union switch an signal 1911a1

[padredan]

I inherited this union switch and signal awhile back and pretty much put it away and forgot about it . a week or so ago I rediscovered it and cleaned up and did a little research and found out the u.sn s are the second rarest of the 1911a's . this one belonged to my uncle a member of the 101st abn div ,during world war two and made the night jump into france and the day jump into Holland , I guess some how he did not turn his pistol in and so here it is . u.sn s are rare this one is a bit different in it is blued and not parakerised slide is heat treated and has proof marks but not the inspectors stamp, serial number is correct and the barrel is a hs or high standard magazine is period correct code marked l, over all condition is very good ,grips are period correct ,made for air craft windshield ,which you see from time to time , these did not yellow ,bore is ok but not great ,which is typical . thought I would share it here

[padredan]

sorry I have been away so long , missed you guys

[Vlim]

Cool gun. I like the 1911s.

Am working on getting this one home
Old rework. Ithaca frame with Colt slide. 1943 frame.

Actually my friends gun but she lets me clean it

[rhuff]

Nice inheritance!! I love the old WWI and WWII 1911s. If they could only talk!!

[mrerick]

The US&S M1911a1 is one of the most rare in existence. I think only the Singer pistols are fewer in number.

Do you have the original grips?

"The Switch" is still in business in Pittsburgh, PA, a subsidiary now of an Italian company recently purchased by Hitachi. They make railroad signaling systems. I have a friend that works there...

http://www.ansaldo-sts.com/en/index

I guess it's full circle that a Japanese company would own the company that made the M1911a1 pistols we used to win WW-II...

[DonVoigt]

Originally Posted by padredan

sorry I have been away so long , missed you guys

Glad you're back,
been wondering where you went!

[padredan]

ty

[padredan]

yes, singer only made 500 1911a1's a union switch had two contracts one for 30000 and a second for 25000 total of 55000 ,the second rarest of 1911's , I carried a Remington rand and still have it , I do not have the original brown resin grips ,but they are plentiful,but will keep it as it was given to me , the lexan grips are not yellow like most are , I think the pistol is well preserved for being made in 1943

[stg44fan]

So cool. Would love to have a US&S.

Unfortunately I have more of a Remington Rand budget. Here is my newest 1911A1, also 1943.

[alvin]

Originally Posted by padredan

singer only made 500 1911a1's

Very rare. I met a C96 collector, who has C96 collection of a few dozens of those, but collected a few hundred 1911's. many guns, however, no Singer variation yet.

[Zorba]

That pistol is a complete piece of junk - you need to ship it to me for immediate disposal!

[Sergio Natali]

padredan

You've got a very nice heirloom that's something to keep and treasure regardless of its finish.
Congratulations.

I'm sure I must have already posted this great video showing how US&S made their pistols, they employed mainly women.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7XUtgIVo7k

Best regards.

[Sergio Natali]

Originally Posted by Vlim

Cool gun. I like the 1911s.

Am working on getting this one home
Old rework. Ithaca frame with Colt slide. 1943 frame.

Actually my friends gun but she lets me clean it

Vlim

Very nice WWII workhorse, I've noticed that you've got the Coltwood stocks on instead of its original ones.
Those brown checkered "Coltwood" plastic stocks with the rampant colt logo molded in unfortunatly tend to shrink, you'll sometimes see COLTs from the '50s and '60s with these stocks cracking, I had them once and they were a pain in the neck.

[Vlim]

The originals came with the gun, fortunately. We will see if we swap them again, will probably do that

[padredan]

unc's union switch & signal served him well ,as did my Remington rand , both are war horses to be passed down . a bit of a back story I serve as a chaplain to the men and women residents of a war veterans home and have for nearly 15 years while recently talking with one of the female world war two residents , she asked me did I carry a .45, told her yes I did while in viet nam , I told her a Remington rand . then she told me ,well I worked at singer for awhile and inspected the pistols there and then went to union switch and signal ,where she inspected them . I showed her the picture and she told not all had been parkrised , next few days I will take it by for her to look at .

[Sergio Natali]

Originally Posted by padredan

unc's union switch & signal served him well ,as did my Remington rand , both are war horses to be passed down . a bit of a back story I serve as a chaplain to the men and women residents of a war veterans home and have for nearly 15 years while recently talking with one of the female world war two residents , she asked me did I carry a .45, told her yes I did while in viet nam , I told her a Remington rand . then she told me ,well I worked at singer for awhile and inspected the pistols there and then went to union switch and signal ,where she inspected them . I showed her the picture and she told not all had been parkrised , next few days I will take it by for her to look at .

padredan

FWIK the parkerizing machinery was installet at the US&S plants for Carbine components only in August 1943 unfortunately it was too late for use on pistols because of the impending contract callcellation, that's why all US&S pistols were finished with DU-LITE which has kind of a blue tint to it.
If you lay a "parkerized" pistol next to a real US&S in good light, you'll see the difference.

Best regards.

[padredan]

ty, what I am finding out , I knew no way unc's pistol was ever refinished and was stored mostly in a trunk with all his other world war two items , including a couple of lugers ,a browning hi power and a c 96 mauser , which I inherited .

[padredan]

this picture will show the difference in the two

[padredan]

shown is the pistol belt and holster that my uncle wore on the night of june 6 1944 when he parachuted into france , he never told me much about the union switch and signal he carried in it ,accept if you kept it half way clean ,it would always shoot .

[Douglas Jr.]

Nice to have you back, Padre!
I recently worked on a Ithaca M1911A1 that laid forgotten in an attic for more than 10 or 15 years.
When it was rediscovery and bought by me, it was covered with a thick layer of dried grease. Unfortunately some parts, as the grip safety and mainspring housing suffered with piting. I managed to find the exact match for it at ebay and change that.
Although it has some scars from the unproper storage, still displays a good amount of the parkerized finished. At first I though about refinish it, but I gave up: c'mon I'm a collector and a gun is original only once. It is my first military 1911A1 and I'm happy as a clown.
Douglas.