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Spring of 1904, nearly 100 years ago, the Frankford Arsenal as
well as the civilian Industry were asked by the U.S. Government to
develop an .45 caliber pistol round to improve the existing pistol
rounds and to compete with the ready available .45 caliber revolver rounds
of good fame.
The Arsenal however put it on "wait and see". Not so for
the folks at Winchester Repeating Arms Co., that in conjunction with COLT
Mfg. Co. came up, just after a few months, with a new .45 caliber round
housed in a modified .38 Colt pistol model 1900, the .45 Automatic
Colt.
Cartridge length was .900" (22,86mm), case was brass and
of .470" (11,938mm) diameter, bullet a 200 grains cylindro-spheric gilding
jacketed, extraction area had .085" (2,159mm) in length and markings were
"W.R.A.Co. .45 AC" on the base and a "W" on
the primer.
Now, after the official introduction in 1905 by
Winchester Repeating Arms Co. & Colt Mfg. Co. of the .45 AC together
with the Colt model 1905, the folks at Frankford Arsenal began to activate
matters, starting and trying to better up the existing round. They ended
up with a slightly modified .45 cartridge with a longer case and heavier
copper-nickel jacket bullet of 230 grains, named "Cal. .45
Automatic Pistol Ball Cartridge Model of 1906" (FA
M1906) to be on time for the upcoming tests planned by the Government
for June 1906. The Government however couldn't set on both of them and in
the spring of 1907 contracted the Union Metal Cartridge Co. to design
another .45 cartridge based on the existing one but with a shorter case.
After 5 more months, the cartridge named ".45 Automatic Colt
Government" (UMC M1907) was ready. Again, other
modifications, a larger extraction area, were needed and the Government
reordered the Union Metallic Cartridge Co. and Winchester Repeating Arms
Co. to redesign it as needed. At the end of 1908, two close to identical
cartridges emerged from this request (UMC M1908 & WRA
M1908). At the same time, in 1908, the folks at Frankford Arsenal
worked on another .45 cartridge (FA M1908), hoping to get the
contract for delivering test ammunition to the troops. This contract,
however, was issued to UMC, that started delivery of the test ammunition
in the year 1909. This round was basically the same as the UMC M1908, but
had a cannelure on the bullet just over the case mouth. Markings were " U.M.C. .45 A.C.P." (UMC M1909). After the tests,
this round was finally and officially adopted, after some slight
modifications (drop of the cannelure), by the Government as the "
Cal. .45 Automatic Pistol Ball Cartridge, Model of 1911".
This was August of 1911. The ammunition makers could start their
production. The first cartridges, Model of 1911, known to be issued came
from the Frankford Arsenal (FA M1911) and had the markings "F
A 8 11"( the 8 stands for the production month).
The beginning years of the .45
The specifications of today's .45 auto cartridge cases are
similar to the one finally adopted in 1911. After this adoption in 1911,
the .45 automatic cartridge was a playground for all possible tests,
changes, types (blank, dummies, high pressure, tracer, high velocity,
perforating, sport, etc..) for military, police and civilian use. Today, a
multitude of .45 auto cartridges exists and the .45 auto is still in use
in many country's military and police forces. In recent years, the .45
auto cartridge as well as the combining guns has also had a revival in
sporting and civilian use. Most of the practical shooting sports are
dominated by the .45 auto guns. For personal and protection use, it is as
good and sometimes better than any other known cartridge.
See also:
The .45 ACP Cartridge
Background Information on the
United States Pistol Caliber .45 M1911 - Development history of the
M1911 .45 Caliber Automatic Pistol including the Thompson-LaGarde cadaver
tests of 1904
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