M1914 Norwegian produced Colt 45 question

[NickG]

I have a question about Model 1914 Norwegian produced Colt 45 pistols... What are these worth and are the waffenamt marked ones worth a lot more money?
The reason why I am asking is because I have access to a hoard of these babies thru a friend in Europe who has contacts within the Norwegian army. I guess they're getting rid of a bunch of these moth balled guns. I just want to know how hard it would be to import these. A lot of ATF paperwork involved?
I do not have a FFL.... but was promised a sample gun for evaluation...hoping its covered in waffen amt birds... I heard that in the 1980's a series of these were reproduced in Norway, but the batch that I'm after are not those copies, they're genuine Norwegian army (obsoleted) surplus guns!
Nick
PS: the picture below I "borrowed", note text!

[BostonMark]

Nick,

I imported several Norwegian Crest P.38's so I have some experience in this area.

First you need to find an importer, then you need to send a description of the guns with serial numbers to the ATFE for approval. Once the guns are papered then your contact needs to get an export permit. In Norway only a gun dealer can export more than a few guns. After the paperwork is approved you must find a carrier that will ship the guns to US customs, after it passes through customs the importer picks the guns up and appiies the import stamp to the pistols and they are ready to be sold.

Needless to say, it takes several months for the process to be completed. From what I understand only 500 guns per year are released by the Government to be sold to collectors in Norway who can then sell them to gun dealers or deactivate them. (Most of the Norwegian Crest P.38's were later destroyed)

From what I understand many of the Norwegian Model 1914 guns have been reworked which reduces value and then the import cost and then the import stamps. Usually the importer will charge you a fee for each gun imported plus the expenses. The last 8 guns I imported from Norway were required to be put in a wood box so large it could be lifted by a forklift, so I got screwed on the shipping costs.

All in all the process is very lenghty and expensive. You also aren't sure what you are getting. An import marked reworked and mismatched Norwegian M1914 isn't going to bring $2,000.00. So unless you are paying a few hundred a piece for them, it may not be worth the hassle.

My 2c

Mark

[jdbwoodsman]

Couple things, the only waffenampt marked Norwegian M1914 pistols are the 1945 dated guns. Any others with a waffenampt is a forgery.

Secondly, there is a collector/curator of the Norwegian arms who will provide serial number letters to collectors who apply.... just like Colt or S&W letters in this country, for those pistols. The value is dependent upon the same factors that apply to any US, German, Japanese, etc weapon in the collectibles market; rarity and condition. Most Norwegian guns are in rather poor condition and bring $700 - $1200. The one you copied that belongs to William Springfield is in the $4500 range with that condition and I think I recall it is a 1945 dated waffenampt marked gun.

It was mentioned you have to get a licensed importer to do the paperwork with the ATF and they will have to import stamp the guns when they arrive. Most collectors hate that import stamp and it's doubtful you'd do very well in the end. One importer is Simpson Ltd. in Galesburg, IL., call them and they will tell you how to proceed.

[Bergflak]

The WW2 production of these guns included 1941, 1942 and 1945 dated guns. Of these, only the 1945 production was ever WaA'ted. Total production with WaA was a little over 800 guns. The guns used after the war in the Norwegian army are normally "boiled" (reblued) and for some reason most of them has a mismatched part.
Of the total of the surplus guns released for sale each year I expect none would be of the WaA'ted model. These guns fetch a hefty price in Norway as well, so I would be amazed if a export would bring the seller a profit at all!

[Zapper]

Without going into details:
I can guarantee you 100% that NONE of the 1914's will be dated 1945. They have all been put aside. Trust me on this one.
With some luck you might fint some dated 1942.

[Jokka]

xx

[Matt Weber]

First off, the only Waffenampt ones are dated 1945, and they only produced about 900 or so of these! How many are in collections already, and how many are long gone? So, your statement that you have access to "hoards" of these, does not include the waffenampt ones, I think.

Now, as for importing them, I have a simular story to share. I too was approached by a man in Norway, who was aking me if I wanted to purchase any M1914s? The price he was asking was almost as high as what they sell for here in the US. You have to remember that you have to pay to purchase them, then pay to import them. All that money you have to invest up front, with no guarentee you'll ever get it back!
During the process they will be import marked, which lowers collector value usually by 35-50%, if they are re-works, they won't be matching, which lowers the value another 50%! So my response to the gentleman was that I would need them priced at about 1/4 of what he was asking just to make any profit on them! Even then you still have to sell them!

Not trying to dis-courage you. Just stating the facts. A better import investment would be to get more P38 lanyards out of Norway. Or get M1914 magazines, and triple mag pouches?

Some of you may remember a few years back, I imported several P08 and P38 holsters from Norway. They were all Norweigen captures, with GI hangers on them. I had to pay to purchase and ship them here. I then paid a guy to remove all the hangers, and re-attach belt loops that were identicle to the originals. I then sold them as such, re-conditioned Norweigen capture holster.
Now, I didn't make a killing on them or anything, but I did come out ahead on the deal. But it took much longer to sell them all than I expected.
Also, the guy I purchased them from specifically told me that he included four 1940 dated P38 holsters in the lot (I requested only 1940 and 1941 dated holsters from him). When I received the lot, there was only 1 1940 dated P38 holster. The other three were actually P39(t) holsters! Lesson learned!

Matt

[Zapper]

Since my last reply in this thread (November), a large number of 1914s have been made available in Norway to registered collectors. This also includes a (limited) number of pistols from the desirable 1945 production!

These 1945's have been limited to one per qualified buyer.
Hopefully "Jokka" has reserved a 1945 for himself, I know I have!

[jujuy]

Is there a way to buy some directly from norway if you're a dealer?
thanks

Since my last reply in this thread (November), a large number of 1914s have been made available in Norway to registered collectors. This also includes a (limited) number of pistols from the desirable 1945 production!

These 1945's have been limited to one per qualified buyer.
Hopefully "Jokka" has reserved a 1945 for himself, I know I have!

[Jokka]

If there where any for sale it might. The ones that will be for sale now is only for members of the Norwegian arm collectors society. Remember, there are only 920 of these made, 63 years ago. Probably half or more are missing, destroyed or lost.

[BillyC]

Is there any collector interest in M1914s made in 1945 but not WaA?