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RISU: "I think a new "US ARMY 45 cal revolver" would be just about right about 90% of the time."

Funny you should say that. I've read that the .45 Colt (Long Colt) Revolver is what was pressed into service against the Moros and that the .45 ACP didn't get into that fight until near the end. Some say it is the Long Colt that is the stopper.

"Another bit of interesting historical trivia is that it was the .45 Colt/SAA that was brought out of retirement when the Moro insurrection in the Philippines started to get out of hand and the .38 Long Colt service revolvers used by the U. S. Army at the turn of the Century proved inadequate to the task of stopping the fanatical knife wielding natives. The .45 ACP/1911 auto pistol is generally credited with solving the problem, but that is not the case. It was the old .45 Colt SAA revolver that was brought out of storage and issued to desperate troops in the Philippines. This is easily verified by old photos of U.S. troops in the Phillippines that show their sidearms, as well as by the dates involved. Consider that the Philippines became a U.S. colony at the end of the Spanish-American War in 1898, which marks the beginning of the U.S. involvement in the Phillippines (long before the invention of the .45 Auto). The last battle of the Moro Insurrection took place in 1912 (this was the only battle in which any .45 Autos were used). The M1911 .45 Auto was not even adopted until 1911, when the war in the Philippines was almost over. So it was the .45 Colt revolver that provided the legendary "knock-down" power later (incorrectly) credited to the .45 Auto."

http://www.chuckhawks.com/45Colt.htm

The .45 Colt is and was THE Stopper. The Colt can be impressive at long range, too, especially with heavy bullets. We have what works...we just want it to be something else. Can't go saying NATO isn't infallible, I guess. The .45 works for Americans, the ACP gives it to us in Automatics, and the 9 needs a trick bullet, going real fast. Perhaps the .40/10mm really is what we are looking for...w/more capacity and flatter-shooting characteristics like the 9....but a 10...a borderline "big" bore. More like what we KNOW has worked well for us before.

I bet just handing out .44 Mag revolvers and Special +P loadings would be all the handgun most would need.....except for little things the 1911 has already done, like hold down battlefields for longer than you'd ever expect, in this major war and that....and a 9mm can hardly stop deer, still.