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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There, fixed it for you.
Didn’t they give a lot of Garands as part of the Vietnamization program? Dropped once I’m sure. The rifles were bigger than ARV troops.
There are some treasures to be found among these 1911A1s.
In 1976, I was conducting and inventory of the unit arms room in Germany and came across a Union Switch & Signal manufactured 1911A1 with all matching parts. I wonder what CMP will sell that one for when it arrives.
Where did you hear that about the French army?
“Where did you hear that about the French army?”
From the Germans, mostly.
L
Strange. I’ve only seen that sales pitch used for surplus Italian army Carcanos.
Look at the long list of hoops to jump through before being eligible:
http://thecmp.org/cmp_sales/1911-information/
Not worth it in my mind, and the hi-grade 1911’s will surely go for a premium.
Quite happy with my Sig 1911 STX with night sites.......and one is all I can shoot at a time.......
My father-in-law had a mint WWII Army Colt 1911 and after he died my ignoramus brother-in-law had no idea what it was, didn’t tell his sisters about it, sold it cheap to a local dealer to buy a Ruger Judge.........I chewed him out for doing so without telling his family. Then he did the same thing with his fathers rare 1940’s Belgian shotgun a year later.........
I have my father’s Navy S&W .38 Special that has never been fired in original holster/belt, etc. - when leaving the Navy the Chief would not let him turn it in - another had been turned in with the same serial # and the Chief said he’d have to explain the error, and my dad should just keep it. Too bad the Navy didn’t use 1911’s for their officers.....
My dad said it about ARVN rifles.
L
The British Army had the right idea for a long time.
Officers purchased their own pistols, out of a group selected by the Army as available for service. The pistol was their personal weapon, and it stayed with them when they left the service.
I have long thought a similar system would work well in the United States.
We also need to reinvigorate the custom of war trophies. Up until the first Gulf War, under Bush I, American servicemen could bring back captured weapons as war trophies. Bush I unilaterally ended this over two century tradition, one supposes, simply to fit the globalist agenda.
President Trump should reinstate it.
Those Deals you mention are reason
enough to jump through the hoops
CMP Demands but currently you could
Buy a 1911 “new” or a nice
Vintage Colt cheaper with less
Headaches.
THANKS
..but No thanks.
I HATE that lousy b@$tard for that. I have the back half of one of those M1’s that I bought as a paperweight for 25 cents. Makes me want to cry every time I see it.
Dude!
That ain’t vandalism, that is provenance!
Well this is a start, but I don’t need another 1911. How about putting some Garand’s up for sale?
I would like to see m14 rifles released through CMP. With the selector boss milled off they would be no more capable of being converted to select fire than a civilian Springfield Armory m1a. Unfortunately ATF has a “once a machine gun always a machine gun policy”.
“Unfortunately ATF has a “once a machine gun always a machine gun policy”.
Yep. Stupid and should be changed.
L
I actually got all my paperwork together when I first heard about this, but it's probably more trouble than it's worth.
I think they will be going for $1100.00 from CMP.Way too much!
It will go to auction.
During WW II all the Colt output of 1911 went to Army
Navy was forced to go to S&W to buy Model 10 revolvers
S&W was producing them for Brits (in their 38 caliber)
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