Based on the $700 billion 2018 National Defense Authorization Act that was approved by Congress and just awaits President Donald Trump’s signature, as many as 10,000 surplus M1911 pistols could be up for sale to the public next year, the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) announced Monday.
An amendment would allow Army Secretary Mark Esper the ability to transfer the M1911 pistols as part of a two-year pilot program that would later be reviewed. The NDAA must be signed by President Trump before the transfer of the pistols can take place.
“We are waiting patiently and quietly to see how the NDAA 2018 turns out,” Mark Johnson, CMP’s Chief Operating Officer, said, according to a report. “All prescribed steps have been taken by CMP to fulfill the mandated requirements for receipt of the 1911s from the United States Army. CMP is in a constant state of readiness. The CMP has no further information at this time.”
The U.S. Military spends $2 per gun, per year, to store the pistols.
The M1911 joined the service in 1911 and was replaced in 1985 by the Beretta M9. The Beretta M9 is currently being replaced as part of the Modular Handgun System by Sig Sauer’s P320.
CMP (Twitter)
These are the steps if you want to purchase one of the surplus M1911 pistols, according to CMP Chief Operating Officer Mark Johnson:
- Decisions concerning the grade and pricing of the 1911s will not be made until inspection has occurred of a substantial quantity which will take an estimated 150 days post receipt.
- All laws pertaining to the sale of 1911s by CMP will be strictly obeyed.
- Potential purchasers will have to provide to CMP a new set of documents exhibiting: 1) proof of U.S. Citizenship, 2) proof of membership in a CMP affiliated club, 3) proof of participation in a marksmanship activity, 4) a new form 2A with notary, 5) successful completion of a NICS background check, 6) a signed copy of the 01 Federal Firearms License in which the 1911 will be transferred to.
- The CMP customer will be required to complete a form 4473 in person and successfully complete another NICS check by the recipient FFL holder before the pistol can be transferred.
- Qualified CMP customer will only be allowed to purchase one 1911 per calendar year.
- No 1911s available in the CMP stores, or on line, only mail order sales.
- CMP will set the date in which it will accept orders for the 1911s. The date will be posted to the world.
- Orders will only be accepted via mail order delivery.
- Orders will only be accepted post marked on the date or after, no early orders.
- Once CMP receives 10,000 orders, customer names will be loaded into the Random Number Generator.
- The Random Number Generator will provide a list of names in sequence order through a random picking process to CMP.
- Customers will be contacted in the sequence provided by the Random Number Generator.
- When the customer is contacted a list of 1911 grades and pricing options that are available will be offered for selection of one.
- As CMP proceeds down the sequenced list less grade and pricing options will be available. Again, this done completely random.
