This is a very customized Colt 1911 owned by Texas Ranger Matt Cawthon.

This is an actual Colt 1911 pistol carried by a Texas Ranger.  The Texas Rangers have famously carried the .45 caliber pistols for many years.  This example of the 1911 duty gun shows wear on the slide and frame with custom grips.

This is a photo of a handbill put out by Colt after the 1911 was adopted by the US Army as their service pistol.  The advertisement announced “Victory” for Colt.

Some of the most desired 1911A1 pistols made are the Singer 1911 handguns.  The Singer Sewing Machine Company was contacted by the US Army for the purposes of determining if the company could be converted to manufacture the handguns in the event of war.

In 1940, Singer produced 500 pistols for the US Army, and an unknown number for employees.  Singer was not given a larger contract and these pistols were the only ones produced by the company, making them quite rare.

This is an example of the Colt M1911 pistol used by the US Army during the first World War.  This particular example was manufactured in 1918 during the closing months of the war.

Notice this example has the flat mainspring housing and longer trigger as compared to the M1911A1 pistol adopted in 1928.

Additional Resources:

• Colt 1911 on Wikipedia

The Remington – UMC M1911 pistol was produced under the Colt license during World War I.  Due to delays in Colt providing Remington – UMC with blueprints, production of these 1911 handguns did not start until 1918, with the first batch being delivered to the United States in August 1918.

Production of these pistols ended in early 1919.  Less than 22,000 pistols were made, and this is one of the more collectable 1911 firearms.

There are a variety of differences between the original Colt M1911 and Colt M1911A1 pistols.  The changes are illustrated in the below image.

Among the differences in the 1911A1 are a thicker front sight, an arched mainspring housing, a longer hammer spur, a shorter trigger, and a longer grip safety spur.

Additional Resources:

• Colt 1911 on Wikipedia

Here are two examples of US Navy and US Marine Corps 1911 pistols.  The pistol shown on the top is a Navy model made in 1913.  The lower pistol is a USMC model also made in 1913.

The Colt 1911A1 was the firt major design variation on the 1911 service pistol.  The M1911A1 was updated in 1924 based on feedback received from World War II.

The 1911A1 had a longer grip safety spur (aka Beavertail) and an arched mainspring housing among other features.  No internal part or design changes were made.  All mil-spec parts for the 1911 are interchangeable with the parts for the M1911A1 pistol.

Additional resources:

• Colt M1911 Wikipedia Page

The Colt 1911 Army was the single action pistol adopted by the United States Army in 1911.  The Colt 1911 was chambered in .45 ACP (Automatic Colt Pistol).  The original 1911 used a seven-round, detachable magazine.

The 1911 Army pistol was designed and developed by John Moses Browning who designed a great many other firearms such as the Browning Hi-Power, BAR and M2 .50 caliber machine gun.

Additional information:

• Colt M1911 Army Pistol