. . . and then there was the .45 ACP By: Anon In the beginning was the 1911, and the 1911 was the pistol, and it was good. And behold the Lord said, thou shalt not muck with my disciple John's design for it is good and it worketh. For John made the 1911, and lo all of his weapons, from the designs which I, the Lord, gave him upon the mountain. And shouldst thou muck with it and hang all manner of foul implements upon it, and profane its internal parts, thou shalt surely have malfunctions, and in the midst of battle thou shalt surely come to harm. And as the ages passed, men in their ignorance and arrogance didst forget the word of the Lord and began to profane the 1911. The tribe of the gamesman did place recoil spring guides and extended slide releases upon the 1911, and their metalsmiths didst tighten the tolerances and alter parts to their liking, their clarity of mind being clouded by lust. The artisans did hang all manner of foul implements upon the 1911 and did so alter it that it became impractical to purchase. For lo, the artisans did charge a great tax upon the purchasers of the 1911 so that the lowly field worker could not afford one. And the profaning of the internal parts didst render it unworkable when the dust of the land fell upon it. And lo, they did install adjustable sights, which are an abomination unto the Lord, for they doth break and lose their zero when thou dost need true aim. And those who have done so will be slain in great numbers by their enemies in the great battle. And it came to pass that the Lord didst see the abomination wrought by man and didst cause, as He had warned, fearful malfunction to come upon the abominations and upon the artisans who thought they could do no wrong. Seeing the malfunctions and the confusion of men the Lord of the underworld did see an opportunity to further ensnare man and didst bring forth pistols made of plastic, whose form was such that they looked and felt like a brick, yet the eyes of man being clouded, they were consumed by the plastic pistol and did buy vast quantities of them. And being a deceitful spirit the Devil did make these plastic pistols unamenable to the artisans of earth and they were unable to muck much with the design, and lo these pistols did function. And the evil one also brought forth pistols in which the trigger didst both cock and fire them, and which require a 'Dingus' to make them appear safe. But man being stupid did not understand these new pistols and did proceed to shoot themselves with the plastic pistol, and with the trigger cocking pistols, for lo, their manual of arms required great intelligence which man had long since forsaken. Yet man did not repent of his evil ways, but continued to gloat over these new pistols blaming Satan for the negligent discharges which they themselves had committed. And when man had been totally ensnared with the plastic pistol the Devil didst cause a plague of the terrible Ka-BOOM to descend upon man and the plastic pistols delivered their retribution upon men. And there was great wailing and gnashing of teeth in the land. Then seeing that the eyes of man were slowly being opened and that man was truly sorrowful for his sinful misdeeds, the Lord did send his messengers in the form of artisans who did hear and obey the teachings of the Prophet and who didst restore the profaned 1911's to their proper configuration, and lo, to the amazement of men they didst begin to work as the Prophet intended. _________________________________________ "Amateurs practice until they can do it right. Professionals practice until they can't do it wrong." -- John Farnam
i read somewhere that there has never been an actual recorded instance of the 1911 being used to kill anyone in combat by any us forces anywhere ,EVER...i too , found this hard to belive ,but have yet to hear it refuted...
woody: Quite an absurd statement... don't YOU think? I watched a "Shootout!" episode relating the story of Guadalcanal and the ill-fated patrol of Lt. Col Frank Goettge. (Based on mis-intelligence of Japanese wanting to surrender. Boy were they gullible in those early-days.) It made mention of the fact that after Goettge was killed, a couple Marines went in the jungle after him to check if he was dead or injured. After confirming he was dead, these marines were taken under fire by a Japanese sniper in a tree. One of the Marines killed the sniper with his .45 after his .03 Springfield jammed. (No idea if this was indeed fact.) Point being, as a standard-issue firearm, I have no doubt it was bloodied in battle countless times. It would NOT have the reputation with both military forces, and police--as a back-up weapon--were this a fairy-tale. Tim
I believe there was a case in the La Drang(sp?) Valley in 'Nam, one M60 gunner run out of ammo and helped stop an assualt by using his M1911 .45, after the battle it is recorded there were around 100 bodies where he was. but again I am not sure if this is true or not.
sgt york ever hear of sgt york? MOH winner, WWI. killed and captured most of a german company singlehanded. used his M1917 endfield and his 1911 .45 to do the job. several of his kills were with the .45. it's documented in his MOH citiation
i thought it was improbable ,ok myth-BUSTED...iirc in the movie sgt york ,gary cooper used a capured luger pistole when he won the MOH ... didnt he ?
The movie is wrong on both weapons he carried. York was armed with a M-1917 rifle and a M-1911 pistol. The movie shows him with a '03 and a Luger.
I wouldn't say the most famous. He isn't nearly as well known as say Audie Murphy, Alvin York or Pappy Boyington. Having books, movies or television shows made about your life tends to make you very famous indeed
btw ...audie murphy a smallish dirt poor farm boy from east texas ( oldest of a huge family with no dad ...he used to hunt for stew meat every day after school with his .22 to bring home for momma and siblings , one bullet one rabbit )...he was turned down by both the marines and paratroops ...too srawney they said ...regular us army finally took him ...course , they take almost anyone...
