US Automatic Pistol, Caliber .45, M1911A1
Two paratroopers at Chilton Folait, Hungerford, England branishing their M1911A1s, 1942
A Veteran bring back M1911A1 manufactured by Remington Rand in 1944
When we think of a military pistol often the iconic M1911 comes first to mind. That is because the simple, rugged and dependable M1911 served our U.S. Military for 75 years from 1911 to 1986 being carried into combat in two world wars and throughout the cold war including the Korean and Vietnam War. Even though it was designed 111 years ago, no major improvements have been made to it and no other designs have been able to displace it from its iconic status.
The beginnings of the M1911 is really a convergence of several historical events and technological advances. From 1899 to 1902 the United States was engaged in the Philippine-American War. Officers and Soldiers armed with the Colt Model 1889/1895 revolver in .38 Long Colt found that it often took firing all rounds in the cylinder into a single charging Moro tribesman wielding a long bladed kris knife in attempts to stop them. Numerous reports were made back to the Ordnance Department about the lack of stopping power and negative effect on morale. The initial solution was to take old stocks of Model 1873 Colt revolvers in .45 Long Colt and re-barrel them with 5.5 inch barrels and ship them overseas. While slower to load they often stopped the charging attacker with one well aimed shot. A permanent solution was needed.
During this same time a young John Moses Browning had designed and patented several long guns that Winchester obtained the rights to and successfully sold. By 1900 John Browning concluded his business with Winchester and continued working with Fabrique Nationale de Herstal (FN). The first automatic pistol he designed and patented was developed and sold by FN as the Browning M1900. The FN Browning M1900 was in .32 Caliber and was the first to feature a slide that would later be refined into the semi-automatic pistols we see today. During this same time of transition, John Browning would begin to work with Colt providing them with a patented design for a short-recoil, self-loading, semi-automatic in .38 Caliber that Colt would produce and sell as the Colt M1900. The short-recoil system would also play an important role in the future M1911.
From 1900 on John Browning would continue to refine his designs and both Colt and FN would produce successful semi-auto pistols designated the M1903, M1905, M1908 and M1910. Military and police around the world took notice of these revolutionary firearms.
Meanwhile, the Ordnance Department under General William Crozier needed to find a more permanent solution to replace the underpowered .38 Long Colt and M1889/M1895 revolver. Two promising new technologies, smokeless powder and the automatic pistol could provide the solution. In 1904 the Thompson-LeGarde tests were conducted by the US military to test a variety of cartridges and calibers to determine stopping power. This was far from scientific, they used up to 16 cattle and several cadavers in the tests. The cadavers were suspended and measured the swing following impact and the entry and exit wounds to determine effectiveness. Officials concluded “…that a bullet, which will have the shock effect and stopping effect at short ranges necessary for a military pistol or revolver, should have a caliber not less than .45." From these tests Colt began developing the .45 Cal ACP which would include the new smokeless powder.
Beginning in 1906 trials were conducted for a variety of pistols that were submitted for evaluation. John Browning initially submitted the Colt M1907 but it had several problems, then the Colt M1909 was submitted and did well but was determined to be complicated. Finally, John Browning submitted the Colt M1910. In 1910 another trial was conducted with the three pistols that made it through to the final test. The DWM Luger chambered in .45 Caliber, a Savage Pistol and the Colt M1910 faced off. The Colt M1910 showed its dependability by firing 6,000 rounds continuously only stopping long enough to dip it into a bucket of water to cool it off because it was becoming too hot to handle. The Colt M1910 was the clear winner.
With a few more refinements which included a grip safety and a lanyard ring, the Colt was adopted formally on 29 March 1911 by the US Army as the U.S. Caliber .45 ACP, Model of 1911. The US Navy soon followed in 1911 and Marines adopted it in 1913. At the time no one could envision the important role the M1911 would play in America’s future nor how long it would faithfully protect our Solders in harms way.
The first Ordnance contract was submitted to Colt on 21 April 1911 for 31,344 pistols. The Ordnance Department followed up in November with a second contract of 7,000 pistols for the Navy. Colt immediately retooled for production and assembled the first 40 pistols by 28 December 1911. Additional contracts continued to come in. As part of the initial agreement, Colt authorized the Ordnance Department to also manufacture the M1911 at its Springfield Armory facility once the contract exceeded a total of 50,000 pistols, thereafter they were authorized to manufacture only one third of all future contracts. Colt provided 20 pistols to Springfield Army to develop drawings and tooling. In 1914 Springfield Armory began producing 40 pistols a day, increasing to 140 a day by 1915. All parts were interchangeable.
Its first use in combat conditions would be during the Mexican Expedition in 1916 to capture Pancho Villa. It was during this expedition in which many of the US Military’s emerging technologies were tested to include machine guns, motor transport, mechanized attacks, airplanes, communications, and small arms. Many lessons were learned, but the M1911 proved to be successful.
