Since I handled my first 1911A1 pistol at the age of 14 in high school ROTC, I've been a fan of the .45 caliber pistols used by our armed forces in the 20th Century. For that reason, I became a collector of them, and have put together a modest collection of representative arms. This is a picture I took back in 2002 of my collection, preparatory to an article I wrote for the 2003 Gun Digest. Not having a digital camera at that time, the picture was taken on slide film with my old Pentax K1000 35mm SLR. The folks at Dillon Precision were kind enough to let me use their photo studio for the shot. The article won the John Amber award for that year as the best submitted to Gun Digest.



Perhaps some of you share my passion for issue .45s - in my opinion, shared by Thompson and LaGarde in their tests, the .45 caliber is about ideal for a self-defense caliber. I was chagrined when the U.S. adopted a 9mm pistol, and hope someday sanity will return and a .45 will once again become the the prime issue pistol for our troops. I think they deserve no less.

Hope you enjoy the pic - putting it together was fun.

John

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- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -

Beautiful - Wonderful - THANKS!!!
Oh yeah - I'm enjoying it!

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In dog years I'm dead.

Nice collection, thanks for sharing. I didn't grow up in a gun family. The first time I fired a handgun was when I qualified for watch stander on my first ship. I was instantly hooked on shooting! Those .45's are way too much fun.

Great collection, John. I particularly like the Liberator. Hope you got that one before they reached their current market value.

Bob (Hard to visualize you without a digital camera).

Thanks for sharing such a fine collection.

Very nice collection. I have always been a fan of the USGI 1911 and the 1917 revolvers. Unfortunately, the only thing I have been able to find in this area is a 1944 Colt 1911A1 that someone refinished in blue and destroyed half of the markings on. It's a good shooter though, and the price was right. I bought it to take shooting with my dad since this was the type of pistol he shot in the service and made expert qualification with.

Colt1911A1.jpg

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Nice. Even a Liberator......................

wyo-man

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Live free or die

Hi:
Impressive collection.
Didn't the U.S. Army re-issue Colt SAA .45s during the Phillipine Campaign 1899-1911?

The first time I ever handled one was in high school. A play was being put on in which one of the characters was portraying an AP. He was able to put together the whole uniform; Class A blues, white hat, leather--and a 1911. We all got a chance to look at this beautiful weapon of mass destruction. This was a Catholic boys' boarding school, and half of the teachers were WWII vets. None of this zero tolerance (a gun, a gun!) bull-****.

When I went home (a few months later!) I asked my father if he knew anyone who had a .45 I could shoot. A couple of days later we found a 1911 and a box of ammo, wrapped in a paper bag between the screen door and the front door of the house.

That was over fifty years ago. I still have that gun. And a few more.

They certainly did. When the Model of 1909 Colt came on stream, the old single actions were retired. Most of the 1909s went to the Philippines. Then as the Model 1911 came to be general issue, the 1909s were put in reserve. The Model 1909 illustrated was manufactured in 1910, making it over a century old now. Tempis fugit.

John

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- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -

Great collection!! If you still have it, there's a lot of money there; they don't exactly give away Springfields or Rem-UMCs, to say nothing of US&S or Savages.

Very nice collection thanks for sharing.
I like that Liberator!

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ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ

very nice collection paladin85020

Thanks. Yes, I still have this collection. I was fortunate enough to acquire most of it 40 plus years ago when prices were still semi-reasonable. In the intervening years, availability has gone way down and prices have skyrocketed. The plums in the collection are tucked away in a bank safe deposit box; I have not seen duplicates of the rarer ones at gun shows in many, many years. Back in the day, one or more would turn up now and then, and I was quick to grab them, realizing they would not be easily available in the future.

I remember when I was in the Army, a sergeant who was in my command had sent off to the DCM for a .45 pistol, which in those days could be had for about $40, as I recall. What he got amazed both of us - a mint Springfield Armory 1911. I didn't have much discretionary income as a lieutenant at the time, but I offered him double his money for it and would gladly have scraped it up. No such luck! Those days are gone forever, I guess.

John

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- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -

John,

Another classic example of the old saying,

"It ain't the messenger (pistol), it's the message (.45ACP)!"

Buck

Not so modest collection. Fabulous I'd say.

Hi:
Early 1960s: DCM prices-
Model 1911/1911A1- $17.00
Model 1903/1903A3- $14.50
M1 Carbines- $20.00

Wow. Great collection. Hard to pick a favorite.

I'm a fan of the .45ACP in general. Your collection brings the :drool:.

That's a great picture and collection. Where's the Thompson, Reising, and Burp gun.

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Wayne
Torn & Frayed

Just handguns here! Dillon Precision has just published an article of mine in their Blue Press catalog magazine that addresses the Thompson submachine gun. I'll be posting it here directly.

John

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- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -

John,

The Blue Press arrived today, and it's a fine article, as usual.

There is a county in Georgia between here and Atlanta that is spelled Taliaferro and pronounced Toliver - Thompson's middle name is the second time I've seen this.

Buck

I just found this thread and thank you for posting.
I am a really, really big fan of the .45 ACP 1911.
Ever since Uncle Sam let me play with one of his some fifty years ago.

I just had to get my own a few years back. Those are so much fun to shoot.

Nice collection.

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Freedom is not Free!
Charlie

Please don't post these things. I don't want my family to see me break down crying.

J.M.B. got it right way back then, the worlds finest to this day combat handgun.

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Stay safe people!