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Title:	PISTOL, SEMI-AUTOMATIC -  U.S. PISTOL MODEL 1911 .45 SN# 84
Maker/Manufacturer:	BROWNING, JOHN M.
Date of Manufacture:	1912
Eminent Figure:
Catalog Number:	SPAR 2152
Measurements:	OL: 21.5CM 8 1/2" BL: 12.7CM 5"

Object Description:

U.S. PISTOL MODEL 1911 .45 SN# 84
Manufactured by Colt, Hartford, Ct. in 1912 - Standard early production model of Colt M1911 semi-automatic pistol. Blued finish, two-piece checkered wood grips. Complete with 7-round detachable box magazine. Weapon weighs approximately 2 lbs. 7 oz. Lower right grip screw missing and right grip shows scorching from museum fire. Weapon represents Colt's second shipment to the Springfield Armory (SN# 51-100) received on January 18, 1912.

Markings:
Slide: PATENTED APR. 20, 1897/SEPT. 9 1902, DEC. 19, 1905, FEB. 14, 1911. COLT'S PT. F.A. MFG. CO./HARTFORD, CT. U.S.A. Rampant Colt in circle. (Right): MODEL OF 1911 U.S. ARMY.
Frame: UNITED STATES PROPERTY. WGP in circle. WGP = Walter G. Penfield.* Right side: N0. 84.

ANNUAL REPORTS:
1911 - 1JAN-30JUN - "Repair kit for the automatic pistol, cal..45, model of 1911; design adopted."

Notes: This is one of fifty sent to the Springfield Armory from Colt on January 18, 1912.

"Slide markings on S/N 1 through 83 were 1/16" on the patent legend and 5/64" on Colt's logo. At S/N 84, the Colt's logo lettering was reduced to 1/16." - J.C. Harrison

"The .45 was developed in response to serious problems encountered with the .38 caliber revolvers used in the Philippines during the Spanish-American War and the subsequent 'pacification' campaigns. The anemic .38 Long Colt cartridge failed miserably in combat, and the situation was so bad that some of the virtually antique .45 caliber Model of 1873 Single Action Army revolvers were called out of retirement and refurbished for use in the Philippines. The old black powder .45 Colt cartridge was a formidable man-stopper, although the antiquated single action design left much to be desired.
After the unpleasantness in the Philippines died down, the U.S. military establishment searched in earnest for an adequate replacement for the unsatisfactory .38 revolvers. A more modern Colt revolver design was adopted for use with the .45 Colt cartridge as the Model of 1909. These revolvers were procured in rather small numbers as a stop-gap measure. The government actually wanted a semiautomatic or self-loading pistol chambered for a .45 caliber cartridge. After extensive trials and testing, the Model of 1911 pistol chambered for the .45 Automatic Colt Pistol (ACP) cartridge was adopted. It should be pointed out that while the M1911 is invariably referred to as an automatic, it is actually a semiautomatic or self-loading design." - Bruce N. Canfield

"...So the bush war against them (Moros) goes on fiercely, and when they show a remarkable resistance to being annihilated by what weapons the Army possesses, field commanders plead with the Ordnance Department to give them something more substantial than the .38-caliber semiautomatic pistol the Colt factory in Hartford has been producing since 1902. Ordnance turns the job over to John M. Browning, the country's chief designer of guns, asking him to produce a weapon capable of stopping a Moro warrior cold. These tough fighters have shown an annoying disposition to use their bolos even when they have absorbed one or two .38-caliber bullets. This challenge to Browning's genius produces first a .45-caliber bullet, around which he designs a gun, and shortly Hartford is turning out the Colt .45 automatic pistol, which not only destroys Moros but becomes standard military issue in 1911." - Tebbel

