Posted on 08/27/2008 4:05:36 AM PDT by sig226
It was adopted in 1911 and is probably the longest serving military weapon ever devised. Although the English Webley revolver lasted a few more years of continous service, the Colt 1911A1 was shelved, then returned to service.
Some folks just like the caliber, others love the pistol. It was adopted because.38 caliber revolvers failed to stop the Mauro Tribesmen in the Phillippine Insurrection. .30 caliber Krag - Jorgenson rifles also failed to stop the Mauros, most likely because they ate opium, but the United States decided to standardize a larger caliber.
They first took up the Colt Model 1911 designed by John Browning. They changed it to the 1911A1 in 1924, after reviewing complaints from soldiers in World War I. This photo shows the differences.
The trigger was one of the best found on a military sidearm due to the single action fire control. It was used in Bullseye matches and a small industry evolved to modify the pistol to make it more accurate. Over the years, plenty of gunsmiths earned a comfortable living doing just this.
Of course, it evolved into the highly modified 'race guns' used in IPSC matches; pistols that have almost no practical utility at all, but are a hoot to fire on a timed course.

After the United States switched to the Beretta M9 9mm pistol, plenty of gun people thought the 1911 was destined to die an ignominious death at the hands of the 'wonder nine.' But along came Bill Clinton, who took away the high capacity magazine and thus eliminated the advantage of the 16 shot 9mm over the 8 shot .45. If you have to carry a thin gun anyway, it might as well make a big hole . . .
You can get a new 1911 for around $500.00 for a Springfield 1911 GI (the plain Jane model) all the way up to $4,000.00 if you want the top of the line from makers like Nighthawk. Or you can get your Brownell's Catalog and make your own.
I finally found the article in “The Blue Press” page 5.
“In the middle of a 5,000 torture test, Todd Jarret established a World Record for how fast he could shoot 1,000 rounds through a stock 1911.” It was a Para PXT 1911 SSP. He shot 1,000 rounds in 10 minutes 44 seconds, no gloves!
WWW.para-usa.com/hotgun
Those are just beautiful. I thought they were Monkey Grips. My son has a pair on his Ed Brown and I finally bought a set which is on the profile page. That’s not a good picture and the grips are really just laying on the gun since I wanted a picture before I started cutting away since the Taurus isn’t quite like a Colt. The Taurus has larger screw tops. I’m also partial to G10 rather than micarta.
the Para article didn't mention gloves at all but it did mention the barrel changing color. from my limited knowledge of heat transfer, thats too hot to handle sans gloves.
got a link to Blue Press? i searched on Blue Press 1911 1000 rounds but didn't find it. thx.
I love gun porn! I have a Springfield Armory 1911A1 Match pistol that I bought new in the early 90’s. I love it!
www.bluepress.com, September 2008 page 5 but it has the same stuff as Para.
Dillion has some neat stuff like his mini gun that has fired over 4million rounds without jamming.
Can’t love gun porn without seeing gun porn. Where’s the picture?
A historical note. Robert Browning studied the hands of cadeavors to get the gun to fit an average persons hand. He designed the gun so that there was no muscle strain or abnormal loading on the joints of the hand while shooting the pistol. As far as I know, this is the earliest known example of “human factors” design.
Interesting choice. I sorta favour Preußens Gloria or The Light Cavalry Overture meself. Unless the weather's stormy, in which case bagpipe tunes seem to fit nicely.
And *this one* on a loop is sometimes useful...and makes a swell cell phone ringtone.
Unfortunately, I am at work and the gun is at home.
I love the .45 Long Colt. One of my many dream guns is an early Smith and Wesson model 25 in Long Colt.
i knew where a mini was once with nary a thing stopping it from going missing... it took ALL the morals and scruples i had to leave it there. but i was certainly tempted.
Wow, I’ve never seen anybody post Sabaton on here before.
WWII metal from another country. What a planet
What kinda guitar did you sell?
LOL
I love that evil medieval contraption, the trebuchet.
here’s a question: are all 1911’s single action only? i’d like to know. i love them but i also like double action.
That actually looks like a pretty cool texture.
you really outta be writing professionally...lmAo...8^O
I admit also that the 'fit' is still a work in process for my bony arse...and the mini gun [sweet little anemic .25 Taurus was given for said Colt, so I aint even got a downsize anymore...
thanks hiredhand, I guess I just find the uniqueness of the ‘design’ so Amazing, that Im glad it could be shown...
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