I picked this pistol up today in a package deal... couldn't pass it up.
On the surface, it's a nice early 1918 Colt in decent condition. All correct parts certainly pass as original with matching wear patterns throughout. And internally, this M1911 shows very little wear.
Now, take a closer look at the second photo, the left side of the pistol. Notice the 2 pock marks in the grip panel? If you follow in a straight line from the one on bottom rear to the one on the middle front of the grip panel and continue upward, you'll notice the pock marks melted into the steel on the grip strap under the trigger guard.
It's certainly not rust, and they're not dents. It sure looks like the steel was melted.
Of course, we'll never know the real story, but I thought it would be fun to hear your thoughts, opinions or crazy ideas on what may have happened to this pistol.
Pull the stocks off and see what lies underneath. Shrapnel would seem to me not to produce craters with raised edges, but rather a scoring or chiseling into the metal from simple impact. Anything hot enough to produce such significant damage to solid steel would certainly have done much more to the stocks, such as fracturing them. I say electricity.
Cratering to rough to be impact hits and if caused by some caustic fluid like acid the holes would be smooth. Could be slag inclusions when frame was forged.
I wondered that too, but then you would expect the defects in the grip panel to show charring, not momentum damage. (This of course assumes all observed defects stemmed from a single event.)
I've seen WP come into contact with PSP and the pock mark's looked very similar. If some WP pellets, or residue somehow contacted the frame like that, It's possible it didn't burn the stocks, Just a WAG.--- Nasty Stuff
I wonder if the owner had an unfortunate encounter with electricity while holding the 1911, and the owner was wearing a ring on his finger that arched and grounded out on the frame of the 1911.
I concur with those who believe the steel cavities could be the result of electrical contact - multiple times (bouncing?) in one contemporaneous occurrence.
I once stood a shotgun behind a cabinet where there was a bare, live outlet that was kind of sticking out of the wall. The barrel shorted across the outlet screws and burned two significant holes in the rib. IF the outlet had been higher voltage (220 or 440) and contact had been more solid, I suspect the holes would have been bigger. Still, those are two BIG main holes ... (The stock panel damage does not have to be related to the metal damage.)
The first thing that came to mind was electricity from a lighting strike. That was even before I read all of the other's input. I have seen marks on steel beams that looked just like that. Very interesting.
Maybe done while trying to jump off a military vech. with dead batt's, most post war vech's were 24 volt.... Korea, Vietnam, and on, it does look like elect. damage to me, and the Military still had a lot of 1911's around, but I like the battle damage story.
yep electrical ,also melts the steel ,the larger divots are quite roundish as well ,impact from shrapnel would need to then be roundish fragments ,and the pocked markings in the cratering also are like etched out .dropped on the positive battery terminal on the 24 volts would produce such an effect .got to love these ideas and weirdo issues on these guns ,a lot of fun really .of course we cannot be 100% about it ,
sapishka
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Colt Forum
1.8M posts
53.1K members
Since 2000
A forum community dedicated to Colt firearm owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about performance, gunsmithing, troubleshooting, reviews, accessories, classifieds, and more!