"After the U.S. Army adopted the .45 caliber Model 1911 Colt Browning pistol, they were issued to cavalry units in the western states. The troops of the 11th Cavalry used them on 5 May 1916 at a fight at the Ojos Azules ranch near Cusihuiriachic, Mexico, in what was probably the last cavalry charge in North America. Troopers of the 11th Cavalry and their 30-odd Apache scouts arrived at the Ojos Azules ranch at dawn. A lone Villista sentry, who spotted these members of General John J. Pershing's punitive expedition, opened fire. The Apaches dismounted and began using their Model 1903 Springfield rifles. After a few minutes, it became obvious that the American would noLieutenant A.M. Graham, A Troop Commander, ordered his men forward, down the road into the ranch. Graham gave the order to draw pistols. Each trooper pulled his Model 1911 Colt Browning self-loader from his holster, pulled the slide back, and let it snap forward, thumbing up the safety. Rifles popped off to the left where the scouts were shooting at long range toward the Villistas, and Mexicans were seen running from the buildings to their horses grazing in the hills beyond the ranch. The bugler sounded the charge, and Graham spurred his horse, leading A Troop down the road. They thundered ahead at a gallop and came under heavy but inaccurate rifle fire from the ranch where some thirty or forty Villistas had determined to make a stand from the ranch building roofs. The soldiers swept through, pistoling bandits who were running through the yard, some half-dressed. Graham watched as one horsemen cleared a gate connecting a barbed wire fence that ran at a sharp angle behind the buildings. He followed and made an equally spectacular leap over the gate landing almost beside the Mexican horse. Graham got so close that he was able to shove his pistol under the fleeing man's armpit and pull the trigger. D Troop was stopped by the fence, but with wire cutters they sniped a hole wide enough to allow their horses to pass through in column. But they were stopped again 100 meters past the fence by firing coming from the Villistas, who had established a defensive line among the pines on the slope of a hill. The troopers dismounted to return the fire and were joined by their scouts. Several Mexicans were killed and others fled up the hill in fighting that lasted only twenty minutes. Machine-gun troops had also participated briefly after the battle opened, firing into the buildings at a range of 1,500 meters, but inflicting no damage. Pistols and rifles had killed forty-two Villistas in and near the ranch, and another nineteen were accounted for by A Troop, when they pursued the retreating enemy into the hills south of Ojos Azules. No Americans had been shot in the close-in combat.
The cavalry charge at Ojos Azules ranch in 1916 ended an era. Hereafter, the pistol was essentially an infantry weapon, used as a personal defense weapon, not as an offensive weapon." - Edward C. Ezell

*Major Penfield resigned from the Army because of certain "unbearable conditions" existing at Frankford Arsenal, his last assigned station. After his resignation he accepted a position as Works Manager at Remington-Arms-UMC Co., Bridgeport, Conn. As an interesting by-line, Walter H. Penfield, relationship unknown, was at that time a vice-president of Colt Patent Fire Arms Mfg. Co." - Clawson

"Shooting Scripts: An American Appreciation of the top 10 firearms ever made" by Gary James. GUNS & AMMO, May 2006.
"'The Sand Pebbles' (1966) - I like this movie so much I even had a model made of the film's eponymous gunboat, 'The San Pablo.' Richard McKenna, author of the novel upon which the pre-World War II talked of American sailors on river duty in China was based, was a real China sailor himself, so both the book and the movie smack of authenticity. The star, Steve McQueen, was ex-Navy and a firearms enthusiast himself, so the way he handles a 1903 Springfield and BAR is natural and highly professional.
Other guns in the film - 1911 Colts, Lewis Machine Guns, one-and three-pound naval cannons and Mausers-are appropriate for time and place and integral to the plot. The movie looks good and is good. I'm a big McQueen fan, and I really think this is his best performance."

See, Meadows, U.S. MILITARY AUTOMATIC PISTOLS, pg. 178.

References:
Canfield, Bruce N. U.S. INFANTRY WEAPONS OF WORLD WAR II. Andrew Mowbray Publishers. Lincoln, R.I. 1994.
Clawson, Charles W. COLLECTOR'S GUIDE TO COLT .45 SERVICE PISTOLS: MODELS OF 1911 AND 1911A1. Charles W. Clawson. Ft. Wayne, In. 1993.
Ezell, Edward C. HANDGUNS OF THE WORLD. Stackpole Books. Harrisburg, Pa. 1981.
Harrison, J.C. U.S. PISTHarrison, Jesse C. HARRISON'S NOTEBOOK. U.S. MILITARY ARMS. FROM DOUGHBOY TO DOGFACE, INDIVIDUAL WEAPONS. 1903-1955. The Arms Chest. Oklahoma City, Ok. 1999.
Meadows, Edward Scott. U.S. MILITARY AUTOMATIC PISTOLS 1894-1920. Richard Ellis Publications. Moline, Il. 1993.
Tebbel, John. AMERICA'S GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR WITH SPAIN. Marshall Jones Company. Manchester Center, Vt. 1996.