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Title:	PISTOL, SEMI-AUTOMATIC -  U.S. PISTOL MODEL 1911 .45 SN# 72573
Maker/Manufacturer:	BROWNING, JOHN M.
Date of Manufacture:	1914
Eminent Figure:
Catalog Number:	SPAR 1384
Measurements:	OL: 21CM 8 3/8" BL: 12.7CM 5" Weighs 2 lbs. 7 oz.

Object Description:

U.S. PISTOL MODEL 1911 .45 SN# 72573
Manufactured by Springfield Armory, Springfield, Ma. in 1914 - Model 1911 semi-automatic pistol with 7-round detachable box magazine. Recoil-operated, with Browning locking system. Two-piece checkered wood grips. Blade front, square notch, fixed rear sight. Lanyard loop in butt. Muzzle velocity 830 fps, with an effective range of 50 yards and a maximum range of 1900 yards. This is the 3rd .45 caliber M1911 made at Springfield Armory. Handmade tool room model. Weighs 2 lbs. 7 oz.with empty magazine. Cartridge: .45 ACP, weighs 230 gr.

Markings:
Frame: NO. 72573. UNITED STATES PROPERTY. Ordnance bomb.
Slide: Eagle. MODEL OF 1911. Left side: U.S. ARMY. PATENTED APR. 20, 1897/SEPT. 9, 1902. DEC. 19, 1905. FEB. 14, 1911/COLT'S PT. F.A. MFG CO. SPRINGFIELD ARMORY U.S.A. Ordnance bomb.

Exhibit label: "Springfield Armory M1911 .45 caliber, 1913-1918, 25,749 made. Prior to World War I, Springfield Armory estimated that it could produce the .45 caliber pistol at a cost below that of private manufacturers. Tooling was procured and Springfield began production on the third, and last, handgun produced at the Armory."

ANNUAL REPORTS:
AR, 1912 - "The preparation of tools, fixtures, etc., for the manufacture of the automatic pistol, cal..45, model of 1911, has been undertaken and it is now expected that the plant for this pistol will be installed by January 1, 1913, when fabrication of these pistols can commence. It will be capable in connection with a portion of the present plant of the Springfield Armory of the manufacture of 40 automatic pistols per day of eight (8) hours. A few of the machines of the rifle plant would, however, be required for manufacture of rifles provided the maximum output of 500 rifles per day were required."
AR, 1913 - "The preparation of tools and fixtures for the manufacture of the automatic pistol, cal..45, model of 1911, has been practically completed. The machines, tools, and fixtures of the pistol plant are now being tested and adjusted and it is expected that the first pistols will be completed about October 1, 1913. This plant will have a capacity of 40 pistols per day of 8 hours."

Notes: First recorded use in combat was in the Mexican border troubles (1914-1916) during the Mexican Revolution, and in the punitive expedition against Pancho Villa.

"On April 21, 1911, Colt granted the Ordnance Department the right to manufacture Model 1911 automatic pistols at government arsenals, but only after Colt had received orders totallying 50,000. Thereafter, as per agreement, the government was allowed to manufacture one-third of the military's requirements.
Installation of the pistol plant at Springfield Armory was completed during the latter part of 1913. This plant was part of the rifle plant, therefore, pistol production would have to be terminated if rifle production was required to operate at full capacity. Twenty unnumbered pistols were obtained from Colt, which were measured for the dimensions required in manufacture. Springfield Armory drawings were prepared from these measurements. Production began in early 1914 at the rate of 40 pistols per day, and reached 140 by the end of the year. The first 30 pistols were manufactured by hand and were completed by March 14, 1914. The next 100 pistols were manufactured by standard production methods. After minor adjustments to the manufacturing equipment, production proceeded without difficulty. The first 230 pistols were posted in Ordnance procurement records on April 25, 1914. The manufacturing process was different than Colt's method, but the parts were interchangeable.
The last order assigned to Springfield Armory consisted of 7,620 pistols serialed numbered 125567 to 133186. The 20 unnumbered pistols obtained from Colt were numbered at the beginning of this order from 123367 to 125586. Production continued unabated through January 1916, at which time manufacture was temporarily suspended until July. On April 15, 1917 the manufacture of pistols was officially suspended in order to achieve maximum
Ordnance bomb - "SPRINGFIELD ARMORY M1911. Found on left rear of fame and slide on Springfield Armory M1911 pistols. This is a mandatory mark on these pistols. Stamped after finish." - J.C. Harrison

"January 11, 1915.
From: The Commanding Officer
To: The Chief of Ordnance
Subject: No. of auto pistols, cal..45, mod. 1911, mfrd. during six months' period ended Dec. 31, 1914.
1. The following is a report of the automatic pistols cal..45 model of 1911, and parts thereof, manufactured at this Armory during the six months' period ending Dec. 31, 1914, as required by Article IX of contract made by the Chief of Ordnance with the Colt's Patent Fire Arms Mfg. Co., dated Sept. 8, 1913, regarding royalty, and forwarded to this Armory by O.O. 13092/2768, dated Sept. 24, 1913:
No. of pistols 6400
Barrels 0
Slides 0
Receivers 0
- W.S. Peirce
Lt. Col., Ord. Dept."

