Happy Birthday! 100 years Colt 1911

Lt. John Ernser in Loiano, Italy in April 1945

The Colt 1911 celebrates its 100th birthday today: It was commissioned into service on March 29, 1911. To properly celebrate this, SPARTANAT brings you a miniseries on this legendary weapon. In this first part, we will delve into the history of the most renowned handgun of the 20th century.

Joel Whiteley and his unit during World War I

In the Philippine-American War (1899-1902), the US Army faced the problem that their standard handgun, the six-shot Colt M1892 revolver with a .38 long caliber, did not provide enough stopping power to halt charging tribal warriors. After temporarily switching to .45 caliber revolvers, the Army issued a new proposal for a semi-automatic pistol with a caliber not less than .45.

GI from a Japanese bunker in the Pacific, 1944 or '45

Colt entered the testing phase with the 1905 model designed by John Browning (who also designed the FN Herstal GP35 "High Power"), which lasted from 1907 to 1911 and saw some modifications to the original design. In one test, 6000 consecutive shots were fired, and to cool down the gun, it was simply immersed in cold water. The Colt passed the test with flying colors, while its competitor (from the Savage company) had 37 jams.

Pistol training, 1943

Finally, on March 29 of the last test year, the 1911 model was adopted as the official service weapon of the US Army. Two years later, the USMC and Navy followed suit. Due to the outbreak of World War I shortly thereafter, the demand for the pistol rose so rapidly that even the state-owned manufacturer Springfield Armory began production of the M1911 to meet the demand.

Vietnam, late 60s

The experiences of the war were incorporated into the weapon from 1921, leading to the introduction of the improved version 1911A1 in 1926 - although production had already begun in 1924. Over the next decades, small improvements to the design were made (e.g., an improved barrel bushing in 1970), but overall the weapon remained unchanged since 1924.

USMC pistol training in the 60s

The M1911A1 was used by the US Armed Forces in World War II, the Korean War, in Vietnam, and in all other theaters of operation until the mid-1980s. It was replaced by the M9 in 9x19mm Parabellum (NATO standard). Some US special forces still use the proven 1911 in a modified form to this day.

Governor's Palace, An Najaf, Iraq, 2004