Sorry, the colt 45 did exist in 1916. And back then it was actually a good gun.
Just to nit-pick, it was/is the .45 Colt/or .45 Long Colt. (Colt 45 = malt liquor)
“Sorry, the colt 45 did exist in 1916. And back then it was actually a good gun.”
If NRx is talking about Colt’s Government Model autoloading pistol, selected as US Pistol M1911, only five years earlier than George Will’s comparison year, it is true that Colt’s began making them for sale to the civilian market almost immediately.
And while it was “better” in terms of feed reliability than other autoloaders of that day, it was still much less reliable than a revolver (probability of a successful second shot 1/5000, revolver v. autoloader). Not until the 1980s did autoloaders begin catching up.
In 1916, “Colt 45” meant the 45 rimmed revolver round introduced in 1873. As an interim measure, in 1909 the US War Dept purchased some 30,000 double-action revolvers of Colt’s New Service pattern. Officially designated US Revolver M1909, it chambered what we now call 45 Long Colt. Rims were a little bigger than the original.
Even loaded with black powder, 45 Long Colt handily outperformed the 45 rimless cartridge we now call 45 ACP. And it’s still routinely available, in revolvers of double action and single action configuration.