Government readying long-anticiated program to begin selling off surplus Model 1911 pistols

For shooters who’ve eager relished – and pined for - the release to the public of military surplus Colt Model of 1911 pistols the wait is almost over.

The federal government has begun the laborious process of making available the iconic pistols and which will be sold through the Civilian Marksmanship Program. The new stated sales presentation is set for sometime in next year, 2018.

The CMP – as it’s simply and more commonly referred to – has two outlets, one of which is maintained at Camp Perry near Port Clinton.

As part of a Fiscal 2016 authorization approved by then-president Barrack Obama up to 100,000 Colt 1911s were to be removed from their mothball status to eventually go on sale.

However, the authorization did not include the required bureaucratic red tape nor legislative how-to details necessary to actually dispose of the handguns, a model that first saw use in World I and continued through World War II, the Korean and Vietnam conflicts and beyond. Some specialized military units continue to deploy with the 1911.

Supposedly beginning next year (2018) as well as for 2019 the government will make available through the CMP between eight thousand and ten thousand Model 1911s to the general public for each year.

Othee pending sale details for the pilot project – yes, “pilot” - would insist that the Secretary of the Army send to the Congress an annual report highlighting such matters as to how many pistols were transferred from the military to the CMP, along with details as to wehther any of the weapons have been used in the commission of a crime.

The go-to eyes on this topic is Guns.com, an on-line daily firearms-related news source which has been tracking the long-awaited disposal of former government-issued 1911 pistols for years.
Guns.com says that the CMP will receive the pistols from storage at an Army camp; inspect the handguns, grade them, and then catalog them a process that Guns.com says “could take months.”
“Some guns could be incomplete. Others could need significant repairs,” Guns.com says also on its web site. “This means there (wil be) literally everything from museum pieces on the high-end of the spectrum to stripped receivers on the low end and everything in between.”
Consequently, says Guns.com, the odds of “finding a mint-in-the-box specimen that has escaped 70-years of Army life without being issued will be slim, but even those guns will have to be checked and certified.”

Officially the CMP remains largely tight-lipped about the entire matter for now – one that will almost certainly draw the attention of far more interested buyers than the number of pistols to be made available for sale.

“We are waiting patiently and quietly to see how the NDAA 2018 turns out. All prescribed steps have been taken by CMP to fulfill the mandated requirements for receipt of the 1911s from the United States Army. CMP is in a constant state of readiness. The CMP has no further information at this time,” said the program’s chief operating officer Mark Johnson on the organization’s web site.
In another CMP web site announcement dated November 22^nd, Judith Legerski, the organization’s chairman of its board of directors, stated “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.”

Even so, demand almost certainly will far exceed supply. And there will be the usual CMP paperwork that anyone familiar with buying a surplus M1 Garand, carbine or other available weapon from the organization has gone through in acquiring such a firearm.

The expected protocol will likely include the usual CMP requirement of filling out specific paperwork, belonging to a CMP- affiliated club (there are hundreds, if not, thousands, of these associates nationwide) and the fulfillment of marksmanship ability. On that last point having successfully completed a concealed carry handgun class and receiving the appropriate state license will suffice, it is believed.

- By Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
JFrischk@Ameritech.net