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M1911 History & Collector Articles

 

Arsenal Rebuilds - “My Colt has a Remington Serial Number. What’s Going On?” It’s the most “frequently asked question” on The Sight M1911. People often suspect that there’s an error in the serialization tables or that they have stumbled onto a rare collector’s item. Neither of these is the case, however. These guns are “arsenal rebuilds.” This term refers to guns which have been extensively repaired or reconditioned by government armorers at one of the government arsenals which support the small arms of the Armed Forces.

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

Ballester-Molina .45 Pistol

Barrel Markings of the G.I. M1911 and M1911A1 Pistols

Colt Ace, Service Ace, and Conversion Units

Colt Commander - Evolution and Development Pictorial history of the Colt Commander

Colt Commercial Caliber .45 Automatic Manual, circa 1916
A Colt frame for $10? A new barrel for $2.50? Check out this manual that came with a commercial Colt around 1916. Special thanks to Frank Lindquist.

Detonics Combat Master

The FBI M1911 Contracts

FM 23-35 Basic Field Manual - Basic Field Manual of the M1911 and M1911A1 is online. This is the version which was issued in 1940 and authorized by General George C. Marshall. Special thanks goes to Anthony Gabrielson who did the scanning and OCR which allows this online document to look like the original while having the type in text so that it is searchable and prints using fonts. If you ever wanted to know how to fire your 1911 from horseback at a full gallop, this manual will show you how. It also shows us how the Army expected soldiers to be trained with the M1911 in the WWII era. Included are target and range diagrams, scoring charts, funky old pictures and much more.

The Guns of Frank Hamer
The nemesis of Bonnie and Clyde packed an M1911 but it was a .38 Super

Inspectors' Marks for Rebuilt M1911 Pistols

General Officers Model M15

G.I. Surplus .45 ACP Ammunition By Jan Haluska 

History and Development of the M1911/M1911 Al Pistol by Jeff Lesemann

Legends of the M1911

The M1911 Magazine FAQ

The M1911 Trials - The story of the the testing process done in 1910 that resulted in the M1911 being accepted as the sidearm for the U.S. military.

M9 vs. M1911 - A Subjective Comparison

The True Story of the Beretta M9 Pistol. by Tim Chandler

The Marine MEU(SOC) M1911 in Iraq - It's a less-than-closely-guarded-secret that the Marines never have liked the Beretta M9 9mm pistol. Here is the pistol that they built for the Marine Expeditionary Units.

The National Match .45 ACP M1911 Pistols

The Norwegian M1911s, Models M1912 and M1914

The History of The Randall Firearms Company

R. A. Crowder, Chief of the Texas Rangers - Favorite Gun

The Remington Government Model .45 ACP Pistols

The Series 70 Colt Autos

Some MEU's still carry proven M1911 .45's  - Not everyone in the U.S. military carries Beretta’s M-9 9 mm handgun. A small group of Marines still carry .45-caliber pistols — but they’re a far cry from Grandpa’s World War II gun.

T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) and the M1911

Who Made It?

The Sight M1911-A1 History of the M1911 and M1911-A1 Pistol

The Singer .45 Caliber Automatic Pistol

.45 Auto Cartridge Development - Stefano Mattioli's article on the early development of the .45 ACP cartridge. Includes specs and drawings of these early cartridges such as WRA 1904.

Ty Moore's Cool Gun Site - Ty is a collector and expert on the old M1911 and M1911A1 pistols. This site has oodles of close-up shots of the different pistols and their components, plus lots of identification information for pistols and their components.

Our WTC Attack Image Gallery

Why the M1911 by Syd

 


The Sight M1911 Quartermaster's Shop offers the Kuhnhausen shop manuals, Gun Videos on tactics, gunsmithing, and gear, Power Custom Parts and Tools, Mil-Comm lubricants and cleaners, tactical knives from Benchmade, Emerson, Spyderco and Cold Steel, plus Chip McCormick magazines and parts,  High Noon Holsters, and ammo. You can order online and have your selections delivered right to your door.

bookstore_bug_2.gif (6583 bytes) The M1911-A1 Bookstore offers shop manuals, collector references, books on RKBA, Self Defense, Tactics, Sniper, and a section of cool gadgets like 2-way radios, GPS, and scanners--and all at discount prices!. You can order online and have your selections delivered right to your door.

This page was last updated on 07/12/07