You know, if my local PBS station ran that as a regular series (like “This Old House”) I’d give them money.
I don’t know who would be a good host for it, though.
Anyway, just a quick update: I got my Colt historical letter on this old 1911.
It shipped March 12, 1918, to “Commanding Officer, Springfield Armory, Springfield, Massachusetts”. There were 2,900 guns in the shipment.
This Springfield Armory should not be confused with the current manufacturer. The neat (to me) thing is, I’ve actually been to the Springfield Armory National Historic Site. We had a tour arranged for us when I went to my first Smith and Wesson Collectors Association meeting in Sturbridge. I’d love to go back and spend some more time there.
My CMP M1 Garand (wait, I haven’t told you guys about that yet, have I?) is also a Springfield Armory gun: from the table of serial numbers on their website, it looks like the receiver was produced in March of 1944. (I put it that way because the CMP M1 was an “expert grade” gun. CMP says the expert grade guns have new commercial stocks and barrels, so it isn’t all original. But I bought it to shoot, not to collect. At some point, I’ll post pictures.)
I just think it’s kind of awesome and fun to have two guns with historic ties to a place I’ve actually visited and walked around in. I wonder how much it’d cost me to make a trip up that way again.