Everybody take a deep breath.
When the army carried 1911s they werre crap. The finish was worn off, they rattled, the signts and triggers were lousey, and they did not work half the time.
On my first tour in VN, we had so much trouble that they were withdrawn. No body complained.
The 11B pig gunners were happy
The 11Cs were happy
The 11Hs were happy
The 1142s(lieutenant platoon leaders) were happy
The XO and Co were happy.
The armorer was delirious.
We had never inflicted a casualty on the enemy. We had one GI dead and one GI WIA from negligent discharges.
It took half an hour a day to scrub the rust off so they could rust again overnight. We carried them in leather holsters that were as wet as we were from 24 hours daily monsoon rains.
Every thing we had and fought with we carried on our backs. We got resupplied every other day and otherwise ate, slept, deficated, fought and died in the triple canopy rainforest that covered 4,000 foot mountains. When we were relieved of those stupid .45s, we supplimented the weight with extra frags, ammo, trip flares, claymores and medical supplies that could save our lives.
We never suffered a casualty from an enemy that was located within handgun range. I never saw a tripwire or boody trap that could be taken out with a pistol. I never heard of anyone shooing an RPG or mortar round out of the air with a .45. No body ever killed a machine gunner up the mountain with a .45.
They were a stupid waste of weight and effort.
Anybody that thinks the 1911s that we had were effective weapons is probably too dumb to figure out that Mack Bolan books are fiction.