The .45 Turns 96

My Gunsite calendar tells me that tomorrow is the birthday of the M1911 .45 ACP pistol. In truth, I look upon the occasion more as the commissioning date for the pistol than the birthday, since it was on 29 March 1911– hence the nomenclature– that this magnificent weapon was adopted by the U.S. Army. (The Marines brought it on a few years later.) Six and one-half dozen; either way, the old warhorse is nearing the century mark and still going strong.

(The Kimber Warrior, discussed below.)

It fought in the trenches of World War I, as much a symbol of that war as the ’03 Springfield and the campaign hat, both of which it outlasted. It fought in several small wars; a great painting in the Marine Corps combat art collection shows Major Smedley Butler assaulting the Caco stronghold of Fort Riviere, blazing away with his .45. It fought through World War II and Korea, as much a symbol of those wars as the M1 Garand and the BAR, both of which it outlasted. Same-same in Vietnam, where it saw the M14 go out and the M16 come in. Throughout all those years millions were produced, but the basic model underwent remarkably little modification from John Moses Browning’s original design.

Germans and Japanese and Italians and North Koreans and Haitian bandits and the Viet Cong were no match for Mr Browning’s creation, with its big fat slugs that had a punch like Coach King at VMI, (peace be upon him). Nope, what did it in as a service weapon was a standardization agreement with our gallant NATO allies, whereby in 1985 we adopted the 9mm “Europellet,” as Kim du Toit calls it. Standardization with allies is all fine and good, but I can’t help thinking that the day we inked the deal, American defense took a kick in the nuts. (Should have made them switch.)

But some cooler heads kept the fires of devotion burning. I believe certain SOCOM units cast a jaundiced eye on the 9mm, then kept their own counsel and retained the .45. The Marine Corps, loath to jettison anything that works well, introduced a highly refined version for the Force Recon dets on MEU SOC deployments, appropriately dubbed the “MEU SOC .45s.” Those were great weapons, with match-grade innards mated to the best frames and slides culled from storage sites around the country, hand-assembled by the match armorers at Quantico. They served well on float after float, until the high round counts began to tell. The MEU SOC .45s spawned an even greater replacement weapon, which will be discussed below.

Concurrent with the switch to the 9mm, the late, great LtCol Jeff Cooper was leading a practical shooting revival in the civilian world, which featured the .45 as the choice for personal defense. Why? Because it is a proven weapon, and it works. It gives you the best chance of stopping a fight that someone else started. And Cooper packaged a technique that taught the average shooter to tame the gun and its recoil, thereby putting paid to the notion that it was uncontrollable and rough.

In 2003, when the Marine Corps fielded its first unit to serve with SOCOM, known as “Det One,” it was judged that the MEU SOC .45s were not going to answer the new unit’s needs. It was not that the basic design was flawed, but only that the exceptionally high round count they would face would over-tax the stocks on-hand and the capabilities of the match armorers at Quantico to produce and repair them. Thus, the Marine Corps sent out bids for a 1911 .45 to arm the Marines in Det One, and provided a list of exacting specifications. Kimber picked up the gauntlet and delivered, within a matter of a few months, precisely what the Marines were looking for. The Det One .45 was featured in several articles, one of which can be read here. They were remarkable guns in every aspect, to include a unique serial number, marked “DET ONE” and a three-digit number. The pistol marked “DET ONE 001″ was issued to Det One’s CO, Col Robert J. Coates, and after the deactivation of his command in March 2006, it was delivered to the Marine Corps Musuem at Quantico, where one day perhaps it will be on display. (I myself have handled that very pistol.) The good news is that Kimber makes an identical copy for the civilian market, called the Warrior. Yours for a mere $1353.

Today, even if the military still issues the 9mm, the .45 is in service everywhere, and if anything refined by its devoted acolytes. (Who keep showing up in the strangest places. Read this online chat with the author of the book that the new movie, “Shooter,” was based on, by the WaPo film critic Stephen Hunter. One of his stress relievers is range time with “my various .45s.” It’s about 2/3 the way down in the exchange with “Reston, VA.”) The civilian world has access to numerous high-end 1911s, from Kimber, Colt, Springfield, Wilson Combat and many many others. Although there are double-stack models, the unadorned single-stack .45, dehorned with a good trigger and sights is still a man’s best friend.

So here’s to you, John Browning, in your perch up on high: A salute to your longest-serving invention, and many happy returns!