A combat load with an M1 Thompson subma- chine gun was either four 30-round maga- zines or six 20-round magazines. The total weight with gun and ammo would have been over 20 pounds.
All of those US Model 1911s were
of a type. Barrel length was 5", grips were checkered walnut, metal finish was dull blue and magazine capacity was seven rounds. Because the 1911 was intended for horseback combat, John M. Browning put several safety systems into the design. The primary one is a thumb-actuated lever on the left rear of the slide. It can only be en- gaged with the hammer fully cocked. The hammer also has a half-cock notch that can be considered a form of safety, but not an overly effective one. An important safety consider- ing troopers can easily be thrown from a stumbling or wounded horse with their pistol in hand is the one in the grip. Unless a shooter’s hand is wrapped around the grip depressing the safety, the pistol can’t fire. Military ordnance organizations
worldwide have a tendency to always be fiddling with ammunition. For some reason the .45 ACP escaped that. The load issued to American soldiers over the decades has remained
remarkably
WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM consistent.
Original testing early in the 1900s started with 200-grain bullets but by 1911 230-grain bullets had become standard with a rated muzzle velocity of 830 fps. Most commonly, .45 ACP military ammunition used brass for cartridge case and gilding metal for the FMJ roundnose bullets. However, in both World Wars some .45 ACP ammunition was made with steel cases and bullet jackets.
Need More Guns Upon entering into an armed con-
flict, the United States has the unfor- tunate habit of not having enough weapons on hand for its military forces. Such was true when war was declared on Germany in April 1917. Although handguns in general are not an important piece of equipment in the overall scope of military opera- tions, they are of immense concern to those soldiers who would otherwise be unarmed if not issued a handgun. As originally contracted with
the Colt Company, the US Govern- ment had the right to have US Model
Mike “Duke” Venturino Photos Yvonne Venturino
1911 pistols produced at their own Springfield Armory. However, in 1917 it was deemed best to keep the government
installation busy mak-
ing US Model 1903 rifles instead of handguns. Therefore the government approached the handgun shortage in two ways; one was to put the arms manufacturer Remington-UMC to work making 1911 .45s. The other was to have Smith & Wesson and Colt factories convert their big frame, double-action revolvers so that they would function with the rimless .45 ACP cartridge. That was done with the development of little spring steel clips, each holding three .45 ACP cartridges. These clips gave some- thing that the double-action revolv- ers’ extractors could push against in order to eject empty cases. Those 3-round clips also unintentionally served as the first known revolver “speed loaders.” In a rather odd move in regards to
military weapons, both Smith & Wes- son and Colt revolvers received the same designation as US Model 1917.
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