffed off and they may issue a new one. However they may also confiscate it.
 
Main thing is find out for sure what model it is. If it is a 1895 version of the 1892 DA there is a good chance its not even legaly a firearm under ATF regulations.
 
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