Tuesday, March 29, 2011

100 Years Ago Today...

..the 1911 .45 ACP pistol was adopted as the official sidearm of the U.S. Army.

I'm at GUNSITE this week in a special 1911 class in honor of that anniversary. We'll be filming lots of stuff for DRTV, both the special presentations that are part of this superb class and some of my own observations on the 1911.

FWIW, I'm shooting my ancient Wilson Master Class Colt I used for years and years in USPSA and IDPA, and yesterday on the shooting range I remembered what an excellent gun it really is.

More when I get a chance!

5 comments:

Gunmart said...

Hey Michael-

Found this and thought you might get a chuckle out of it... might make a nice song for the podcast LOL... Zombie Crutch "Wolf Bane" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elrTUs__Oyw

nj_larry said...

Folks can still buy and shoot black powder 1836 Paterson revolvers (God Bless Val Forgett). Certainly not recommended for carry but they are still out there. Heck I have a couple of Flintlock rifles on patterns from the late 1700's.

I smile at the thought that the 1911 and .45ACP is actually just hitting its stride ! Without some major technological advance in self defense weapons (like phasers or something), the 1911 will easily take us into the 22nd century or beyond. Unbelievable !!! JMB was simply a genius.

As part of today's activity can I suggest watching this great documentary on JMB produced by the Mormon Church with no less than Fess Parker hosting. Covers his life and guns.

http://www.byutv.org/watch/48-100

Anonymous said...

Frankly, I do not understand the worship of the 1911. In my experience it is far from being the most reliable platform available. It has the annoying grip safety. It runs best with FMJ ammo. It can be finicky about magazines. You must ride the safety to prevent bumping it "on" whiling firing. ETC, etc, etc.

Glock, M&P, HK and others all make the 1911 obsolete.

Anonymous said...

Oh, please, Anon 4:45 - maybe the SIG P220 is the equal of the 1911, but the Glock? I don't have a G21, but I do have a G20 - about the size of an air wrench, and points too high, to boot. The H&K USP, after getting rid of that wretched hammer drop feature and putting the safety on the right side, I have an oversized plastic 1911 with a hideous trigger. You might be right about the M&P, I have no experience with it.

Not reliable? Clean the damn thing every now and again and that problem goes away.

Annoying grip safety? GRASP THE HANDGUN FIRMLY and that problem goes away.

I mean, strictly speaking, from a statistical point of view, ALL autoloaders run best with FMJ. All of my 1911's run fine with cast truncated cones, and all but 1 (cranky Springfield Loaded) run with cast semiwadcutters.

Finicky about magazines? Try using magazines with somebody's name stamped on the floorplate. That has always solved the magazine problem for me.

Ride the safety? Well, either do that or keep your thumb away from it, and you should be fine. Do I have to warn you not to stick anything behind the slide, too?

Sorry, Anon, I don't worship the 1911, but it is a useful tool. If you don't like it, don't use it. If you can't drive a stick shift, use an automatic or take the bus.

Cheers, (no, really cheers)
Medium Sized Jake

(PS this has been hugely tongue in cheek)

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