Posted on 12/10/2017 11:41:27 AM PST by shove_it
Included in the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act, which President Donald Trump intends to sign soon, is a provision that will allow the military to save an estimated $200,000 per year by selling surplus M1911 pistols to those in the public interested in purchasing them.
Used widely during World War I, World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War, these historic firearms have been officially out of service since 1985, when the military replaced them with Beretta 92 pistols.
Since then, the military has been forced to store leftover M1911 pistols at a price of $2 per year. The International Business Times reported that the military currently possesses roughly 100,000 of these pistols, bringing the price for storage to about $200,000 every single year.
By allowing the military to sell these firearms to the public, Trump will therefore kill two stones with one bird: He’ll save the Pentagon money while also putting a smile on the faces of many gun collectors.
According to Task & Purpose, there’s a lot of history intertwined with the M1911 pistol: “For more than a hundred years, (it) has traveled with American troops into almost every crisis, hot spot, and war the United States has participated in.”
Militarily speaking, though, it’s not much use anymore for our men and women in uniform due to its very antiquated design.
“The new generation of polymer guns such as the Glock are also much easier to disassemble and incorporate new features such as striker-fired operating systems, trigger safeties, loaded chamber indicators and larger magazines capacities,” Task & Purpose notes.
Dovetailing back to the 2018 NDAA, which includes an amendment authorizing the government-funded Civilian Marksmanship Program to sell these pistols, it’s actually Congress that deserves most of the credit for both crafting it and then later passing it in mid-November.
And though it pains me to admit this, former President Barack Obama deserves an iota of credit as well.
The NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action explained that the 2016 National Defense Authorization Act passed by Obama two years ago “authorized the Secretary of Defense to transfer 1911s no longer in service to the CMP for public sale.”
Here’s the catch: “That language made the transfers subject to the Secretary’s discretion and capped them at 10,000 per year. Unsurprisingly, no actual transfers were made under the program while Obama remained in the White House.”
Of course.
However, the NDAA slated to be signed by Trump would make these transfers mandatory and also remove the unnecessary cap.
What remains unclear is when the sales will begin and how exactly the M1911s will be sold:
Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) about 3 weeks ago 11/22/17 - Latest update on the 1911’s….. Because of the limited number and the exceedingly high demand for the pistol, and the great level of Congressional scrutiny, the Board of Directors will make a decision regarding how sales will be handled. We have no further information at this time. – Mrs. Judith Legerski, Chairman, CMP Board of Directors
What’s known, though, is that the CMP’s eligibility requirements are pretty strict, so in case you’re interested in securing an M1911 pistol, I’d start getting my paperwork ready now.
H/T Breitbart
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What do you think about these awesome pistols? Scroll down to comment below!
It’s real. I am getting emails on the subject from the CMP
ping
Allow us.
Great. We paid for them the first time around, now we have to pay for the sloppy seconds too ?
There was a thread here already on this. Where I believe a few people threw daggers at me for my unwillingness to pay gunstore prices for these 1911s. Also my halcyon memories of what the CMP used to be.
The CMP is still, and is supposed to be, Congress’ way to do their part in the second amendment. But I guess that whole plan is vapor now too.
This is awesome if it’s true. I’m going to ask my local gun stores about this. In the 90s Bill Clinton ordered I believe half a million M-1 rifles destroyed that had never been taken out of their boxes . They were all WW2 surplus. I thought that was a disgusting thing to do to rifles that could have easily been sold or given to tax payers who don’t get anything. Those rifles were part of our history. They should have given one to every Boy Scout in America or gun clubs or sold .
I searched FR for this and got nada. Sorry if this is old news, it’s new to me.
If it was me; I would not be paying market price for a used gun sight unseen.
If this is all true I would think anyone who wants one should stand a good chance of getting one.
And by the way, the really desirable collectable 1911s will be auctioned and not sold through the CMP.
A lot of them were given away to other countries. A lot of them became unserviceable over the decades, and Bill Clinton IIRC ordered a lot of them turned into scrap. I was the company armorer for my finance unit in Germany 1988-1990. Our 1911’s were old but still in good condition because they were so lightly used. I had an entire foot locker filled with new in the wrap magazines all dated 1953.
I’m going to try and put in the paperwork to get on the list. I’m not a huge fan of the 1911A1, but recognize it’s historical significance and the genius of John Moses Browning. It will look nice next to my M1917 rifle, and M1 Garand.
I’m waiting for the Korean surplus Garands to be brought back.
L
LOL!
Me too. Got one from Greece, and some dumbass carved his name in the stock. But the actual working parts were spotless.
"Trump signs legislation putting family owned storage facility out of business..."
Great news. Thanks for posting.
Please keep us posted with up with updates, I want mine.
Thanks for that link.
Cheers, Otter
Nice. Sounds like French rifles.
Never been fired.
Only dropped once.
L
Don’t think I’ll be buying a pistol from the government.
That made me chuckle too ;o)
Where does regular citizen buy this?
or will they just be bought in bulk and sold at inflated prices?
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