Union Switch & Signal 1911A1

“We’re about to find out what 1944 air smelled like,” Thomas Mackie said jokingly as he started turning the key to open our sealed WWII vintage 600-round “Spam Can” of .45 ACP ammo. He was only half-kidding. The olive drab, yellow-lettered can — in all its glorious air-tightness — had been withstanding the elements for longer than either of us had been alive.

This remarkably compact, yet ass-bustingly hefty 6″x8″x5.5″ container weighed around 30 lbs., give or take a couple of 230-grain increments. The shopworn 50-round cartons within bore the inscription “Repacked 7/44” that would indicate this “invasion can” was more than likely destined for Japan.

And it had sat for some 76 years, waiting for a couple of aging civilians to open it up and shoot it — but now, it wouldn’t be destined for a Thompson M1 or an M3 Grease Gun. For us, the stuff was destined for a prized Union Switch & Signal 1911A1 we’d temporarily obtained — after signing in blood — from our semi-regular shooting buddy, Nils Grevillius

The “Surplus” is Long Gone

In case you’re still wondering, the days of acquiring a modestly priced surplus 1911A1 are long, long gone. So if you’ve any fond memories of late 1950s/early ’60s gun magazine ads breathlessly touting “Ithaca or Colt GI .45s in VG Condition: $39.95,” please refer to L.P. Hartley’s dictum, “the past is a foreign country, they do things differently there …”
Although our borrowed specimen wasn’t in minty enough condition to command the stratospheric prices I’ve seen on various auction lists and reference book estimates, it was still in good enough shape to fully justify the “kid gloves” treatment we gave it.

Some contractor-branded military guns — say, Rock-Ola M1 Carbines or International Harvester M1 Garands — just ooze desirable, collectible cool somehow, and a Union Switch & Signal 1911A1 is one of them. I don’t know why the incongruity between the contractor’s pre-war specialty (jukeboxes, pickup trucks, railroad accessories) sounds “funny” or what. But that’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it.

In terms of raw numbers, a US&S gun rates as a “choice piece.” Second only in rarity to the Singer contract guns of collectible legend (500 units produced), the Swissvale, Pennsylvania-based company specializing in railway signaling gear issued a relatively scanty 55,000 pistols. The big producers were, of course, Remington-Rand (900,000), Colt (400,000) and Ithaca (400,000).

According to Hallock’s .45 Auto Handbook, “The Union Switch & Signal Company received an order for pistols in 1943. This order was fulfilled but no other orders were placed as the railway equipment which this company manufactured was too badly needed. This is one of the scarce models.”

76 Years Later

Our aim for this WWII gun/ammo exercise? Well, it was something we always wanted to try. Namely, a period pistol with period “issue” ammo. Straight wartime stuff all the way around. All my life I’d paid lip service to the glories of the 1911. But in all honesty, most of my experiences along those lines were with high-dollar guns (custom and semi-custom) using high-zoot defensive ammo packed in expensive 20- or 25-round “sampler packs.”

Now it was time to see what happens when the ideal of “what is” collides with “what was.” And a dead-stock issue GI US&S gun with a big old sealed can of “invasion ammo” would, I figured, give me a pretty good picture.

So, what could we expect, velocity and accuracy-wise, while laboring under the handicap of geezer eyeballs, a vintage pistol (with the original half-dip magazine) and a spam can full of steel-cased hardball (the economy wartime blend)?

The results were impressive and enlightening. They totally reaffirmed our faith in our country’s ability to field good stuff in vast quantities back in the day.

First off, the ammo. The average is 820 fps with an extreme spread of 36 fps. No, probably not quite match grade, but pretty gosh-darned good for service ammo pushing eight decades.

The trigger on ours — while not quite equal to a tuned Gold Cup — was plenty fine (and about ideal) for a military pistol: 4-1/2 lbs. and crisp enough for any discerning civilian hobbyist.

I’d like to report silver-dollar sized groups at 25 yards, but it would be a bit much to expect from old eyes, older ammo and a GI gun with sights which are, well … somewhat vestigial. It drove home the fact, at least for me, higher profile sights (not necessarily adjustable ones) constitute the greatest single advancement in the 1911/1911A1 platform.

But the gun itself was fabulous. And, truth be told, a couple or three of those 600-round Spam Cans would still pretty much serve as a Doomsday Backup Ammo Supply for all of us not seriously anticipating the Great Zombie Apocalypse.

I love old WWII-era pistols — Soviet TT-33s, Polish Radoms, Finnish (and Swedish) Lahtis, Brit Hi-Powers and even German P-38s. Heck, I even like Italy’s .380 Model 1934 Beretta.

But this US&S 1911A1 is the coolest, and arguably the most effective, hands down!

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