Pistol - .45 ACP - USA - Semi-Automatic - The origins of the Colt Model 1911 pistol go back to the Spanish-American War of 1898.  While the US 'liberated' the Philippine Islands from Spanish control, the Filipinos were no more pleased with the Americans than the previous Spaniards.  An independence movement had already been underway before the war, and its leaders saw a chance to grab power during the war's aftermath.  However, the US didn't recognize the new government, making a conflict inevitable.

While the military units of the Filipino government were quickly routed, guerrilla attacks continued for the next decade.  US troops particularly feared the Islamic Moros, who saw the fight as a Jihad.  Many stories were told of the fanatic Moros taking multiple hits from the Krag rifle in .30-40 and especially the 1894 Colt New Model Army revolver in .38 Long Colt.  

The US Army had already begun experiments with semi-automatic pistols, but the question of caliber had not yet been settled. In 1904, a board was established to conduct scientific tests to determine the ideal characteristics for a military handgun cartridge.  Participants included Colonel John T. Thompson (later the inventor of the Thompson Submachine Gun) of the Ordnance Corps and Colonel Louis A. LaGarde of the Medical Corps.  Several cartridges were tested including the 7.65x22mm Luger, the 9x19mm Luger (the current NATO cartridge), the .38 Long Colt, the .38 ACP, the .45 Colt, the .455 Webley, and the .476 Eley.  In the end, Thompson and LaGarde concluded that the ideal cartridge would use a .45 caliber projectile weighing between 200 and 230 grains and traveling around 800 fps.

Colt didn't wait for the Thompson/LaGarde tests to start before converting the John M. Browning-pattern Colt 1902 Military Model pistol to a .45 cartridge.  The first prototype in 1904 used a rimless version of the .45 Colt revolver cartridge, but this caused the grip to be too bulky.  Work with UMC, Winchester, and Frankford Arsenal led to a shortened .45 ACP cartridge in 1905 with a new pistol model to match.  The Colt 1905 was offered up for military tests in the US and Britain, but all of the bugs had not yet been worked out of the design.  John Browning was called in to help improve the design for future tests.

In 1906, the US army sent letters to inventors and arms makers informing them of the Army's intent to conduct tests leading to the procurement of a new .45 caliber pistol chambered for the .45 ACP cartridge.  The tests were delayed until early 1907, and out of nine designs submitted (including a .45 Luger), only the pistols of Colt and Savage were considered to have any merit for future development and troop trials.

Savage had a difficult time producing enough pistols for the troop trials.  While they had accepted a contract in 1907 for 200 pistols, Savage did not complete delivery until December 1908.  When the Savage pistols were tested, a variety of faults were found: the pistols were unreliable in feeding, magazines were difficult to insert yet would fall out when the pistol was fired, and the parts would not interchange between pistols.

Colt delivered their 200 pistols nearly a year earlier.  The 1907 'Contract' Colts were not without their own unique problems, but the early submission gave Colt and John Browning a head start on their next submission, the Model 1909 (not to be confused with the revolver).  These were found to be superior to the 'Contract' Model 1907, but more tweaking was to be desired.  By 1910, the Colt prototypes were very close in appearance to their final 1911 form.  However, the Colt prototypes from 1907 to 1910 had only a grip-activated safety.  Cavalry troopers were concerned as to the difficulty and safety of lowering a cocked hammer while on horseback.  

Colt thus began development of a frame-mounted thumb-activated safety which would allow a Cavalry trooper to safely reholster his cocked pistol.  A formal test in November 1910 pretty much finished off Savages chances of becoming adopted.  While the Savage had less parts and was more easily detail stripped, the Colt was more far more accurate and comfortable to shoot.  The Colt suffered a cracked barrel during a test with overloaded cartridges, and during subsequent testing, the barrel broke completely damaging the slide.

By March 3, 1911, Colt had submitted improved prototypes with a strengthened barrel and the new thumb safety.  The same test protocol as the November 1910 tests was repeated.  This time the Colt passed without malfunction while the Savage prototype repeated its same dismal performance.  On March 29, 1911, the Secretary of War officially approved the adoption of the Colt as the "US Pistol, Automatic, Calibre .45, Model 1911".  

Despite its "official" replacement by the Beretta 92F, J.M. Browning's classic design continues in military and police service.  Most of the design's supposed and real faults can be corrected by a competent armorer.  In fact, the 1911-style pistol has been undergoing a renaissance with custom versions being adopted/used by the USMC's MEU(SOC), the FBI's SWAT and HRT, and the LAPD SWAT.  D.E. Watters


