[Cass]

There were only 1,000 of these made (unlike the more plentiful Colt 1909 USMC where 1,300 were made, ha!).

This one came with some interesting handmade Perspex grips. Perspex was WWII aircraft canopy material and was popular for handicraft.

Cass

 

[cpw]

Nice pistol. How hard it is to find original grips?

 

[Cass]

The grips are real tough to find. Actually the guy I bought this one from had found the walnut grips about 25 years ago, so I bought it with both sets.

I found a couple sets for the Colt 1917, which are the same as the 1909 Navy. I got those for $75 per set, but that was close to 10 years ago. Now the repros go for about that.

I also really lucked out a few years ago and found an original set for the 1909 USMC for $150. I just posted a message on another forum and a guy said he had a set....amazing luck.

Cass

 

[A square 10]

very nice revolver , congrats , and to get both sets of grip scales is a real coupe ive not gotten a resouce book on these yet but i take it you have one [knowing how many navy-USMC models of 1909 were made] can you tell me how many army were made [i have one of these]

 

[Cass]

Thanks, A square. There is a small book by Bob Murphy called COLT NEW SERVICE REVOLVERS that is the best source for these revolvers. It says that two sources disagree on the number of Colt 1909 Army's produced. One gives 18,303 and the other around 13,000.

Cass

 

[Cass]

doughboy1953:

Here is the post on the 1909 Navy.

Cass

 

[A square 10]

thank you for that data -

my colt army 1909 is in the middle here

and on the bottom here ,