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Here's and unusual one.....

2K views 13 replies 11 participants last post by  needsmostuff 
#1 ·
Norwegian M1914:

In 1917, the Norwegian government obtained from Colt the license to manufacture 1911 pistols and began producing them at Kongsberg Vapenfabrik, Kongsberg, Norway.

This pistol is dated 1922, serial number 2562 and since they were numbered sequentially starting at serial number 501, it is number 2061 out of 22,311 made before 1940. During the German occupation another 8,223 were produced making the total 30534 up to the end of the war in Europe. A further 2,319 pistols were assembled from existing parts after the war until production was halted at serial number 32854 in 1948.

Overall, I would rate this pistol at about 97+% of it's original blued finish. All numbers match on it including the barrel, barrel bushing, recoil spring plug, guide rod, grip safety, thumb safety, trigger spring housing and magazine release. The grips retain a significant amount of the original black paint.







There is a small area where some sort of stamp has been defaced, but you can still see them if you look closely. The one on the right is a "K" in a circle and the other looks very much like it could be either the initials of the inspector or a Finnish government property stamp. So far I haven't been able to find any evidence that any of these were sent to Finland, so I am currently leaning towards it just being the initials of the factory inspector.
 
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#4 ·
Learn sumthin every day! Never knew the Finns made 1911 clones... Nice pickup and some serious history behind it!

Sooo.... lesseee... 97% gun but 100% finnish.. Hmmm... :D :D
 
#5 · (Edited)
They were licensed by Colt to the Norwegians for in country manufacture, not the Finnish.

I'm not aware of export to Finland, but I'm not an expert on these guns. After the German takeover of Norway, it's certainly possible since Finland was at the time a German ally.

I know that Germans highly valued these .45acp firearms during the war, even though ammunition was not generally available unless captured. The Norwegian MilOrg (resistance) valued them as well.

A number of these were recently imported by Bob Simpson and will be laser import marked around the opening to the magazine well if it's one of those.
 
#14 ·
The defaced mark looks a lot like the SA in a box that Finland stamped captured Mosin Nagants with.
The SA is highly valued by Mosin collectors and shows the trail of how these guns changed hands and sides.
Could be at one time it was captured by the Finns. fhfjjjj
 
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