After spending 5 weeks travelling in Chile and Argentina a few months back, I became very interested in the firearms carried by the ever-present mounted police guarding street-corners and plazas, or marching in seemingly-impromptu parades. Any attempt to get a closer look at the service pistols, normally concealed in leather flap-holsters, was met with hostile stares from their custodians!

Not wishing to extend my holiday in a South American jail, I postponed this research interest until safely back in Oz. While web-searching Argentina's colourful small-arms history through the 1900s I came across a Sistema Colt for sale, and took the plunge.

The pistol is roll-marked "C.F.S." for Consejo Federale de Securidad, the Federal Council for Security set up by Juan Domingo Peron to give him absolute control over all of Argentina's numerous police forces. According to Clawson, only 100 Sistema Colts were made for the CFS, in 1954, but there were clearly more. This one has the highest serial number listed on the 1911forum site where they maintain a thread on the CFS-marked Sistema Colts.

The pistol came with original black leather flap-holster, spare mag in a pouch on the drop-loop, all parts with matching-numbers including magazine. It has not been arsenal-refurbished like those surplussed in the US during the 1990s, instead it came to Australia via Germany acquiring German proof-marks along the way.

Unfortunately the original barrel is worn beyond serviceable limits, barely holding a group at 7 metres, but I was lucky enough to find a brand-new 1990s-era Thompson barrel and fitted it myself. This is my first 1911, so steep learning-curve, assisted greatly by borrowed copies of Kuhnhausen's bibles. Shot it yesterday with perfect satisfaction, fed and ejected perfectly, all in the black at 25 metres with 6 o'clock hold. ...if anything stringing horizontally a bit, not sure how fussy I should be. Also puts a couple of tiny marks on the case, at 4 and 8 o'clock just below the case-mouth, might need to widen the barrel-ramp a smidge more.

Quickly discovering that 1911 Colts are just as addictive as British double rifles! Might need to buy a few more lottery tickets...