SOLD VERY SCARCE NORWEGIAN M1914 PISTOL…..1925 DATED 100% MATCHING……KONGSBERG-COLTEN MINT CRISP!

This rare Norwegian M1914 pistol is in 97% sharp condition and totally factory original and all matching and has an excellent bore.   This is a top collector grade example of the highly regarded and sought after Norwegian variant of the Colt M1911 .45 acp pistol known as the M1914 Kongsberg-Colten.  This is a completely original condition completely matching pistol, which is not an easy thing to do on a Norwegian M1914.  These early production pistols are numbered much more extensively than the 1926 and onward production.  Norway adopted the model 1911 Pistol in 1914 and they are the most popular of the foreign made Colt 1911 type pistols.  They began to produce them under license starting in 1917 but just made only around 22,000 by the time of WW2.  They are not common, especially still all matching.  

This particular pistol was manufactured in late 1925 at the Kongsberg Vapenfabrikk and was inspected by Erling Schold as evidenced by his initials ES under the date.  On Oct 27, 1925 this pistol was part of a shipment of 160 pistols sent to the Army Arsenal in Oslo.  There it remained until it was sent to the 5th infantry Regiment sometime in 1937  What happened to this pistol during the Second World War is not known.  After Norway surrendered in 1940 many were issued to German forces and it was called the Pistole 657 (n) by them.  It was widely issued to the Kriegsmarine and many pictures showing its German Navy service use are known. Of course many were also used by the Norwegian Free Army and the Norwegian underground resistance. One only need watch The Heavy Water War on Netflix to see this pistol depicted in action.   Because of the large .45 caliber it was quite popular with those of both sides who carried it.  Starting in 1957 and lasting until about 1962 numbers of these pistols were surplussed and sold in the US.  This pistol may have been a vet bring back or it may have been imported in and sold during this period.  If you have been looking for one of these pistols this is certainly a top example.