Happy 97th birthday - Colt 45 ACP pistol - AKA the 1911

Almost missed this anniversary. Fortunately, Matt G at Better and Better did not:

97 years ago today.
On this date, the United States Army Ordinance adopted Colt's .45 acp semi-automatic pistol as the official service pistol. This was after beating out Savage in 4 years of trials, culminating in a 6000 round endurance test in late 1910, in which Colt's pistol reportedly demonstrated zero malfunctions to Savage's thirty seven. Designer John Moses Browning was in attendance at the proving grounds for the trials, which ranks in my top 20 of places I'd go to visit if I had a time machine.

The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps followed suit two years later. For 74 years, the Model 1911 remained the main service pistol for the U.S. Military, before a movement for standardization to a NATO cartridge saw the adoption of the M9 (Beretta M92F) in 9mm, an older cartridge that the US military had rejected in 1903.

Currently, there is a resurgence of demand within our military for the 1911s, and several units are receiving them, though the main service pistol remains the M9.

It is good and proper that we celebrate this anniversary, even though it is yet 3 years shy of its century mark. For there are still people living who were alive then. A few might even remember back to that time, when a peacetime military made a good decision.

One of those designs that is a perfect classic. It works. If I had a spare $800 to spend on a handgun, one of these would be my first purchase. I was at a local gun show a few weeks ago and there was a local collector of Browning Guns. Spent a bit of time drooling...