Meanwhile, the Savage pistol competing alongside it suffers 37 malfunctions during the same trial. The decision is unanimous. On March 29th, 1911, the United States Army officially adopts Browning’s design as the automatic pistol caliber.45 model of 1911. The Navy and Marine Corps follow shortly after. Production begins immediately. The manufacturing cost approximately $14.
50 per unit for Colt during World War I. The pistol weighs 39 oz unloaded. Overall length 8.25 in. Seven rounds in the magazine, one in the chamber. Simple, powerful, reliable. Nobody realizes it yet, but this pistol will still be eliminating America’s enemies more than a century later. France, October 8th, 1918. The Argon Forest.
Corporal Alvin York and 16 other soldiers advanced through heavy timber toward German machine gun positions near Hill 223. The mission, silence the machine guns, pinning down their regiment. As they approach, German gunners open fire. York’s squad takes casualties immediately. Several men fall in the first burst.
York, a Tennessee mountain man who learned marksmanship hunting to feed his family, drops to the prone position and returns fire with his M1903 Springfield rifle. His accuracy is devastating. He dispatches German machine gunners with precise rifle shots. The German position begins to collapse. Then everything changes. Six German soldiers charge York with fixed bayonets, attempting to overrun his position before he can reload.
York drops his rifle and draws his M1911 pistol. What happens next becomes legend. York shoots the charging Germans from back to front. The last man in line first working forward so those behind don’t see their comrades falling and halt the charge. It’s the same technique he used hunting wild turkeys in Tennessee.
Six men charge, six men fall. York’s M1 1911 doesn’t jam, doesn’t misfire, doesn’t fail. With the bayonet charge broken, York advances on the German trench with his pistol drawn. A German lieutenant, seeing the carnage and believing he’s facing a larger force, signals surrender. By the time York and his remaining men reach American lines, they’ve captured 132 German prisoners and silenced more than 30 machine guns.
York receives the Medal of Honor. When reporters ask how he accomplished the feat, York credits three things: divine providence, mountain bred marksmanship, and the M1911 pistol that never let him down. In 2006, nearly 90 years after the battle, forensic investigators locate the precise sight of York’s action and recover shell casings.
Ballistic analysis confirms 46 306 casings from York’s rifle and 2345 ACP casings from his M1911. The evidence corroborates York’s account exactly. Those 23 shots fired under extreme stress in close combat prove the M1911’s combat effectiveness in ways no peaceime test ever could. Stories like Yorks spread through the American Expeditionary Force.
Soldiers who initially doubted the new pistol become converts. The M1911 isn’t just reliab
