Way to track down an military-issued weapon?

[ChamberedRound]

Recently, my dad was talking about his experiences in the National Guard during the early 1970's. He was stationed at Fort Dix, and becuase of his job function he was issued a 1911a1.

I'm well aware that this is a complete longshot, but does anyone know if there's any way to at least determine the serial number of the weapon he was issued, or better yet, a way to actually track the weapon down? It would be really cool to find the sidearm issued to him, buy it, and give it to him as a gift.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[BUCKMARK]

All soldiers are supposed to remember the serial number of their weapons issued. SUPPOSED TO. I dont remember the one for my M16A2 at Benning or Drum.

If your dad cant remember...I highly doubt you will even find it.

I will tell you this - the Army wont help at all. Forget it. I tried once.

tracking that weapon will be almost impossible. God knows if it even still exists, what was replaced on it and how many times it was rebuilt since.

Didnt Bill Clinton have the militray destroy a large number of 1911's rather than release them to the public? I seem to recall something about that.

Good luck with your search.

[Brick]

You're right it is a long shot, a VEEEERRRYYY long shot.

Firearms are unit property and are issued to individuals on either hand reciepts or weapons cards. The unit recieves the weapons from the Property Book Officer as a serialized bulk issue. That is the PBO will be signed for 52 Pistols Cal. .45 ACP M1911/M1911A1 with serial numbers listed for all 52. He then issues the weapons to the Commanders of his subordinate units, by serial # and this continues down the line to the individual. The problem is that the record of issue is destroyed when the individual turns the weapon back into the arms room and leaves the unit. That way the individual can't be charged with losing a weapon he's turned in. It gets worse when a unit is inactivated and all of the unit's property comes off the books and is transferred to other units or turned in to a depot for disposal or redistribution. Almost as bad is when a big trade is made like turning in all of your M1911s and recieving the M9.

[Steve in PA]

1626648 was the serial number for my last M16A1 that I was issued. I then cross trained over to an MOS (0341) where my issued weapon was a 1911A1. However, I don't remember that serial number.

The military doesn't keep track of where a specific weapon is or was. Its just not something they do, considering how many M16's and pistols there are in circulation within the services.

[ChamberedRound]

Yup, that's what I figured. Well, thanks for the info guys. If I make any headway, I'll let you know.

[BronzeDragon]

In this vein of thought, is it just as hard finding out who originally owned/was issued the russian surplus weapons, like the M44? It'd be neat to even find out what unit was originally issued my carbine and to find out if it had seen combat or not.

Eric