Browsing: March 29

A Brief History On March 29, 1911, the US Army made the Colt M1911 .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol its official sidearm.  (For a companion list for this article, please see our list of “The Top 10 Famous Pistols.”) Digging Deeper The late 19th century and early 20th century represent an exciting time in history of firearms, with inventors and manufacturers racing each other to produce rugged and reliable semi-automatic sidearms for the lucrative military market. The US Army had previously discovered their .38 caliber revolvers did not have the stopping power needed to halt an enthusiastic or even drugged enemy…

A Brief History On March 29, 1911, the Colt M1911, a .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol, was adopted as the first semi-automatic service pistol for regular use by the U.S. military. Digging Deeper  Last year we first told you the tale of this great pistol, but today we will compare the relative merits of the semi-automatic pistol vs. the merits of the revolvers that preceded it. (Semi-automatics are usually called “pistols” to differentiate them from revolvers.) Originally, revolvers were built with a “single-action” mechanism, which means that prior to firing the handgun, it had to be cocked by pulling back the hammer.  Those were later made…