The Colt Model 1911 is one of the most iconic handguns in military history. Designed by John Moses Browning, it was adopted by the US Army in March 1911 as the standard-issue sidearm, replacing older revolvers. Chambered in .45 ACP (another Browning design), the Model 1911 was praised for its reliability and rugged construction. Its design featured a single-action, semi-automatic mechanism with a seven-round magazine, and it became the standard sidearm through World War I.
After WWI, soldiers reported several ergonomic issues with the original 1911. These concerns led to a series of refinements, culminating in the Model 1911A1. Production on the standard Model 1911 ended in 1924. Key changes included a shortened trigger, arched mainspring housing, longer grip safety spur, and relieved frame under the trigger guard to improve handling and comfort. Despite these updates, the internal mechanics remained largely unchanged, retaining Browning’s original design.
The Model 1911A1 served through World War II, Korea, and Vietnam before being replaced by the Beretta 92 in 1985. Nonetheless, the 1911 design remains highly respected, with modern variants still widely used by military, law enforcement, and civilians worldwide.
For further history on the history of the Model 1911A1 during World War II, check out this post from Ian McCollum of Forgotten Weapons, who has graciously permitted us to repost his historical content. Ian McCollum is the founder, editor, and presenter of Forgotten Weapons, a decade-old online web site and video archive dedicated to preserving firearms history.
The United States adopted the M1911 pistol just in time for the First World War, and between Colt and Springfield Arsenal some 643,000 of these pistols were made by the end of 1918. During that production and the gun’s field service in France, a number of potential improvements were recognized. They were put together in a batch of 10,000 new pistols ordered from Colt in 1924, but not officially designated until years later. A second batch of 10,000 was ordered from Colt in 1938. These were the first guns officially designated M1911A1. The changes were all about improving user handling, with a reshaped mainspring housing, larger sights, longer grip tang, and shorter reach to the trigger.
In 1939 the government put out a tender for M1911A1 education contracts. These contracts were for production of just 500 pistols, and they were intended to pay a company to build the a complete set of production line tooling and then store it in case of future need (similar contracts were also issued for rifles and machine guns). Two companies were granted such contracts – Harrington & Richardson and the Singer Sewing Machine Company. Singer produced a quite satisfactory batch of pistols, but ended up making higher-priority material like artillery sights. H&R was unable to complete its contract, which was cancelled in the spring of 1942.
When the US entered the war, pistols were needed in large number, and three companies were given contracts to produce the M1911A1: Remington-Rand, Ithaca, and Union Switch & Signal. These three new contractors, along with existing production lines at Colt and Springfield, produced 1.9 million new pistols during World War Two, enough to fully supply all branches of the US military until 1985 when the 1911 was replaced by the Beretta 92.