Why the .45 Caliber 1911 Was Invented

The .45 caliber 1911 semiautomatic pistol was created to stop Islamic warriors. From 1902 until 1913, the United States fought a war with the "Moro Warriors" in the Philippines. These Islamic warriors were named "Moros" by the Spanish. Their unstoppability was legendary. "In one instance," writes Robert Boatman, "a Moro warrior received 14 bullet wounds in five minutes, three of which penetrated his brain, and yet he fought on."

At the time, the U.S. soldiers were using .38 caliber pistols, which were unable to stop the Moros, so in 1906, they began testing different handguns to find something better.

In 1911, they chose the .45 caliber semiautomatic pistol. It had enough stopping power to kill even a Moro warrior with one shot.

Read more about this interesting piece of history here, here and here.

1 comment:

  1. I'm not sure if the Army ordered it or the soldiers had them shipped form home but they started to use the old .45 long colt again. Large bullets have lots and lots of stopping power. Only problem is reloading a Colt single action can get you killed if you are rushed. The British Webley was an example of a huge bullet moving at a slow velocity. This was a top break and was probably easier to reload. I like the .45 so much got a pair of smith&wesson model 25-2s. They fired either the auto rim or I used the half moon clips which was close to using speed loaders. Oh ya i had 2 1/2 in. barrels pup on them. bye now

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