The Lunch Box Special

[Harb]

The 1911 pistol has achieved mythological status in America. But even amongst the most hard-core collectors of Colt, Remington and Ithaca, there remains a fabled "holy grail" of John Browning's design: the so-called "Lunchbox Special."

WWII saw the greatest influx of arms production in US history. Car plants were able to crank out one B-17 bomber every 24 hours. Headlamp manufactures were making M1 Carbines. Even though Colt was the primary supplier of 1911 pistols, a few other companies entered late in the war and would get additional contracts until the Beretta came along and ruined everything.

But not every part gets used on an assembly line. Like Johnny Cash said in his famous song about Cadillacs, factory workers could get mighty jealous of what the boys overseas were able to use at their tax dollars' expense. Automatic pistols were very pricy on the commercial market in 1941. Why let such perfectly "good" parts go to waste when you can't even get rubber because of rationing laws?

According to this myth, factory workers are said to have smuggles parts out of arms producers' reject bins piece by piece until they could build a complete weapon. They did so by hiding them in their lunchboxes, hence the name.

These pistols are said to have no inspector stamps or even serial numbers. Because of this, identifying one can be nearly impossible with any level of certainty (especially a Colt, since they were meticulous about numbering all of their weapons). What' worse, the legal implications of owning an un-serialized pistol are very serious.

Here is the only known video of a real lunchbox special: " onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Mexican Kerry]

One of the most common sayings in the collectors world is "buy the gun, not the story." as you say its hard to verify the authenticity of a lunch box gun. There is currently a thread about this subject on one of the major 1911 boards, there are many opinions and most of the more knowledgeable folks tend to view these with skepticism. My dad has an Inglis Hi Power from WW2 that he suspects is a lunch box special, I dunno.

There are enough legit pistols out there, if you want a collectable find one that is, and that was carried into battle. Honor the soldier, not the scumbag that stole one and hid it under the floorboards.

[Whootsinator]

What's wrong with owning an unserialized pistol made before 1968?

[Harb]

What's wrong with owning an unserialized pistol made before 1968?

The government could always claim you defaced it. Not worth the risk.

[ChopperDoc]

What's wrong with owning an unserialized pistol made before 1968?

The government could always claim you defaced it. Not worth the risk.

not sure I understand how they could say that and get away with it if it is in fact a gun made before serial numbers were required. I own several old guns that have no serial number. Now they do have other markings such as patents, proof markings, etc, etc. I imagine a gun with NO markings would be closely scrutinized.

[Mexican Kerry]

Definitely not an expert on US law, what I understand is any manufactured prior to GCA68 don't require a serial if they never had one. In the case of a 1911, all completed pistols theoretically did have numbers, so if it doesn't, its generally viewed as having been defaced. As I said, just what I understand, correct me if I'm wrong.

[Harleyx2]

MK find yourself a nice toy at the auction i posted in every thing else, hope you got some extra cash there not cheap

[Mexican Kerry]

MK find yourself a nice toy at the auction i posted in every thing else, hope you got some extra cash there not cheap

Can't even afford to look Harley, I just bought another old Colt this morning!

[Harleyx2]

It's worth looking at two much allsome stuff.