"July 6, 1915.
From: The Commanding Officer
To: The Chief of Ordnance
Subject: Number of auto pistols, cal..45, mfrd. during six months period ended June 30, 1915.
1. The following is a report of the automatic pistols, cal..45, model of 1911, and parts thereof, manufactured at this Armory during the six months' period ended June 30, 1915, as required by Article IX of contract made by the Chief of Ordnance with the Colt's Patent Fire Arms Mfg. Co., dated Sept. 8, 1913, regarding royalty, and forwarded to this Armory by O.O. 13092/2768, dated Sept. 24, 1915:
Automatic pistols, cal..45, model 1911 3569
Barrels 66
Slides 48
Receivers 0
W.S. PEIRCE
Colonel, Ord. Dept.

Ordnance Office, June 22, 1916, To. C.O., Springfield Armory.
Information is requested as to what orders the 66 barrels and 48 slides referred to above were manufactured under. By order of C.of O.
F.A. Doniat
Lieut., Ord. Dept."

U.S. Army in 1913 - "The enlisted ranks were hard-bitten, well-drilled, and competent. They were also living proof of some of the inequalities in American society which the progressive reformers were seeking to ameliorate. The Army rank and file consisted of adventurers, bums, and runaway boys, plus unskilled labor driven into the ranks by the economic whip. If the duties were usually not too onerous, the living conditions were far from ideal. There was a rigid formal barrier between officer and enlisted men, to the extent that all conversation had to be in the third person. Pay and public esteem were both low. The average solider lived out his lot in a godforsaken tropical garrison or in a lonely outpost in the West - some 58 percent of the Army was deployed in the vacant spaces between the Missouri River and the western coastal range,. In a reforming mood, Congress had closed down the on-post beer canteens, which drove troops to the adjoining dives for recreation and led to a venereal disease rate of fourteen to seventeen percent. Several thousand troops deserted this life every year. The United States Army was an artificial society, a little world of its own, out of sight and out of mind of the vast majority of the American people.
This dispersal of the Army into the wilderness created military as well as psychological problems. The fact was that the Army was senselessly arranged, manning forts that had been designed to check forgotten Indian menaces. The mobile Army in the United States, exclusive of Coast Defense and supply troops, was strewn over forty-nine army posts in twenty-ninesary training time and adding to the burdens of administration. Scatteration sabotaged effective military action. When revolution flared in Mexico in the spring of 1911, the Taft Administration ordered a troop concentration on the border. The Army took six weeks to bring together eight half strength infantry regiments, group them into brigades under officers who had never commanded a brigade before, and form, with the addition of cavalry and artillery units, a Maneuver Division - which never went on maneuvers.
In short, the Army was badly managed in time of peace and not designed to fight anybody, much less defend the country against attacks of a first-class power. Ludicrously small as compared to the huge conscript armies of Europe - even the Bulgarian Army was infinitely more powerful - it had not even attained its own authorized strength, nor had it sufficient reserve of equipment. Although it sufficed to garrison the colonies, patrol the borders, and send cavalry to an occasional state fair, the Army could not make war, which seemed to be an appropriate potential assignment. Obviously, the situation needed to be changed. The Army had to be made both economical and adequate to its task." - Finnegan

"Shooting Scripts: An American Appreciation of the top 10 firearms ever made" by Gary James. GUNS & AMMO, May 2006.
"'The Mummy" 1999 - When, in the opening scenes of this really fun picture, I saw Foreign Legionnaires shooting real Model 1886 Lebels (God knows how they got those tube magazine bolt actions to feed blanks) instead of the usual Mannlicher-Berthiers, I knew what he was doing. Then it got even better. Star Brendan Foster's sidearms are a brace of Model 1873 French Ordnance revolver, which is an odd choice technologically since the film's set sometime in the 1920s, but it is a great one cinematically. They're really cool. Fraser and other good and bad guys also wave around such things as 1911 Colts, New Services, Colt SAAs, a Winchester Model 1897 riot gun, assorted Mausers and even a Remington Double Derringer - all used to great effect."

References:
Clawson, Charles W. COLLECTOR'S GUIDE TO COLT .45 SERVICE PISTOLS: MODELS OF 1911 AND 1911A1. Charles W. Clawson. Ft. Wayne, In. 1993.
Finnegan, MILITARY PREPAREDNESS IN THE PROGRESSIVE ERA. 1911-1917. University Microfilms International. Ann Arbor, Mi. 1979.
Harrison, J.C. U.S. PISTOL & REVOLVERS. The Arms Chest. Oklahoma City, Ok. 1994.
Meadows, Edward Scott. MILITARY AUTOMATIC PISTOLS 1894-1920. Richard Ellis Publications, Inc. Moline, Il. 1993.

See, "SPRINGFIELD ARMORY MODEL 1911 PISTOL by Edward S. Meadows. The Gun Report. May, 2002.