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Doubs · 09-04-2003, 12:33 AM

The "Auto Mag" is a fine publication with much excellent information, especially for those interested in Lugers. It is also a product of the members with articles submitted by them and the quality of the information is subject to the limitations of the individuals. I was a member of NAPCA for several years and in that time I wrote a letter detailing information about a US&S 1911A1 that came into my possession in 99.9% condition. The pistol was examined in detail by Edward Banks - now deceased - and deemed original in every way. Ed contacted a very senior official of US&S and arranged the sale of the pistol to him.

I spoke with the gentleman several times by telephone and he had been employed at that time for many years (more than 30, IIRC) with US&S and had complete access to all of their records. According to his account, the ONLY surviving records of US&S 191A1 war-time production were ones that he and a friend had managed to pull from a dumpster when they were tossed out early in his employment. The records they saved are few and don't begin to tell the full story. The information he himself gathered over the years came from first hand accounts of employees who were there during the war and had knowledge of daily operations. At the time I spoke with him, he also owned a "lunch box" US&S pistol that was returned to the company by police who confiscated it from a former worker years after the worker had retired.

Anyway, without going into great detail about the gentleman with whom I'd spoken, I observed in my letter that a great deal of information about US&S production had been lost. The month following the appearance of my letter in "Auto Mag", there was a response from a fellow who thoroughly trashed my letter and made the statement that the reason he KNEW he was correct was because unlike war-ravaged Germany and Japan, we hadn't been bombed and the full records of US&S production during the war were still very much intact.

My first impulse was to ask for the exact location of those records but after beginning a couple of replies that sounded too "testy" I just let it go.

Just as this fine forum is the sum of the contributions of the members, so is "Auto Mag" and there will be differences of opinion. It's how those differences are expressed that makes the debate either educational and enjoyable or just a p!$$!n' contest.

09-04-2003, 12:33 AM	#14
Doubs User Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Byron, Georgia Posts: 1,736 Thanks: 819 Thanked 1,769 Times in 586 Posts	The "Auto Mag" is a fine publication with much excellent information, especially for those interested in Lugers. It is also a product of the members with articles submitted by them and the quality of the information is subject to the limitations of the individuals. I was a member of NAPCA for several years and in that time I wrote a letter detailing information about a US&S 1911A1 that came into my possession in 99.9% condition. The pistol was examined in detail by Edward Banks - now deceased - and deemed original in every way. Ed contacted a very senior official of US&S and arranged the sale of the pistol to him. I spoke with the gentleman several times by telephone and he had been employed at that time for many years (more than 30, IIRC) with US&S and had complete access to all of their records. According to his account, the ONLY surviving records of US&S 191A1 war-time production were ones that he and a friend had managed to pull from a dumpster when they were tossed out early in his employment. The records they saved are few and don't begin to tell the full story. The information he himself gathered over the years came from first hand accounts of employees who were there during the war and had knowledge of daily operations. At the time I spoke with him, he also owned a "lunch box" US&S pistol that was returned to the company by police who confiscated it from a former worker years after the worker had retired. Anyway, without going into great detail about the gentleman with whom I'd spoken, I observed in my letter that a great deal of information about US&S production had been lost. The month following the appearance of my letter in "Auto Mag", there was a response from a fellow who thoroughly trashed my letter and made the statement that the reason he KNEW he was correct was because unlike war-ravaged Germany and Japan, we hadn't been bombed and the full records of US&S production during the war were still very much intact. My first impulse was to ask for the exact location of those records but after beginning a couple of replies that sounded too "testy" I just let it go. Just as this fine forum is the sum of the contributions of the members, so is "Auto Mag" and there will be differences of opinion. It's how those differences are expressed that makes the debate either educational and enjoyable or just a p!$$!n' contest.