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Barry doesn't know that there was a WWI repro, but OD says he's correct. I don't understand.
However many years ago it was, 2, 3, 4, whatever, Colt made a big deal of bringing back a 1911, WWI repro and a 1911A1, WWII repro. Looking at the current Colt catalog, I see that the 1911 repro is still being offered. I am wondering whether these 1911 copies are the same as the first versions, by packaging, serial number style, markings, etc., or are 1911s(as opposed to 1911A1s) in form only. If the current pistols aren't a continuation of the first series, the early versions should be more collectible, because of the special markings, packaging, etc.
Does anyone here know for sure? Maybe the ones being sold now are left-overs form the original offering?
Actually, I do know there was (is) a WWI Repro. I own one.
What I was unaware of was there being more than one example of it, or series, or whatever.
The only one I know of came out three or four years ago after the WWII Repros, and was to be a limited run of 4,000 guns with a "WMK" suffix (after William M. Keyes, the president of Colt).
That 4,000 figure seems to be the source of confusion in some places because Colt started at serial number 1000WMK. For the past year at least, I have seen posts on various forums where people have just bought a WWI Repro, and it has a serial number over 4,000. They had read that Colt was only making 4,000, but theirs had a number higher than 4K, so they wonder if Colt continued the run or made another series, or issue, or whatever. They assume, quite naturally, that Colt started at 0001WMK and will end at 4000WMK, but the fact is the last one should have serial number 5000WMK.
Or would it be 4999WMK?
Anyway...
If I've seen a few people asking that online, there must be more out there who haven't asked, and think there was another run. They tell someone, and they tell someone, and...
That's just a guess on my part, but it could explain the confusion.
The only other Colt-made 1911 with WWI ties (besides, of course, guns made for or during WWI) that I know of are the late 60's/early 70's guns that commemerated WWI battles, like the Belleau Wood, Chateau Thierry, etc.