What is the U.S. Army’s best sidearm? It’s definitely not the SIG P320 AKA the M17/M18; though SIG Sauer is an excellent gunmaker, that particular model is still simply too new on the scene to have established a battlefield performance record just yet.

Meanwhile, those of you who know me might expect me to confer the title upon the 9mm Beretta M9 (aka the Beretta 92FS on the civilian market). Alas, as much as I personally love that pistol, and Beretta’s status as the world’s oldest existing industrial firm of any kind, the M9’s thirty-three years of faithful service were unfairly maligned due to bad quality aftermarket magazines and the 9mm cartridge’s supposed lack of stopping power (neither of which is actually a reflection on the pistol’s design quality).

Objectively speaking, the legendary M1911 .45 ACP (Automatic Colt Pistol) caliber single-action semiautomatic pistol has to be considered the all-time best handgun ever issued to the U.S. Armed Forces, particularly when you look at its overall length of official service (seventy-five years) and reputation for reliability, reliability, and combat accuracy.

Where It Began: The Original M1911

By “M1911,” I mean both the original M1911 pistol as designed by John Moses Browning—arguably the greatest gun inventor of all time—and the M1911-A1 variant that succeeded it in 1929. Browning devised both the gun and the .45 ACP cartridge as replacements for the Army’s .38 Long Colt revolvers that were deemed abysmal failures when used against fanatical Moro warriors during the Philippine Insurrection of 1899.

As noted by self-defense expert Massad F. Ayoob in his 1983 book The Truth About Self Protection (and reaffirmed thirty-nine years later in an article for The Armory Life), the 1911 was the first firearm to completely pass a U.S. military ordnance test. This was done in dramatic fashion: the pistol survived a 6,000-round torture test in order to convince the U.S. Army bureaucracy to adopt its first-ever general-issue autopistol. In his 1989 book The Gun Digest Book of the .45, the late great Dean A. Grennell eloquently tells the story of those pistol trials—and the 1911’s inventor’s ordeal therein:

“After a time, with his cool severely frayed, [Mr. Browning’s friend Fred] Moore accosted Browning and wanted to know, ‘John, haven’t you got a nerve in your body?’ ‘Fred,’ John replied, ‘I’ve got lots of nerves in my body, and they are all standing on end, like this.’ He held up both hands, with fingers writhing furiously. ‘But not a damned soul except you and me is ever going to know about it’ … There was a long, loud silence, broken at last by a stentorian bellow from one of the soldiers who had been busily stuffing cartridges into the magazines. ‘She made it, by God!’ he roared, in gleeful jubilation. There was a burst of laughter, quickly followed by three cheers for Browning and urgent demands for a speech from the successful inventor … ‘Gentlemen,’ he said, ‘the young man who spoke so eloquently a moment ago expressed my feelings precisely. There isn’t a word I can add, except thank you all.’”

Thus, on March 29, 1911, the adoption of the M1911 pistol became official. It was not a moment too soon, as the United States would officially enter World War I six years and one month later. And in that so-called “Great War,” the so-called “Army Automatic” first established its legendary status. Among other things:

It enabled the legendary Sgt. Alvin York to drop seven charging German soldiers with seven shots.

It prompted Capt. H.W. McBride—an American serving as a sniper in the Canadian Army—to write in his renowned book A Rifleman Went to War, “The entire case of the pistol may be summed up in ‘I don’t want this thing often, but when I do I want it damn bad.’”

Passing the Torch: the M1911-A1

As superbly as the M1911 performed in the muddy, bloody trenches of WWI Europe, it had room for improvement, especially its tendencies to bite the hands that fed it, i.e., inflicting hammer bite upon the web of shooters’ hands, and to have an excessively long trigger reach (remember, the average adult male 110 years ago was smaller than his present-day counterpart). (And speaking from the personal experience of owning a 1918 vintage Colt M1911, her front sight, in addition to being tiny, is rather distressingly fragile.) Ergo, multiple modifications were implemented in 1926 (which, by sad coincidence, was the final year of Browning’s life): a thicker front sight; an arched mainspring housing; a longer hammer spur; a shorter trigger, along with relief cuts in the frame behind the trigger; and a longer grip safety spur.

Thus the 1911-A1 went on to serve American GIs with distinction through WWII, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the invasion of Grenada. In 1984, she was officially replaced by the aforementioned Beretta M9, but the .45s weren’t replaced overnight, and the old big-bore pistols still saw combat during the 1991 Persian Gulf War (aka Operation Desert Storm). Indeed, Marine Expeditionary Unit Special Operations Capable teams such as the Marine Raiders used highly customized M1911-A1s all the way up until 2016, when they were finally replaced by 9mm Glock 19s.

Where Are They Now?

Though no longer in U.S. military service, the 1911 remains an incredibly popular pistol with gun enthusiasts worldwide, 113 years after her invention. There are more 1911 manufacturers than you can shake a stick at, from SIG to Auto-Ordnance (the same company that makes the legendary “Tommy Gun”) to Smith & Wesson to Ruger to Springfield Armory (I can personally vouch for Springfield’s stainless steel Mil-Spec variant).

About the Author: Christian D. Orr

Christian D. Orr is a Senior Defense Editor for National Security Journal (NSJ). He is a former Air Force Security Forces officer, Federal law enforcement officer, and private military contractor (with assignments worked in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kosovo, Japan, Germany, and the Pentagon). Chris holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Southern California (USC) and an M.A. in Intelligence Studies (concentration in Terrorism Studies) from American Military University (AMU). He has also been published in The Daily Torch, The Journal of Intelligence and Cyber Security, and Simple Flying. Last but not least, he is a Companion of the Order of the Naval Order of the United States (NOUS).