1873 Colt SAA and 1911
Was the 1873 Colt SAA the official side arm of the Army up to the adoption of the 1911 or were there other firearms between the two?
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Models 1892/1893, Colt Army and Navy Revolver, was used by the Army.
EDIT #1, Other handguns that were used for testing were issued to the troops on a limited basis, for short periods of time. Among them the Models 1900 Luger & Colt automatics.0 -
The S&W Schofield was GI from 1875 for a while.
The biggest and best of the service revolvers was the 1909 Colt New Service.
quote:Many of our soldiers stationed in the Phillipines sent back home for SAA Colts. However, these SAA's were designed for black powder loads that were not easily obtainable in the P.I.
Disagree. The Army got SAA's out of storage and had them refurbished by Colt and Springfield Armory. They also bought some number of 1878 Double Action Frontier .45 Colts. Had to have issued ammunition for them. I don't know what it was, though. Maybe leftover .45 Government at Schofield length. Maybe loaded fresh.0 -
In the 1890's the Army adopted a .38 cal. Colt double action revolver. This was the standard side arm of the Army, Navy and Marine Corps during the Spanish American War. After the war was over, there was a short lived occupation of Cuba that ended when Cubans rebelled against us and the sympathy of the American public was with the rebels, so we gave them their country and pulled out in 1903. The Phillipines were another story. There was an insurection against us but we suppressed it in all of the Islands except The Southern Islands that were Moslem. The Moslems, called by their Spanish name, Moros, were so fierce that the .38 cal. Colt prooved inadequate against them. One could empty a .38 cal. Colt into a doped up Moro and he could still could chop off your head with his bolo knife. Many of our soldiers stationed in the Phillipines sent back home for SAA Colts. However, these SAA's were designed for black powder loads that were not easily obtainable in the P.I. That is why the Army went to Colt to design a new .45 cal. pistol that would stop any human being in his tracks with one shot. The result was the M1911 Colt and the .45cal ACP cartridge that was designed especially for it. 0 -
Unfortunatley, I can't remember the name of the book, but a number of years ago I read about the trials that lead up to the adoption of the 1911. Really facinating read. Some of the guns were submitted without enough ammo to complete the trial! 0
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