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LOT 1463
Historic Documented Identified Rock Island Arsenal M15 General Officer 45 ACP Semi- Automatic Pistol Issued to Brigadier General Leo Golash - Serial no. GO258, 45 ACP cal., 4
1/4 inch round bbl., blue finish, walnut checkered grips. These M15 pistols were manufactured and issued by Rock Island Arsenal beginning in the early 1970s through approximately 1985 when the U.S.
Army adopted the Beretta M9 pistol. They were manufactured by using a standard M1911A1 pistol, milling off old markings and then applying the new M15 markings; shortening the slide and barrel assembly
to 4 1/4 inches and installing high profile sights. The left side of the slide is marked: “General Officer Model/RIA”, and the right side of the frame is marked “Serial No. GO 258” above the grips. The grips
are checkered walnut, and the right side is inlaid with a cast RIA Ordnance Corp emblem that consists of the “crossed-cannons” surrounded with a leather belt insignia that has “ROCK ISLAND
ARSENAL” on the belt and the “Shell/Flame” and “Ordnance Bomb” at the top. The pistol has a highly polished blue finish on all the parts aside from the chrome plated barrel. The left grip has
an unmarked name plate inset. It comes with one original WWII GI magazine that has the capital letter “G” on the front lip. This specific M15 General Officer Pistol was issued to Brigadier General Leo Golash and is listed in “The Colt U.S. General Officers’ Pistol” by Horace Greeley IV p. 149 as being issued in 1974. Brigadier General Golash enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1941 and attended OCS at Ft. Benning, Ga., in the same year. After being commissioned, he was assigned to the 71st
Infantry Regiment of the 44th Division at Ft. Lewis, Washington. He served in the same unit during WWII and Korea and was captured by the Germans in late 1944. He was eventually repatriated in
March 1945. During WWII, he received the Combat Infantry Badge, Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster, National Defense Service Medal and the WWII Victory Medal. He also received his BS degree in Business
Administration in 1953 and an MBA in 1955. He also owned and operated General Insurance agencies in the Springfield, Easthampton, and Chicopee areas of Massachusetts. He was commissioned as a brigadier general
in 1974 when he was assigned as the commanding general of the 187th Separate Infantry Brigade (Army
Reserve) in Boston, Mass. He was interned in the Arlington National Cemetery in November, 2001.
CONDITION: Very fine with 85% of the original RIA refurbished blue finish with edge and high spot wear, with the front grip strap, mainspring housing and rear edges of the frame having browned out. The walnut grips are also very fine with nice distinct/sharp checkering on both sides. Mechanically excellent. This is a very fine
example of an identified RIA M15 General Officers pistol.
Estimate: 7,500 - 11,000
LOT 1464
Documented U.S. Army Issued SIG Sauer M17 Semi-Automatic Pistol with Box and FOIA Letter - Serial no.
TF002189, 9 mm Luger cal., 4 3/4 inch round bbl., coyote pvd finish, plastic grips. In January 2017 it was announced that
SIG Sauer had won the highly competitive U.S. Military Modular Handgun System (MHS) contract to replace the Beretta M9
as the standard U.S. military sidearm, and later that year the U.S. Army announced the 101st and 82nd Airborne divisions
were to be the first units to receive the M17. Only 3,000 of these pistols were returned to SIG Sauer for sale on the commercial market.
The M17 is a variant of the SIG Sauer 320 modular pistol and integrates an ambidextrous thumb safety to the fire control unit. Features illuminated night sights, optics mounting point on the slide, “+P” weight recoil spring, and Coyote PVD metal finish and polymer color. A faint number “303” is written in white paint
on the bottom of the trigger guard. The grip unit is marked size “M.” The
original box identifies the pistol as “UDM17-9-SURPLUS” and contains two extra magazines, a standard weight recoil spring, cable lock, and papers. An included Freedom of Information Act letter from the Department of Defense states this pistol was received by Charlie Troop, 1st Squadron, 38th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade at Fort Benning, Georgia, on December 9, 2017, and was later turned back in to the Fort Benning Logistics Readiness Center on
March 22, 2019.
CONDITION: Excellent as a U.S. Army issued M17 retaining 90% plus of the original Coyote PVD finish, with light edge wear and moderate holster wear on the optic mount cover plate. The polymer grip frame also has moderate handling wear as to be expected with a duty sidearm. Mechanically excellent.
Estimate: 2,750 - 4,250
331
Brigadier General Leo Golash
LISTED BY SERIAL NUMBER IN THE COLT GENERAL OFFICERS PISTOL BY GREELEY