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Old September 30, 2007, 12:48 PM   #4
Jim Watson
Senior Member
 
Join Date: October 25, 2001
Location: Alabama
Posts: 18,487
I have a slightly different understanding in some details.

The 1911 was the US military sidearm as built from 1911 til about 1925. It has tiny sights, a long hammer spur, a short grip safety, a long trigger, a flat mainspring housing, and flat frame sides behind the trigger guard.

After some transition models of interest mostly to collectors, the 1911A1 was standardized with slightly larger sights to improve the aim, a shorter hammer spur and a longer grip safety to reduce hammer bite, an arched mainspring housing to give a higher natural point of aim for snapshooting, and a shorter trigger with finger clearance cuts in the frame to gain a better trigger finger position.

A commercial gun similar to either the 1911 or 1911A1 is properly called a Government Model.

Dumbing down of the English language has led to a lot of guns being called 1911s that just share the basic lockwork layout. I know a Colt Commander or Officer's ACP when I see one and do not call them 1911s. An "Officer's Model" is a target revolver, not an autopistol.

Other brands are even more mutated and should be identified by make and model, not lumped in as 1911s. For example, there is no such thing as a "double stack 1911" in my dictionary. Watch the caliber. A .38 Super is a .38 Super, not a 1911.
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