The evolution of the M1911 did not take place in a vacuum. There were many competitors: some serious, some not so serious, and some that proved to be vaporware. Most pistols that were actually submitted for evaluation fell short in one way or another. Colt’s competitors eventually narrowed to two: the Luger and the Savage. In October 1905, Savage first showed its .45 pistol to the Ordnance Dept., but it was already well behind Colt in the competition for the new service sidearm. In the very month Savage was showing its first prototype, Colt was producing the pilot models of the Colt Military Model of 1905. Production Model 1905s began shipping just two months later, on the day after Christmas. Savage was facing an uphill battle.

Early on, the Luger started out relatively strong; 1,000 were purchased and subjected to an extensive field trial starting in 1902. The results of the trial were promising enough that the Army asked for the Luger in .45. Georg Luger obliged, producing three .45 Luger prototypes in time for the next round of formal competitive testing by a Board of Officers convened on Jan. 15, 1907.

At the 1907 trials, Colt offered a slightly improved Model 1905 with a grip safety designed by Carl Ehbets of Colt, while Savage and Luger had their prototype .45s. When the smoke cleared, on March 28 the Board recommended that 200 each of Colt and Savage pistols be ordered for field tests. Orders were accordingly placed with Colt and Savage. On May 18, Colt enthusiastically accepted its order, while Savage demurred. Consequently, the Board turned to the third-place finisher, Luger, placing a 200-pistol order with DWM, the Luger’s manufacturer. The ensuing price negotiations resulted in Ordnance finally accepting Luger’s price structure on Oct. 28, 1907.

Meanwhile, Savage was persuaded to bid, coming to terms with Ordnance also on Oct. 28. Thus, it appeared that there would be three contenders duking it out in the field. In the event, however, for whatever reason, Georg Luger “with regrets” returned the Luger order on April 16, 1908. Thus, the three prototype .45 Lugers were the only “big-bore” variants of the Pistole Parabellum ever built in Germany.

Colt’s determination to be the supplier of the next U.S. service pistol is demonstrated by the delivery of the first of the 200 field trial pistols on March 17, 1908. In contrast, the first Savage pistols were shipped to Springfield Armory in November 1908—only to be found defective and returned to Savage for repair literally as fast as they arrived. Consequently, it was not until January 1909 that the first Savage pistols would be issued to troops for field testing. While the Colt pistols proved to have systemic faults, particularly sears that quickly wore out or even broke, the Savage pistols posted a starkly dismal record. Not only did the Savages require repair before they were even issued, after a relatively brief time in the field the pistols were already being returned for a second round of repairs.

In contrast, Browning was already working with Colt to produce an even more advanced pistol than the Model 1905: the Model 1909. The Model 1909 emerged as a recognizable “grandfather” of what was to be known as the Model of 1911. Browning applied his 1905 single-link patent concept, created a frontward slide-removing design (the two-link system dismounted the slide to the rear, which meant that a catastrophic slide failure could, and did, result in facial injuries to the shooter), and improved the fire-control system. The result was both a revelation and an evolution. With the 1909, Colt began to decisively pull away from its competition, never to look back.

It began an intensive series of testing, improvement, and retesting. Informal demonstrative testing in January 1910 by Browning of the Model 1909 at Fort Myer outside Washington was followed by a formal Board of Officers test in August. The positive reaction of the August Board resulted in Colt receiving permission for a March 1910 “road show” of the 1909, from Springfield Armory in Massachusetts, to the Presidio at Monterrey, Calif., with stops at Rock Island, Ill., and Fort Leavenworth and Fort Riley in Kansas. The response to the Model 1909 by the several boards of officers convened to test the pistol was generally positive, with the caveat by the Infantry (Fort Leavenworth) and Cavalry (Fort Riley) Boards that automatic pistols could not be as safe and “soldier-proof” as revolvers.

While Colt was presenting the Model 1909 across the country to increase “buy-in” by the various branches of the Army and to continue to find and work out bugs in the design, Browning was working on taking the lessons from the testing of the Models 1905 and 1909 to create the Model 1910. The visual difference between the 1909 and 1910 was the more slanted angle of the 1910’s grip, from 85 to 74 degrees. The many changes that could not be seen, from the smaller, simpler “main spring cap” (recoil spring plug) to the one-piece sear/trigger/grip safety spring, were intended to improve reliability and function. While the Model 1909 road show was proceeding, Browning was showing the Model 1910 to Lt. Col. Thompson at Fort Myer. From February through Oct. 1910, the Model of 1910 was repeatedly demonstrated to Ordnance. Among the incremental improvements made during this process was the “safety lock” (thumb safety), shown in August to Ordnance and evaluated on Model of 1909 serial No. 6 at Springfield Armory.

The time was ripe for the Army to come to a decision. Despite the apparent superiority of the Colt over its Savage competitor, a final round of direct competition was ordered by Ordnance. In November 1910, a grueling 6,000-round test of both the Colt and the Savage was completed. While the Colt gave a somewhat better performance, with fewer stoppages and broken parts, the conclusion of the Board was that neither design was ready for adoption. The major shortcomings of the Colt were barrel and frame cracks.

Colt dug in and quickly refined the Model 1910 in response to the problems revealed in the November test. The barrel was strengthened by machining the barrel locking lugs less deeply and into the top of the barrel only, not all ’round as had been done with the 1909 and original 1910. The lugs had been carried around the full circumference of the barrel, presumably so that the lugs could be formed by simply chucking the barrel in a lathe, rather than on a mill with a more complex setup. The frame cutouts under the grips were less generous, again leaving more material where cracks had occurred during the test. Other less significant changes were made, such as larger escutcheon-less grip screws to avoid the loosening found in the test and spring-tempering the magazine to avoid distortion. Colt met each failure during the test head-on with a focused improvement.

The result? In the rematch between Colt and Savage in what was to be the ultimate contest, the March 1911 automatic pistol test, the Colt decisively defeated the Savage. The Colt put in a perfect performance: 6,000 rounds without a failure, while the Savage repeated its pattern of breakage and stoppages. In just seven years, from 1904 to 1911, Browning and Colt had done it: created the first big-bore, semi-automatic pistol to be adopted for military service anywhere in the world. The newly designated “Pistol, Calibre .45, Model of 1911” was to be the last big-bore semi-automatic pistol adopted for military service anywhere in the world. After declaring a victor, the Army immediately placed an order for 31,344 pistols. The “Model of 1911” was on its way to becoming an immortal classic.