Posted on 05/26/2022 9:44:40 PM PDT by max americana
I just remembered my grampy's M1911 while watching this. Simon's right: Browning is one of the greatest inventors of all time.
CHAPTER 1: JOHN MOSES BROWNING childhood to the Philippine American War (goodbye Schofield)
CHAPTER 2: 6:30 ENGINEERING FOR WARWARE : from revolver to semi auto
CHAPTER 3: 11:50 AN ELEGANT WEAPON or how Browning won the US military contract 1910
CHAPTER 4: 13:54 START OF A LEGENED (How American troops kicked ass with the 1911 in WW1 to WW2 to Kuwait)
CHAPTER 5: MODERN WEAPON 17:33 to history
My LT let me qualify with his 1911 which was older than dirt.
Not the ines in this picture, Close, but no cigar,
:)
I have heard that the ones still in service at the end were pretty shaky.
CC
L8tr
I served in the 1970’s. The .45s were well broke in, very reliable. I would recomend .45 over 9mm anyday.
Agreed, exnavy.
I’ll take my 1911 .45 pistols over anything 9mm.
Because...as the kids say...sometimes, old, fat and slow is just what you need.
Love’em.
I carry a 3” .45 Kimber daily because shooting twice is just silly.
I got a chance to closely examine a Colt 1995. I couldn’t disassemble it but It’s superficially pretty similar and one can see the developmental steps.
Yup.
My 2nd favorite is the Ruger P-85 MK-ll 9mm. I particularly like the Triple Ambidextrous Safety Move either the right- or left-hand safety lever fully to the “safe” position, the white dot is exposed through the hole in the side of the safety and the word “Safe” is completely visible. In this position (1) the firing pin is blocked from moving forward, (2) the hammer is blocked from contacting the firing pin, and (3) the entire firing mechanism is completely disengaged from the trigger. At this point, the hammer will fall to its forward (decocked) position. The safety mechanism provides that the hammer cannot contact the firing pin unless the safety is disengaged. With the hammer cocked, actuating the safety mechanism automatically drops the hammer onto the slide without contacting the firing pin. Thus, the safety also serves as a decocking lever. Additionally, the pistol has a separate internal firing pin block which will not allow the firing pin to move forward and contact the cartridge until the operator pulls the trigger with the safety off (in its “fire” position). The pistol can and should be loaded and unloaded with the safe. The Magazine Release is also Ambidextrous. The Trigger Guard is very large allowing a gloved finger plenty of room. The P85MK-ll is well balanced with the factory 15 round magazine fully loaded and I found the same even with the 35 round extended magazine. Also I never had any jams or misfeeds after thousands of rounds run through it as well just like My 1911. I also like the grip feel from the double stack magazine well. I went through it with a complete tear down and de-burred all the sharp edges, polished the Feed Ramp, Magazine Well. Then I decided to change the finish due to a bit of surface rust on the Slide. I went with a machined finish called Fish Scale. e. 
Doing the Fish Scale pattern was/is very time consuming to do so if anyone wants to do it be sure that you have the patience to follow through because it’s not a fast process. I used a Drill Press with a tiny wire brush (1/8” shank with a 1/4” brush head. To keep the wire brush the same size I wrapped some wire around the outside to keep the brush from flexing under pressure. Then I used 1000 grit Wet/Dry sandpaper to polish the Slide. Then I took some Valve Lapping Compound and using the FINE Side of the Lapping Compound applied with a Q-Tip to the end of the Wire Brush the Slide is held on the Drill Press Table and the brush is brought down to the Slide with the drill chuck feed, adjusted the location of each piece as I Fish Scaled it.
I kick Myself in the A$$ every day for not keeping that Baby...
Had one of those myself, best $300 buck i ever spent, my son owns it now. I am looking for something like that used. I do my own gunsmithing.
I bought a Rock Island made in the Philippines. It works just fine!
Only gripe I have is my Colt .22 conversion will not fit it. The crosspin hole is off just a hair.
Otherwise it is fine!
The 1990 Colt I have has a firing pin block to prevent accidental discharge if dropped. I can’t use my Colt .22 conversion on it because of this.
“...Simon’s right: Browning is one of the greatest inventors of all time...
“...CHAPTER 3: 11:50 AN ELEGANT WEAPON or how Browning won the US military contract 1910...
“...American troops kicked ass with the 1911 in WW1 to WW2 to Kuwait...” [maxamericana, post 1]
After the first sentence, chapter subtitles are somewhat misleading.
John M Browning did not win a contract from the War Dept. Colt’s did.
He did work with Colt’s from the late 1890s onward well past the formal adoption of the pistol in 1911 (not 1910). Development persisted through several cycles, including more than one field test, until Colt’s candidate (later called “Government Mode”l) beat Savage’s candidate in a side-by-side comparison in March 1911 and was awarded a contract to produce “Model of 1911 US Army.” Navy Dept officially adopted the same basic sidearm somewhat later.
A good summary of this long, convoluted process can be found in Donald B Bady’s _Colt Automatic Pistols_.
Chapter 4 additional text implies US forces employed no other weapon. Statistically, pistols did help individual troops but their overall contribution declined from 1917 onward.
MIL STD loadings of the 45 ACP are inferior in terms of performance attributes, to MIL STD loadings currently issued of 9mm NATO: higher hit probability, higher kinetic energy, flatter trajectory, greater effectiveness. “Stopping power” has never been a performance, largely because it cannot be quantified.
A hit with a 9mm is superior to a miss with a 45.
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