It is worth commenting on the slide of the early Colt automatics. We are so used to semiautomatic pistols having slides that it is difficult to realize now what an innovation Browning had introduced. The earliest high-power auto pistols — the Borchardt, the Bergmann, the Mauser, the Mannlicher and the Luger — had exposed barrels with the locking mechanism completely behind the barrel. Browning designed the slide as a totally new concept, a moving breechblock that extended forward over the barrel. Not only did this make a much more compact pistol for any barrel length, but the slide and barrel could have mating lugs to form the short-recoil locking mechanism.
The Colt .38 automatics had been linked to the frame at both the front and rear of the barrel. Lugs on the barrel mated with recesses in the slide. Thus, the barrel and slide were locked together during firing. Then, as the barrel moved down after firing, the slide was free to move rearward, ejecting the empty case and feeding in a new cartridge on its return cycle. This same system was used with the 45-caliber Model 1905.
THE 1907-1911 TEST TRIALS
The initial tests were scheduled for 1906, then rescheduled for early 1907.
When the board convened on January 15, 1907, eight applicants had submitted nine designs. Three were revolvers, and six were automatic pistols. The revolvers, Colt, Smith & Wesson and Webley-Fosbery, were soon dropped from consideration.
The autoloaders, at that early stage of history, represented a variety of concepts in competition for the first time. Having the 1905 already in production made Colt the front-runner. However, besides the Colt, the Army also tested pistols from Bergmann, Knoble, White-Merrill, Luger, and Savage. Three of the entries - the Bergmann, Knoble and White-Merrill pistols - were rejected early in the tests as being unsuitable. The Colt was considered the best and the Savage worthy of additional testing. The Board authorized the purchase of 200 each of the Colt and Savage pistols for field tests. Colt, of course, readily accepted, but the fledgling Savage company, then just 12 years old, was unwilling to tool up for such a relatively small production run, so the contract was offered to the third-place Luger. The German DWM company (Deutsche Waffenund Munitionsfabriken), the maker of the Luger/Parabellum pistols, accepted the contract but then backed out. Apparently, the larger Luger .45 could not have been made on existing production machinery, and the German firm may have also been reluctant to redesign production tooling for a small contract. Also, DWM may have wanted to put more resources into the final development of its 9mm pistol. This pistol was indeed shortly thereafter adopted by the German Army as the Pistole ’08 (P08).
In the early post-WWII decades, the only 45-caliber semiautomatic pistols available to give the Colt Government Model any competition were the Spanish Llama (upper) and Star (lower) pistols. Neither design was a part-for-part copy of the 1911, but the guns were look-alikes of comparable size and weight.
The 1905 Colt was the first successful 45-caliber semiautomatic pistol. Having a gun already in production gave the Colt company a head start when the U. S. military tests began in 1907.
In 1971, Colt brought out the Combat Commander, the same size as the original lightweight Commander, but with a steel frame.
Revolvers had been made of stainless steel for some years, but in 1977, AMT brought out the first 1911-style 45 automatic made of stainless steel. The AMT Hardballer was essentially a stainless copy of the Colt Gold Cup National Match.
The failure of DWM to supply 45-caliber Lugers for the field tests gave Savage a chance to reconsider. A semiautomatic pistol would give the company a chance to expand its product line, which then consisted only of the hammerless leveraction rifle designed by Arthur Savage. Savage accepted the contract.
The competition of the Savage was a good thing. During the field tests, which ran from 1907 into 1911, the Savage was good enough to show that the original 1905 Colt design could use substantial improvement. Browning, 52 years old at the beginning of the tests, worked with Colt, making changes to the design as the continuing testing indicated they were needed. The result of the changes was an increasingly superior Colt pistol.
The final test was a 6000-round endurance test, held during March 1911. Pistols would cool after every 100 shots, and would be inspected, cleaned and oiled every 1000 shots. Both pistols fired over 1000 rounds without problems, but as the shooting continued, the Savage developed problems with malfunctions, and parts defects appeared. The refined Colt fired shot after shot, 100 after 100, 1000 after 1000, until the full 6000 rounds were completed without a stoppage or parts problem.
The tests were a milestone in the development of the semiautomatic pistol. The end result of four years of extensive testing was the most reliable large-caliber pistol in the world. The final report on the Colt stressed “its marked superiority…to any other known pistol.”
ADOPTION OF THE 1911
The Colt design was adopted, on March 29, 1911, by the US Army as the Model 1911 pistol. Colt would be the supplier. The Navy and Marine Corps also adopted the 1911 within a short time.
As adopted, the 1911 pistol had a 5-inch barrel and weighed about 38 ounces. The unlocking was still accomplished by downward movement of the barrel, but the barrel had only one link at the rear, with the muzzle supported by a barrel bushing. It had both thumb and grip safeties. A pushbutton magazine release had been added. For better pointing characteristics, the grip-to-bore angle had been changed from a straight 84 degrees to a slantier 74 degrees.
Colt immediately discontinued the 1905, and as its replacement, put the Model 1911 into commercial production also. With what was then probably the most thoroughly tested pistol in the world, Colt not only offered the 1911 as a commercial model, but additionally looked for other markets beyond the United States.
FOREIGN VARIATIONS
Norway was the second country to adopt the 45-caliber Colt 1911. Because guns based on Browning’s patents could not be handled in Europe by Colt FN in Belgium made the arrangements. In 1912, the Norwegians standardized the Colt design to their liking and adopted it. The modifications apparently consisted primarily of changing the checkering pattern on the hammer and applying Norwegian markings. Only about 500 Model 1912 pistols were made. Minor changes were suggested in 1914, and in 1919, after World War I had ended (Norway was neutral during World War I), these were incorporated into the Model 1914 Norwegian pistol. The most noticeable change involved a redesigned slide stop, with the thumbpiece lower and slightly rearward. Having a small army, Norway produced about 22,000 1914 pistols, felt this to be adequate, and stopped production.
While Norway sat out World War I as a neutral nation, Great Britain had been one of the principal participants. The British were poorly prepared for war, and had shortages of most small arms. In 1912, the British had adopted a large-bore autoloading pistol, the Mark I Webley self-loader. The pistol was chambered for the .455 Webley Self Loading cartridge (also called .455 Eley). Independently designed, the round was similar in dimensions and power to the .45 ACP cartridge.
The precisely-fitted Webley autoloader proved unreliable in conditions of sand or grit. The 1912 Webleys were restricted to sea duty, and the British looked for another type of .455 pistol. The one they acquired was the 1911 Colt. The first of the 455-caliber Colts was reportedly shipped in mid-1915. It is believed that about 13,500 were shipped to Great Britain for military use.
The next country to adopt the Colt 1911 was Argentina, in 1916. The Colt was adopted as the Pistola Automatica Sistema Colt, Calibre 11,25mm Modelo 1916. Essentially, the Argentine 1916 was identical to the commercially-made US Colt except for markings.