Hickok45 1911 anniversary tribute

[G-MAN]

On March 29, 1911 the .45 Auto Colt Pistol was adopted as the official sidearm of the U.S. military.

[Pablo]

Man - that is so sweet.

I want to shoot my 1911's suddenly!

[BarryinIN]

That old manual he holds up briefly towards the beginning- get one if you don't have one.

I don't have the one for the 1911 (yet) but I have the similar manuals for the Trapdoor and the M1903. Unlike most military manuals which basically tell you from which end the bullet departs and admonishes you to not shoot yourself, these are pretty informative. The ones I have go through each part, one by one, and detail it's purpose, how it works, what it's made of, any changes it went through over time, etc. They even go through the ammunition components in detail, trajectories, wind drift, accuracy specs, etc. Lots of interesting stuff.

The title is:

"Description of the Automatic Pistol, Caliber .45, Model 1911, With Rules For Management, Trajectory, and Ammunition".

I think Bo-Mar is still business. I had a little panic attack when he said that, but I checked and think they are still around. He could have been thinking of MMC, who evidently vanished about a year ago. Good riddance based on my experience dealing with them.

I'm with him. I like shooting the old WWI-era 1911 just for fun. Colt made a WWI Reproduction a few years ago, that they more or less replaced with the regular production model O1918. I got one of those WWIs, used, for a deal because the previous owner had replaced the sights with King's Hardball sights (similar to the M1991 Series 80 sights), which was an improvement on a shooter. It lets me get the original 1911 feel and still have sights I can see. I shoot it when shooting a 1911 just for fun, and started off shooting it yesterday. While it has the small thumb safety, no beveled magazine well, and no hump on the grip safety that we "need", I find it interesting I have never failed to disengage the thumb or grip safety or missed the magwell on a mag change on that WWI. Maybe the original isn't in need of so many changes. (They do make things easier though!)

His shooting at the far off gong reminds me of a piece Elmer Keith wrote in his "GunNotes" column of G&A on long range shooting with the 1911. I have tried to find it to re-read for years, but can't locate it, so I probably have some details wrong. I think it was written when the Army was considering the change to 9mm, but had not yet done so. As I recall-

He was working as an arms inspector at Ogden Arsenal in WWII, when some Army brass or other "experts" showed up. Somehow, the talk turned to the 1911 pistol, how difficult it was to shoot, and how it was impossible to get any hits with at distance. Keith picked a 1911 pistol at random from stores along with a handful of magazines and invited them outside. It was early spring or late winter, and there were clumps of snow/ice still remaining. Keith sat down in a reclining position resting the gun against the knee of his upraised leg, selected a snow pile at some undetermined but incredible distance, and took aim. After one or two shots to get the range, he emptied the magazine into the snow, reloaded, emptied another into the snow, then reloaded once more and emptied it. In a matter of seconds, he had obliterated the snow clump with a 1911 chosen at random. I don't think he spoke more than five words, but he changed their opinion more than any amount of talk could have.