100 Years of Colt 1911 - The Technology

It has been a month since the Colt 1911 celebrated its one hundredth birthday. After presenting the historical development in the first part, in the second part we would like to give you a closer look at the technology.

The Colt 1911 A1 is a single action recoil-operated handgun with a movable barrel and slide lock. The hammer is external, and the weapon has two safeties, a grip safety and a manual safety that can only be engaged when the hammer is cocked. The three main components of the 1911 A1 are the frame, the slide, and the barrel.

When a shot is fired, the slide and barrel are initially securely connected by two lugs and, driven by the powder gases of the shot, move back towards the shooter. Once the bullet has left the barrel, the connection unlocks, and the slide moves back alone. This action also extracts and ejects the empty shell from the chamber. The backward movement of the slide is just enough to cock the hammer again.

From this rearward position, the slide is pushed back to the front by the recoil spring located under the barrel. A fresh cartridge is pushed from the magazine into the chamber, and the weapon locks again (slide and barrel). The weapon is now ready to fire again.

If the magazine is empty, the follower pushes a catch piece from the frame into the slide, keeping it in the rearward position after the last shot has been fired and preventing it from moving forward again. The shooter must push down the catch piece before the slide can return to the firing position. If a loaded magazine is inserted beforehand, the next cartridge will be loaded, saving the need to cycle the action.

The Colt 1911 A1 uses .45 ACP ammunition, with the standard magazine holding 7 rounds in a single stack. The rifling length of the real weapon is 406mm, the barrel with 6 grooves is 127mm long, and the trigger pull weight ranges between 2.25 and 3 kg.