*RARE SET OF CUSTOM COLT GOVERNMENT MODEL TEXAS RANGER 175TH ANNIVERSARY SEMI-AUTO TARGET PISTOL.

*RARE SET OF CUSTOM COLT GOVERNMENT MODEL TEXAS RANGER 175TH ANNIVERSARY SEMI-AUTO TARGET PISTOL. SN TR002R & TR002L. Cal. 45 ACP. Matched consecutive numbered set of Colt factory custom target pistols with royal blue finish, 5″ bright metal bbls with Novac sights, skeletonized hammer, beavertail grip safety, Gold Cup-style adjustable aluminum trigger, checkered 1911-style mainspring housing and diamond checkered rosewood grips. Frontstraps also have Gold Cup-style serrations and they are fitted with ambidextrous thumb safeties. They are marked identically with machine engraved slides that have “TEXAS RANGERS / 1823 1998” with a Texas 5-pointed star & wreath in the center and a machine engraved rampant Colt at the rear ends. Right sides are machine engraved “TEXAS RANGERS / 175TH / ANNIVERSARY” in the spaces forward of ejection ports with the Texas Ranger badge etch-engraved at right rear edges. SN is hand-stamped in the usual place just above the triggers. Slides have been ported with extra cuts around the trigger guards. Accompanied by a Colt factory letter fully identifying these pistols, as found, with engraving & features as described. The letter further lists custom parts as Chip McCormick bbls, bushings, hammers, sears, slide stops, ambidextrous safeties, grip safeties & rosewood stocks. It also lists Videcke triggers and Novak sights. They were shipped to McBride’s Guns, Austin, TX, Oct. 8, 1999 as a set for “Chief Bruce Casteel”. The letter also lists that they were accompanied by a “double case with glass top and red interior” and two spare magazines. They are in fact accompanied by a fine custom glass top walnut casing with etched Colt trademark in the left front corner and two spare stainless steel 8-rd magazines with rubber bumpers. Additionally accompanied by a letter to Dr. Murphy dated Oct. 30, 2002, from Bruce Casteel, retired Chief, Texas Rangers wherein he states that he is pleased that Dr. Murphy has purchased “my personal Texas Ranger Commemorative Guns”. Also accompanied by an 8 x 10 color photograph of a gentleman in a cowboy hat, ostensibly Chief Casteel, and a small retirement flyer from Chief Casteel’s retirement party which briefly details his law enforcement career. He joined the Texas Rangers in 1967 and retired in 2001. PROVENANCE: Dr. Joseph A. Murphy Collection; Bruce Casteel, Chief Texas Rangers. CONDITION: Both pistols remain new & unfired retaining all of their orig factory finish. Case is equally new. 4-36505 JR153 (12,000-20,000)

Auction: Firearms - Fall 2009

Please Note: All prices include the hammer price plus the buyer’s premium, which is paid by the buyer as part of the purchase price. The prices noted here after the auction are considered unofficial and do not become official until after the 46th day.

Image	Lot	Price	Description
	2170	$0.00	RARE SET OF CUSTOM COLT GOVERNMENT MODEL TEXAS RANGER 175TH ANNIVERSARY SEMI-AUTO TARGET PISTOL. SN TR002R & TR002L. Cal. 45 ACP. Matched consecutive numbered set of Colt factory custom target pistols with royal blue finish, 5″ bright metal bbls with Novac sights, skeletonized hammer, beavertail grip safety, Gold Cup-style adjustable aluminum trigger, checkered 1911-style mainspring housing and diamond checkered rosewood grips. Frontstraps also have Gold Cup-style serrations and they are fitted with ambidextrous thumb safeties. They are marked identically with machine engraved slides that have “TEXAS RANGERS / 1823 1998” with a Texas 5-pointed star & wreath in the center and a machine engraved rampant Colt at the rear ends. Right sides are machine engraved “TEXAS RANGERS / 175TH / ANNIVERSARY” in the spaces forward of ejection ports with the Texas Ranger badge etch-engraved at right rear edges. SN is hand-stamped in the usual place just above the triggers. Slides have been ported with extra cuts around the trigger guards. Accompanied by a Colt factory letter fully identifying these pistols, as found, with engraving & features as described. The letter further lists custom parts as Chip McCormick bbls, bushings, hammers, sears, slide stops, ambidextrous safeties, grip safeties & rosewood stocks. It also lists Videcke triggers and Novak sights. They were shipped to McBride’s Guns, Austin, TX, Oct. 8, 1999 as a set for “Chief Bruce Casteel”. The letter also lists that they were accompanied by a “double case with glass top and red interior” and two spare magazines. They are in fact accompanied by a fine custom glass top walnut casing with etched Colt trademark in the left front corner and two spare stainless steel 8-rd magazines with rubber bumpers. Additionally accompanied by a letter to Dr. Murphy dated Oct. 30, 2002, from Bruce Casteel, retired Chief, Texas Rangers wherein he states that he is pleased that Dr. Murphy has purchased “my personal Texas Ranger Commemorative Guns”. Also accompanied by an 8 x 10 color photograph of a gentleman in a cowboy hat, ostensibly Chief Casteel, and a small retirement flyer from Chief Casteel’s retirement party which briefly details his law enforcement career. He joined the Texas Rangers in 1967 and retired in 2001. PROVENANCE: Dr. Joseph A. Murphy Collection; Bruce Casteel, Chief Texas Rangers. CONDITION: Both pistols remain new & unfired retaining all of their orig factory finish. Case is equally new. 4-36505 JR153 (12,000-20,000) Auction: Firearms - Fall 2009 Please Note:* All prices include the hammer price plus the buyer’s premium, which is paid by the buyer as part of the purchase price. The prices noted here after the auction are considered unofficial and do not become official until after the 46th day.

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