Today I received the factory letter on my OP .38, almost 3 months to the day to the date on the acknowledgment postcard for those that are keeping track of letter lead times.
The first thing that surprised me was that the ship date was a year earlier than the beginning serial number date in the Book of Colt Firearms. It is in the 686000 range and shipped 1/17/42, the book says 685000 was the beginning of 1943. I have heard of guns shipping much later than their actual manufacturing date, but obviously R.L. Wilson was way off for the S/N range of WWII OP's.
Anyway, it was one of 14 similar revolvers shipped to the Constructing Quartermaster, Ohio River Ordnance Works, Henderson KY, C/O the Chas. Leonard Hardware Co. in Petersburg, VA. From what I was able to find on the internet, the Ohio River Ordnance Works was a plant that made anhydrous ammonia for gunpowder or explosives manufacture. It opened in May of 1941 and remained operational until 1950. I had assumed that commercial Colt models shipped during WWII went to defense contractors or police departments with few making it into civilian hands. My gun shipped just 6 weeks after Pearl Harbor so I'll bet defense plant guards were really jumpy thinking about potential espionage. This is part of the fun of collecting.
The first thing that surprised me was that the ship date was a year earlier than the beginning serial number date in the Book of Colt Firearms. It is in the 686000 range and shipped 1/17/42, the book says 685000 was the beginning of 1943. I have heard of guns shipping much later than their actual manufacturing date, but obviously R.L. Wilson was way off for the S/N range of WWII OP's.
Anyway, it was one of 14 similar revolvers shipped to the Constructing Quartermaster, Ohio River Ordnance Works, Henderson KY, C/O the Chas. Leonard Hardware Co. in Petersburg, VA. From what I was able to find on the internet, the Ohio River Ordnance Works was a plant that made anhydrous ammonia for gunpowder or explosives manufacture. It opened in May of 1941 and remained operational until 1950. I had assumed that commercial Colt models shipped during WWII went to defense contractors or police departments with few making it into civilian hands. My gun shipped just 6 weeks after Pearl Harbor so I'll bet defense plant guards were really jumpy thinking about potential espionage. This is part of the fun of collecting.