The M-1911 returns

Marines pick Colt for new pistol

Mr. Browning probably would be happy. The U.S. Marine Corps recently let a contract for the pistol to be used by its special operations community and the contract went to a company offering basically a version of the venerable pistol that John Browning designed a century ago and was designated the M-1911.
The M-1911, known as the Colt Automatic, was designed by Mr. Browning when he worked for the Colt Firearms Company way back when. It has since been built by a variety of other manufacturers but the basic design and parts have always been the same. It literally is a work of art, as far as I am concerned.
The Colt .45, or just THE FORTY-FIVE, as it is fondly remembered by about three or four generations of Americans, has been carried by soldiers in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the first Persian Gulf War. It has been carried by soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, but not “officially” for most of them because the U.S. military switched in the late 1980s to the Beretta M-92 in 9 mm.
Why has the M-1911 returned to service with the Marines? Because it does the job, period. The .45 shoots a relatively unsophisticated .45 caliber bullet (.45 of an inch in diameter bullet) that travels at a relative slow speed (roughly 800 feet per second) but when it hits a person, the bullet tends to stop the person. A 9mm doesn’t do this, nor does the similarly-sized .38 caliber bullet. I don’t know what the magic is, but it has something to do with physics, but there are literally thousands of stories floating around veterans and handlers of the .45 Colt of its stopping and knockdown power. In other words, when you get shot with a .45 Colt, you will know it, in spades.
Since I joined people like Alvin York, Audie Murphy, and countless other American heroes when I carried the .45 M-1911A1 Automatic Colt Pistol (mine, however was made by the Remington Arms Company) as my personal sidearm in the Persian Gulf War I (with all of 16 rounds for it, but that is another story), I have a special place in my heart for the old Colt. I never had to fire it, but I had confidence that if I hit what I aimed at, it was going to stop them and at least make them think again about coming after me. (Of course, after my 16 bullets were gone, I was going to be in deep doo-doo).
I am glad that Mister Browning’s pistol is back in service and once again protecting U.S. servicemembers as they go in harm’s way.