Another RARE piece - an Original .38 AMU sold to Gill Hebard, then sent to J.E. Clark

Hello all,

Since AMU stands for Army Marksmanship Unit, I think this is the correct forum for this post.

I've just acquired another rare 1911 variation, a .38 AMU in excellent condition. According to Colt Factory records, (letter coming next week) this gun (frame and all parts) was shipped as a .38 AMU "Kit" to Gil Hebard, Knoxville, IL on Sept. 7, 1962. A special notation in the letter states; "Note: Kit with unfit slide and unfit barrel ... sold with a .38 Special magazine". Beverly said this was a common practice with shipments to Gil Hebard as he, (or his customers) would precision fit the barrel to the slide, and then precision fit the slide to the frame. All this was was done to achieve utmost accuracy. Apparently this gun (or kit) was then sold to J.E. Clark, Shreveport, LA. His stamp and work order number "1062" (date - Oct. 62) can be seen of the bottom of the slide. Clark is know for building very accurate Competition pistols. I'm not sure if it then went to R.G. Curtis as the final customer with Clark putting his name on the side of the weight, or if Curtis did some further work. Richard Curtis was an AMU armorer and studied some under Dick Shokey before buying Dick's shop. If anyone has any information about R.G. Curtis I would be appreciate hearing from you.

pictures below show ....

The number "310" is stamped on the bottom of the slide matching the last 3 digits of the serial number of the frame.

The "J.E.Clark" stamp and "date" are stamped on the bottom of the slide

The Barrel is marked with the caliber "COLT .38 AMU" and the Slide is marked "COLT .38 AMU Automatic".

The weight is marked "R.G. Curtis".

The sights are Bomar rear sight, and an Extended front sight.

The front of the trigger-guard was machined to attach the weight.

The magazine is marked .38 spec.

Hello,

Well, I finally took the pistol to the range for a spin. Although I'm a pretty good pistol shot, I must admit this group was fired using a mechanical rest. Fired at 50 feet.




I also got the Factory Letter for the AMU.



And, a response from my inquiry to Clark. This confirms that the pistol was sold by Gil Hebard as their model 61 as shown in their catalog from 1962.