The United States Army officially adopted the John Browning designed Colt Automatic Pistol on this day in 1911.[1] The handgun was thus designated as "Pistol; U.S.; Caliber .45; M1911".
________________
[1]Most sources seem to agree on March 29, 1911. I have seen references to May 5th.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
I always wondered about that designation, now I know.
I had one of those things in the Army, back probably before you were born. (I was a machine gunner, and we were required to carry a sidearm so we could turn around and shoot people sneaking up behind us without lifting the whole machine gun and its tripod, turning it around 180 degrees, and starting all over again.)
Anyway, back to the Colt. I couldn't hit the side of a barn with it. It kicked like a madman getting busted by the butterfly net squad, and the short barrel made for less accurate shooting anyway.
Once, on the firing range at Fort Dix, I was standing next to a Colonel. I aimed very carefully at my target – and got three .45 slugs into his. He was not pleased, possibly because the shot group wasn't very tight..
Personally, I think that thing functions best as a weapon if you throw it real hard at your attacker.
Yours crankily,
The New York Crank
Gotta disagree - -
Went back to shooting after a 22 year hiatus. Decided to forsake the wheel-guns and go with the horsey.
Now own two - - a Gold Cup and a Gov't (couldn't decide between the two so solved the problem by buying both).
Both shoot sweet and pretty fair accuracy - - just focus on the front sight and squeeze.
Crank, the thing about the one you had in the Army is, it was probably made before WW2, and had been in use for 30 years or more by the time it arrived in your untrained hands. The slide was loosy goosey, the barrel wobbled like a drunk at closing time, and the wonder was that the bloody thing didn't just blow up in your hand when you shot it. It's like comparing a worn out old '67 Mustang with 300,000 miles on its engine and all the compression of a wheezy asthmatic with a brand new 2011 Mustang... oh sure, the new Mustang will be faster. But back in its day, the '67 probably woulda made it look like a slug, at least in a straight line (we know a helluva lot more about handling nowadays).
Bear, with its giant bullet that has the aerodynamic profile of a beach ball, the 1911 isn't going to be as accurate as a small-caliber match-grade weapon, but it's not supposed to be -- that's why infantry are issued rifles, to reach out and touch someone at distance. But the 1911 makes up for that by being a simple and robust design that is difficult to break and has outstanding stopping power. It's perfectly adequate for its intended purpose -- to stop a charging Moro warrior a dozen yards away dead in his tracks. Something to be said about a massive bullet putting a massive hole in an attacker -- said attacker ain't gonna be attacking no more, yo. There's flashier weapons. There's more accurate weapons. There's weapons that hold more ammo. But I can't think of any weapon that is better suited for its intended task -- certainly the 9mm Eye-talian jobbers the troops carry nowadays aren't good for much 'cept hammering tacks, they certainly aren't gonna stop someone at close quarters the way a 1911 will, that much is for sure.
- Badtux the Gun Penguin
Post a Comment