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The famous 1911 wasn’t only used by the Allies during WWII, the Nazis also issued the .45ACP (11.25mm) 1911 throughout the war as well. Although in limited use with the German military, about 8,200 were made between 1940 and 1945.



How did these 1911s come into Nazi Germany’s possession? Before WWII the Kingdom of Norway chose the 1911 as their new sidearm with a few minor changes. Dubbed the Norwegian Model 1914 it was pretty much the same pistol as the American 1911 but with a different slide stop lever design to make it easier to operate as well as different hammer checkering. The Norwegian military officially adopted the “Kongsberg Colt” in August of 1914 and production started at the Kongsberg Vaapenfabrikk in Norway. Germany occupied Norway starting in 1940 and took control of the Kongsberg factory which continued to make the 1911s for Nazi use, now called the Pistole 657(n). Only 920 of these pistols were ever Waffenamt-marked, making existing examples very rare and highly collectible.

The example above belongs to Calguns.net member beetle, who posted about his very rare 1911.