30318 single stack 1911 Organizer 

30318 single stack 1911 Organizer

Colt’s Iconic Model 1911 Pistol

During the late 19th century the Colt Single Action Army and the Colt Peacemaker were the two most iconic American handguns. Moving into the 20th century it became evident that semi-automatic/aka self-loading handguns were going to dominate the handgun field. During this time Mauser developed the broom handle, which was engineered by Paul Mauser, and chambered in the then new 9 millimeter Parabellum. With these developments the pressure was on for the USA to develop a combat ready semi-automatic handgun. Although several designs were presented, the small arms genius John Moses Browning put forth a design that until the 1980’s was the single most popular American semi-automatic handgun.

Coincidental to this time period was the Philippine-American War which lasted from February of 1899 to July of 1902. The USA acquired the Philippines after its victory over Spain in the Spanish American War of 1898. However, immediately thereafter it began to have difficulties with the indigenous Philippine Moros. During the conflict it became evident that the standard side arm of the U.S. troops, which was a .38 Long Colt revolver, did not have enough power to stop the drug fueled charges of Moro tribesman. At this point the US military investigated other calibers and decided that the .45-caliber handgun cartridge would be the best alternative, and John Moses Browning incorporated the .45 ACP into his semiautomatic handgun.

On March 29, 1911 the United States Army designated the handgun as the model of 1911. From that day forward, it was known as the Colt 1911. During the First World War the U.S. used over 65,000 Colt 1911 pistols with great success. These were all the long slide military version. Between World War I and World War II there were several minor modifications made to make the pistol more user friendly. These included a shorter trigger, an arched mainspring housing, and a longer grip safety, a shortened hammer spur, and simplified grip checkering. During the Second World War almost two million Colt style 1911 pistols were delivered to the US military. However, due to the pressure of wartime demands, these guns were made by Colt, Remington Rand, Ithaca, Union Switch & Signal, and the Singer sewing machine company. All of these guns had a parkerized finish and brown plastic grips.

After World War II the guns also received heavy use in the Korean War and the Vietnam conflicts. Finally, in January of 1985 the US military switched over to the Berretta model 92- in 9-millimeter Parabellum. This was due to pressure to conform to the Joint Services Small Arms Program, and also to make our handgun cartridges compatible with our NATO allies. Not only did the US produce significant quantities of the Colt 1911, but Colt licensed the technology to numerous foreign countries including Brazil, Bangladesh, Spain, Argentina, and others. Currently the model 1911 is used in many capacities such as the Los Angeles Police Department SWAT unit, FBI Hostage Rescue Team, and U.S. Special Forces. They are currently manufactured by numerous other companies other than Colt such as: Armscor, Rock Island Armory, Wilson Combat, Les Baer, Nighthawk Custom, STI International, and Kimber. They are extremely popular for IPSIC, IDPA, bull’s eye shooting and self-defense.

The design of the gun is rather simple. It functions on the energy created by the recoil. The combustion gases generated by the propellant force the bullet down the barrel. They in turn give reverse momentum to the slide and barrel assembly, which move rearward and eject the spent cartridge casing, and then push the next cartridge into the chamber, at the same time cocking the hammer and making the gun ready to fire. In a standard version, the model 1911 has a seven round single stack magazine. Compared to the modern popular double stack magazines found on Glocks, Rugers, and other guns, a single stack magazine allows for a much narrower grip, therefore making the gun much more concealable.

One of the major considerations in using a model 1911 is what type of ammunition to use. The standard most popular round is the 230 grain hardball. However, other types of ammunition are available. There’s 185 grain, and 200 grain with bullets of different configurations that are purpose specific. This ammunition is commonly made by Winchester, Federal, Remington, Magtec, Spear, or Hornady. One of the big challenges is knowing which ammunition so use for a specific purpose, and more important, being able to retrieve a magazine with that particular ammunition. In other words, you could have magazines loaded with 230 grain Full Metal Jacket hard ball for plinking and target practice, 185 grain Remington Golden Sabre Plus P for self-defense, or maybe 200 grain XTP. What typically happens is that, as any shooter knows, if you have one 1911 pistol you probably have two or three others, which means you probably have 20 or 30 magazines on hand. The challenge is to index and organize the magazines so you can retrieve the correct magazine with the correct ammunition at the correct time. There are numerous ways to do this, but we have found that the absolute best is the Hyskore www.hyskore.com model 30318 Single Stack Magazine Index and Organizer https://hyskore.com/products/30318-modular-single-stack-magazine-storage/. This clever and unique device utilizes a shelf that is angled to the exact angle of the bottom of the magazine. The shelf is attached to an integral backer that is drilled at 16 “centers so it can be screwed directly to studs. And then there is a rail on the backer on which a heavy-duty foam organizer that holds 16 magazines is attached. What this means is that you can now put ammunition specific magazines at specific points in the rack and know without any doubt which magazine you are retrieving. This is a tremendous asset to any model 1911 aficionado.