The CMP received more than double the number of requests to purchase 1911s than they got from the Army. (Photo: GunsAmerica)
The Civilian Marksmanship Program, or CMP, announced it would start taking orders for the first batch of military surplus M1911s at the end of last year and the response was overwhelming. The CMP took in 8,000 1911 pistols from the Army and received over 19,000 requests for purchase.
After combing through the stock the CMP found that 145 were in unsellable condition. A few with high historical value will be sidelined. The CMP will not be taking in more 1911 requests until they receive another batch.
So far the CMP reports they’ve sold just over 600 guns, taking in more than $663,000 in revenue, and expects to move the rest of the batch this spring. The Government Accountability Office, or GAO, believes the lot could generate up to $8 million for the CMP. That’s in addition to rifle sales which are also significant.
The CMP sells roughly 33,000 rifles a year. About a third of those are M1 Garands, but they also sell National Match M14s, M1903s, M1917 Enfields, M82 Kimbers and a handful of other military rifles.
The CMP selects buyers by lottery, assigning each request a number and using a random number generator to determine the lucky collectors. Each gun is inspected, repaired if necessary, and test-fired.
According to the Office of the Secretary of the Army, the military has around 100,000 1911s that it can surplus, and the CMP hopes to get another 8,000-10,000 every year.
The pistols selling through CMP program are graded as follows, “service grade,” (listing at $1,050), “field grade,” (listing for $950), and “rack grade” (listing for $850).
See Also: Touring the CMP: A Look at the First Batch of M1911s
As far as the historically significant guns are concerned, it’s not clear if they will be sold by the CMP, auctioned off for special events, kept as prizes, or sent to museums.
And the history for some of these pistols can run deep. While the provenance for all of the 1911s will take time to pin down, if it’s even possible, some of these 1911s were issued before WWI. That’s a lot of history for the CMP to comb through.
Every branch of the military issued the 1911 to its troops. But starting in 1985, the Uncle Sam started phasing out ole slabside for other pistols, chiefly the Beretta M9. And while a few special units continued to field 1911s up into recent years, these were purpose-built 1911s, not the same guns issued to G.I.s.
Today the military as a whole is adopting the new SIG M17 and M18, based on their P320 series of modular pistols.
Considering how much they want for these, it must be all doctors and lawyers.
Calling BS on the federal government doing this with the pricing and refusing to turn loose the rest of OUR
tax payer bought weapons.
Short of a Singer or similar rarity, these should be far cheaper.
When I was in the Navy, I looked up the price of a 1911. In the NSIN system, a 1911 cost $27. That was during the Gulf War. Don’t see how the value went up from in the system to out of the system. Especially how loose fitting they were. Crazy
Good for the CMP, and good for the people that are selected in the draw.
I’m glad that someone is willing to pay $1000+ for a used 1911A1 when I can get a new one with better features from a large host of current manufacturers for far less. I have 4 1911 45s, and I use most of them to shoot with, so I don’t personally need a wall hanging safe queen.
The allure of the CMP surplus rifles is that there are generally no other sources for M1 Garand rifles, and no commercial equal.
Surely the author is mistaken that the CMP received 8000 1911s. More likely, it is mostly 1911A1s.
To the best of my knowledge, the CMP does not sell M14s, even though they have M14/M1a National Matches. The M1a used is manufactured by civilian companies such as Springfield Armory. Surplus M14s could easily be sold through the CMP. It would simply require machining off a lug in the receiver of full-auto military M14s rendering them permanently into a semi-auto civilian version. We can only dream.
According to the 1968 GCA, “once a machine gun, always a machine gun.”
So an M14 is a machine gun.
No “surplus sales” possible until that changes.