With America’s entry into the Great War on 6 April 1917, Springfield Armory was forced to stop M1911 production and return to manufacture of M1903 Rifles. On 15 April 1917 Springfield ceased operations having produced 25,767 M1911s. All parts not yet assembled were turned over to Colt to be used in their production. To meet the anticipated requirements, Remington UMC was awarded a contract on 29 December 1917 to manufacture 150,000 M1911s. Remington UMC previously was manufacturing M1891 Mosin Nagant Rifles for Russia. Remington UMC acquired ten M1911s and began the process of retooling. On 21 March 1918 the contract was increased to 500,000 M1911s. Production began in April with the first pistols assembled in August 1918. With the Armistice on 11 November 1918, the contract was reduced to 21,513. Remington UMC stopped production in May 1919 with a final production of 21,676 M1911 pistols. From 1911 to 1919 total production of the M1911 for US Military contracts was 650,538.
The M1911 proved to be a rugged, dependable sidearm in the muck and mire of trench warfare during the Great War. Soldiers, used them to good effect in clearing enemy trenches and machine gun nests. Several Officers and NCOs earned the Medal of Honor while using their M1911 during the action cited. The most famous of these is Corporal Alvin C. York of the 82nd Division, who on 8 Oct 1918 during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive killed about 20 German Soldiers and captured 137 more. While using his rifle for longer range shots, Sergeant York later described “The Lieutenant with eight or ten Germans armed with rifles (fixed Bayonets) rushed toward us. One threw a little grenade about the size of a dollar and with a string that you pull … when you want it to explode. It missed me by a few feet, wounding, however, one of his own men. I just let the Boche come down the hill and then poured into them with my pistol.… I shot the Lieutenant, and when he was killed, the machine-gun fire ceased.” There were 14 Soldiers from the Great War who earned the Medal of Honor while using an M1911. Here are a few others to explore: James C. Dozer Gary E. Foster Frank Gaffney Richmond H. Hilton Benjamin Kaufman John J. Kelly Frank Luke Thomas C. Neibaur Patrick Regan Dwite H. Schaffner Fred Smith William B. Turner Samuel Woodfill
While the American Doughboy had high praise for the M1911, there were a few minor improvements proposed and adopted on 20 April 1923 that included shortening the length of the trigger, mill trigger finger clearances on either side of the grip behind the trigger, extend the grip safety comb to prevent biting the area of the hand between the thumb and index finger, create a hump on the main spring housing which would slightly change the angle of the grip bringing the sights to a more natural level picture. These ergonomic changes would eventually be designated officially as the M1911A1 on 20 May 1926. During the interwar years the military purchased a limited number of M1911A1s totaling 57,233 all but 500 were manufactured by Colt. Singer, the sewing machine company was given an educational contract to manufacture 500 in April 1940. Other manufacturers would be needed if America entered the Second World War since Colt, with its experience would be needed to manufacture machine guns and Remington UMC would be needed to manufacture ammunition.
With America’s entry into the Second World War following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, America again needed to mobilize the entire nation for production of war material to arm the millions of men that were being drafted into the service. By October 1942 the shortage of M1911A1s was critical and Colt converted many of its remaining stocks of Commercial Models to the Military Model as a measure to fill some of the shortages.
In January 1942, Ithaca Gun Company bid on and won a contract to manufacture 60,000 M1911A1s at a rate of 13,000 a month. To further assist Ithaca’s production, Springfield Armory transferred 6,200 surplus receivers that had been in storage since 1919. Ithaca production began in December of 1942 finally reaching full production in July 1943. In all Ithaca would manufacture 335,466 M1911A1s during the war.
Remington Rand was a typewriter company that began talks with the Ordnance Department which resulted in a contract on 22 May 1942 for them to manufacture 125,000 M1911A1 pistols. Although they had no previous experience in the manufacture of firearms, they had determined leadership and excellent streamlined production processes which aided them in establishing an efficient system once proper tooling was acquired. Remington Rand made it their goal to make the best pistol at the lowest cost in the greatest quantity. By November 1942 they had produced the first 225 pistols. In February 1943 some issues were found in interchangeability of parts. Mr. James Rand made some changes in key leaders and the problem was quickly resolved. All existing parts were re-inspected before production resumed. By the fall of 1944 Remington Rand was producing a quality M1911A1 at 50,000 per month. In July 1945 no further contracts were needed and Remington Rand concluded its production have manufactured 877,751. Remington Rands are considered the best quality M1911A1s produced during the war. Remington Rand achieved their goal manufacturing a high quality, high quantity pistol that cost the government $10 less per pistol than a Colt.
Union Switch and Signal Company was contracted on 5 May 1942 to produce M1911A1s initially for 200,000, the amount was reduced to 30,000 on 8 March 1942 due to change in requirements. Then on 9 July 1943 another contract for 25,000 was awarded. However, US&S had already shifted many of its workers over to the production of M1 Carbines so production on the M1911A1s slowed. US&S would deliver the last M1911A1s on 27 November 1943 with a total production of 55,000.
From 1942 to 1945 Colt would manufacture 570,575 M1911A1s for the military. In all, 1,838,792 M1911A1s would be manufactured by all companies during WWII. These would be the last general contracts for the military. Going forward, the military would send existing stocks through arsenal rebuild programs to supply M1911A1s for continued service throughout the Cold War.
The M1911A1 again served our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines well in all theaters of operation during WWII.
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