What a rare find, this is one of only "400" such pistol ever produced for the U.S. Army and is 1 of 24 documented late WWII, Colt semi-automatic pistols that was shipped under Government contract from the Colt factory to Remington Arms in June 1945. This exact pistol has been verified via a Colt factory letter dated Sept 2012 as being 1 of the noted 24 pistols shipped to Remington Arms in this exact configuration. Of the 24 pistols originally shipped to Remington Arms, three were subsequently reshipped back to the Government to Frankford Arsenal in May 1946. This "exact" pistol is the missing "one of three" pistols specifically listed on page 110 of the reference book "Colt's Super .38, The Production History 1929-1971" by Douglas Sheldon. These pistol have always been an enigma within Colt and Military handgun collecting community. Clearly as discussed in the reference book, they are far more rare that previously thought! Out of the total of 400 pistols order, 376 were shipped to the "Warehouse and Property Officer" Military and Administration & Supply Division, Fowler Building, Rosslyn Virginia (i.e. The Pentagon), which was the Warehouse area/storage for the "OSS" during WWII, with only a handful of those pistols ever having surfaced to date! The OSS was the forerunner of the later CIA, so you can imagine that they were either destroyed or are still tucked away in some Government warehouse. The remaining 24 were shipped to Remington Arms for use in ammunition testing, due to the extremely large order for "Super 38" that the OSS/Government placed on order in late WWII. Of these 24 pistols 3 were shipped to Frankford Arsenal and were specifically listed in a memorandum date June 13 1946 by the Chief Of Ordnance requesting final disposition as they were left over after the WWII and were not used for any further ammunition testing. It is kind of an interesting note this specific pistol serial number "37450" has a mismatched slide, which is numbered "37229". Pistol serial number "37229" is also listed on the same memorandum noted above and as discussed on the same referenced page above, also has a mismatched slide, which is numbered (37450) that matches this pistol. Now the other pistol serial number "37229" is know to exist in a private collection today! Obviously these slides were switched as part of the final U.S. Government interchangeability inspection test as performed on all Government contracts. The left side of the slide is correctly marked with the two-line Colt factory Hartford address and 1897-1913 patent dates on the left side, with the no Colt Rampant. The right side of the slide has the correct Colt and "SUPER 38 AUTOMATIC" markings. The left side of the frame has the U.S. Government final inspector markings of "G.H.D." and the right side has the serial number and final U.S. Government "Cross-Cannon" inspection cartouche directly behind the grip. This pistol has the all blue, unmarked "Super 38" barrel with the polished chamber area, with the late WWII brown checkered plastic grips with the reinforcing web on the back sides with mold numbers. This rare pistol is complete with one all blue magazine that is correctly marked on the base plate "COLT/Super 38 Auto".

Excellent with 98% of the original Colt blue finish overall. The only noticeable finish loss is on the dented sides of the rear sight where it was adjusted laterally when it was targeted. The brown plastic grips are also excellent. Just a super rare all original WWII U.S. Government contract Colt M1911A1 in the rare "38 Super" caliber.