I'm a great fan of revolvers chambered for .45 Colt. I have a number of Model 25s, 625s, and single actions that ring my chimes. I think the .45 Colt cartridge combines hard-hitting power with mild recoil in a way that's hard to beat.
I have one gun in my collection that's a bit of an oddball. It's chambered for the .45 Colt (modified) and it's well over a hundred years old.
It seems that at the turn of the 20th Century, the U.S. military found the then-standard .38 caliber revolvers insufficiently effective against the Moros in the Philippines. Those fierce and fanatical warriors would bind themselves with makeshift tourniquets and charge our lines wielding machetes and other similar native devices. The tourniquets prevented massive blood loss when they were shot - so they lived long enough to inflict severe damage on our troops.
The solution was to get the old .45 Colt single actions back into action, and they were way more effective on the Moros. Trouble is, they were not double action revolvers and they were slow to load. The U.S. had put out a call for a suitable .45 semiauto pistol, but the Model 1911 was years away.
Colt came up with a stopgap weapon chambered for a .45 Colt cartridge with a slightly wider rim for more reliable ejection of the empties. The Model 1909 was quickly adopted as a standard issue weapon, and these guns were sent to the Philippines right away. They worked.
As soon as the Model 1911s were adopted for issue, the Colt 1909s fell into disuse, and many were left to rot in the Philippines. Not many were returned to the U.S.
One of these comparatively rare guns walked into a gun show as I was standing in line to get in. I recognized it for what it was, and made the owner an offer that was accepted. I've treasured it for years as an unique relic of U.S. military history.
The Model 1909 morphed into the more familiar Colt Model 1917 used during WWI. It's quickly distinguished from its successor by the fact that the barrel has no flare where it joins the frame.
According to its serial number, this one came out of Hartford in 1910, making it now 111 years old. It's still operational and chambers and fires regular .45 Colt cartridges handily. I thought you might like to see it.
John
I have one gun in my collection that's a bit of an oddball. It's chambered for the .45 Colt (modified) and it's well over a hundred years old.
It seems that at the turn of the 20th Century, the U.S. military found the then-standard .38 caliber revolvers insufficiently effective against the Moros in the Philippines. Those fierce and fanatical warriors would bind themselves with makeshift tourniquets and charge our lines wielding machetes and other similar native devices. The tourniquets prevented massive blood loss when they were shot - so they lived long enough to inflict severe damage on our troops.
The solution was to get the old .45 Colt single actions back into action, and they were way more effective on the Moros. Trouble is, they were not double action revolvers and they were slow to load. The U.S. had put out a call for a suitable .45 semiauto pistol, but the Model 1911 was years away.
Colt came up with a stopgap weapon chambered for a .45 Colt cartridge with a slightly wider rim for more reliable ejection of the empties. The Model 1909 was quickly adopted as a standard issue weapon, and these guns were sent to the Philippines right away. They worked.
As soon as the Model 1911s were adopted for issue, the Colt 1909s fell into disuse, and many were left to rot in the Philippines. Not many were returned to the U.S.
One of these comparatively rare guns walked into a gun show as I was standing in line to get in. I recognized it for what it was, and made the owner an offer that was accepted. I've treasured it for years as an unique relic of U.S. military history.
The Model 1909 morphed into the more familiar Colt Model 1917 used during WWI. It's quickly distinguished from its successor by the fact that the barrel has no flare where it joins the frame.
According to its serial number, this one came out of Hartford in 1910, making it now 111 years old. It's still operational and chambers and fires regular .45 Colt cartridges handily. I thought you might like to see it.
John
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