My first 1911-style pistol was a Colt Commander, a shortened, lightened version of the “Ol’ Slabsides” that carried a standard 5-inch barrel. One need only look at the manufacturing history of the pistol to see that it has been offered by numerous different firms for both the civilian and military market since its acceptance and introduction into the Army in 1911 to the present day.įew other pistols have had such a profound effect on the design and manufacture of handguns like Browning’s invention, and it is the rare pistol aficionado - be he collector, competitor or just shooting enthusiast - who hasn’t owned at least one. 45 pistol, Browning invented one of the most wildly popular handguns of all time. It can be stated with little fear of contradiction that when he designed the Model 1911 caliber. military forces until the 1980s, when it was replaced by the Beretta 9mm pistol. 45-caliber autoloader pistol, which was designated the model of 1911. La Garde, eventually selected the John M. Thompson (the inventor of the “Trench Broom,” the Thompson.

38 caliber having proven itself to be woefully inadequate.Īn ordnance board, headed by Col. It was felt a heavier, more effective cartridge was needed to effectively stop attacking enemy soldiers, the issue. 38 revolvers wouldn’t stop a wild Moro tribesman intent on bloody murder.Īfter the insurrection of the Moro tribesmen was finally put down, the Army began casting about for a new sidearm for its troops.

30-06 1903 Springfield rifles filled the bill amply, but the. positions, attacking and chopping at the U.S. 38-caliber revolvers they carried when they would empty them into wild-eyed Moro tribesmen, only to have them continue the attack, swinging their bolo knives as they clambered over the parapets and embankments of the U.S. positions swinging a local machete-like knife with a thick and wide blade known as a bolo.Īrmy troops rapidly became disenchanted with the issue. High on blood-lust, adrenaline and opium, the Moros would charge U.S. forces throughout the war, was second nature to these fierce warriors who would attack entrenched regular U.S. Guerrilla warfare, which had plagued the U.S. The Moro uprising in 1902 was not completely put down for two years. But President Roosevelt did not take into account the Moros, a Muslim tribe on the island of Mindanao, whom the Spanish had never been able to subjugate.

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