The Norwegian Colt .45

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The Norwegian Colt .45

The storey starts in 1912 when Norway decided to replace the obsolete??Nagant revolver whit an Automatic pistol. Several model were on trial but the decision fell on the Colt 1911.

The first guns were bought from USA. During WWI Colt was not able to supply Norway and a license agreement between Colt,Browning and the Norwegian government, permitting Norway to manufacture the pistol in Norway from 1915. (The only other country to get a license agreement was Argentina)

The first pistols manufactured in 1917 was stamped "COLT AUT. PISTOL M/1912" but less than 100 were ever produced. They were identical to the 1911 except for the hammer checkering.

Full production started in 1919 and the piston was now called "11.25 m/m AUT. PISTOL M/1914" The main differences on these pistols compared to the US 1911 and 1912 was its slide stop, this was extended down and back to make it easier to operate and required a cut-out in the left grip plate. It also had a much wider hammer. These changes makes it much easier to operate than a normal 1911.

Production stopped??about 1930 at about 20 000 guns.

After the German occupation, the production started up again and about 8000 - 10 000 was made. ( 1941; 3700, 1942; 3500, 1943; ?, 1944; ?, 1945; 1300)

The rarest from the war period is the so called "matpakke Colt" meaning, lunch box Colt. These were made from part smuggled out from the factory, bound for the Norwegian resistance movement. These were of course unnumbered. An estimated 500 pistols were assembled in this way. These are quit rare and sought after by collectors.

The Norwegians continued the production until 1946. All production took place at "Kongsberg V?penfabrikk" / Kongsberg Arms Factory.

From 1917 to 1946, a total of about 33 000 were made.

As far as I know the Colt and the Browning HP, was the only pistols made on both sides during WW II. ( Please correct me if I?m wrong )

Kjell

Edited January 18, 2007 by ksg

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US 1911, Norwegian M 1914 and US 1911 A1

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Norwegian and American slide stop.

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The difference on the hammer.

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Normal slide markings. The K and crown is the Kongsberg Factory marking. Only production year was stamped on the wright side.

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Only the 1945 production were "Waffenamt" marked.

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Standard 28 shot box. The production year, date and lot number is handwritten. This one is from 1941. As the pistol, neither the cartridges nor the box, had any German markings.

Most other occupied factories got German factory codes.

Kjell