1911 Lore

[Curare]

Please post your favorite 1911 historic tidbits--photos and stories.

Dillinger:

 

[rswartsell]

Since you started with Dillinger, he not only used them but was killed with one outside the Biograph Theater.

 

[Silent Bob]

In my hometown of Sherman, Texas, Bonnie and Clyde once killed a shopkeeper here and supposedly it was with a .45 1911

 

[gwnorth]

"Legends of the m1911"

 

[EddieNFL]

I once rented a house from an old WWII vet. Said his platoon sergeant had "liberated" a Luger shortly after D-day. A couple of days later they surprised a Kraut in an area supposedly cleared. The PS shot him twice and the Luger jammed. "He was still standing so I dispatched him with my 45."

I loved listening to this gentleman.

 

[Gunfighter123]

gwnorth ---- thanks for the link -- I've never seen that site before.

 

[soloban]

I've heard that you can completely disassemble a GI 1911 using a round of ball ammo and the various parts that come off the gun. I.e. use the bullet to depress the spring plug, use the rim of the case to undo the grip screws and so on.

 

[Oro]

Please post your favorite 1911 historic tidbits

The holster beneath this gun is marked which indicates it was with the 6th Machine Gun Battalion, USMC. That means it was likely at the battle of Belleau Wood and Chateau Theirry in World War I.

I have follks on other forums who get angry at me for sticking a gun in it and going out horseback riding. They can buy it from me to make me stop or they can take their self-righteousness to Copenhagen and argue for some fake warming treaty in my book:



This holster was carried by a gunner on a B-24 over Europe in WWII. His name and service number on the back let me track him down and get his full stories. I love carrying in this holster:

Another fact I love - If anyone tells you that "John Browning designed the gun to be carried cocked and locked/Condition 1" you should show them this image. This was the final 1910 prototype that John Browning and the design team at Colt offered to the Army. Notice the distinct lack of a thumb safety? The gun was either designed by Browning to be carried Condition 2 or Condition 3, but certainly not Condition 1! Anyone who says that you should immediately suspect their knowledge of the platform.

The Army might have wanted it carried "Conditon 1" - but John Browning never had that in mind.

I've heard that you can completely disassemble a GI 1911 using a round of ball ammo

This is entirely true.

 

[hatchetbearer]

im confused about curare's original picture. just below dead center, is that a compensated 1911 with a ludicrously extended mag and a foregrip off a thompson? where can i get one of those?

 

[Hacker15E]

Looks like the granddad of a Beretta 93R

 

[Tom Fury]

'Tis the grandaddy of the 93R, and full auto as well.
Living in the UK, my favorite 1911 anecdote is the one about how Eisenhower provided Churchill's bodyguard with a 1911. Churchill asked the BG one day if he could see it, and the BG responded that he didn't carry it as it was too heavy. Churchill's response: "Let me have it, then, I'll carry it."
cheers, TF

 

[RSVP2RIP]

I've heard that you can completely disassemble a GI 1911 using a round of ball ammo and the various parts that come off the gun. I.e. use the bullet to depress the spring plug, use the rim of the case to undo the grip screws and so on.

You don't need a cartridge.








Obviously this won't work too well on a hard-fit race gun, but GI guns do completely come apart like this. You might have trouble getting the barrel link pin out, but when the heck are you going to do that anyways?!?

 

[EddieNFL]

Nice pieces of history, Oro. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Curare]