The New Colt Automatic - Pistols in WWI

Canadian Contract 1911 Pistol

One-hand guns were, undoubtedly, designed for the use of mounted men so that they could deliver fire at the enemy while, at the same time, they had the other hand free for the management of their horses. They only fired the one shot and were then useless until reloaded, so they made them big and cumbersome in order that they could be used effectively as a club until a time came when they could again be loaded-a slow process in that day. They were, really and truly, "horse pistols," being so big and cumbersome that no gentleman could have carried one on his person while afoot.

When and where they were first invented is probably known to some of our specialists in antique weapons-I don't know and it is really of no consequence here as this is not supposed to be a treatise on the evolution of firearms anyway. But I am afraid that I shall, now and then, refer to some of the old timers. You see, I'm just as big a "nut" as the next one, and anything pertaining to firearms-yes anything pertaining to killing, whether it be with a stone axe or a blow gun, excites my interest and I want to know about it.

As the son of an ex-cavalryman, born soon after the end of the Civil War, I had a good initiation into the pistol question. Everything from Starr and Colt revolvers back to Tower flintlocks were available for my education. Pepper-boxes, derringers-I tried them all and just naturally grew up with the idea that it was a part of the education of every American citizen to know how to shoot a pistol well enough to disable your enemy before he gets you. I never, then or since, have made any effort to become a prize-winning shot on the range.

I am not and never have been a threat to the pistol shooters in the National Matches, but have always tried to keep in practice sufficiently to give myself the feeling of assurance that in a pinch I can get my gun out and shoot as fast and as straight as the other fellow. Well, that's the way it was when the war started in 1914, and I went up to Canada to see what it was all about.

The regulation equipment for officers in the Canadian Army, or at least in the Second Division, included the Colt .45 Automatic, an exact duplicate of our Model 1911. Naturally I was quite familiar with this gun and it was my privilege, as Musketry Instructor, to be present when these arms were received by the officers of the Twenty-first Battalion. The officers first tried out these .45s on our improvised indoor rifle range, in the armouries at Kingston, and their experience was exactly the same as I had seen, numberless times, in the United States Army. The range was fifty feet, and the targets of the usual short-range type used by the infantry for indoor instruction firing with reduced ammunition. 

At the first attempts, many of the shots struck on the concrete floor, anywhere from fifteen to forty feet in front of the firer. You can probably imagine the effect this had upon that crowd. It required a lot of argument to persuade some of those officers that the gun was "worth a damn." But that was only temporary. After a little instruction, emphasized by practical demonstration with those same guns, they soon learned the game and could hold and squeeze as well as the next fellow.

I have said that this pistol was the authorized "regulation." Well, that is true in the sense that they were authorized for use, and quantities had been purchased so that the officers could procure them, but it was not obligatory. Those who so desired were at liberty to use the Webley or the .45 Colt or Smith and Wesson revolver. One, whom I well remember, had two Colts which took the .455 Webley cartridge-and did good work with them too. The Webley pistol never appealed to me, probably because of its cumbersome appearance. The thing would shoot however, and it made a dandy club with which to bean an obstreperous prisoner.

As I was quite familiar with the new Colt Automatic I was able to be of some assistance during the preliminary work of breaking them in and it was not long until the officers were accustomed to the peculiarities of the gun and could make it behave to their satisfaction. Those who had had experience with the revolver entertained the almost universal prejudice against the automatic: 's funny, isn't it-how we hate to discard our old loves and take up with new ones (in this shooting game I mean, it appears to be easy enough regarding some other things). But even the most conservative of the old timers soon recognized the real advantages of the later type weapon.

I staged several realistic demonstrations; including fast reloading in the dark and such stunts, and that converted most of them. As to reliability-dependability in an emergency-there was little choice between the revolver and the automatic. Both types would function properly with the same degree of care. It is possible that there were instances of an automatic "jamming" now and then, but personally I never had it happen to me during the war, nor did I see or hear of any instance of it happening.

All these arguments as to the relative merits of the revolver and the automatic pistol will probably continue for another generation. Most of the old timers who learned to shoot with the revolver have a deep-seated prejudice against the automatic-but when you come down to the root of their argument, it all seems to base upon the "hang" of the two guns, the newer automatic does not point right with the same old habitual kink in the wrist. I have used the .45 Automatic ever since 1911, but for twenty years prior to that time had used the revolver. 

Even now, I find myself having a sneaking sort of preference for the revolver and feel confident that I can make a better score on the target with it, either slow or rapid fire. But in spite of all this, I unhesitatingly choose the automatic for actual use in war. To my mind, the great advantage of the automatic lies in the ease and rapidity with which it can be reloaded-especially in the dark. 

Anyone who doubts this can easily satisfy himself by trying to hurriedly reload a revolver in the dark, with a crowd of roughnecks milling all around and trying to hit someone with clubs, knives and fists. Or, if this seems too rough, just get some friend to jostle you about or run into you while trying it. There is really no comparison between slipping a fresh magazine into the butt of the pistol and fumbling with six small cartridges in trying to get them into six different revolver chambers.

(Excerpt from A Rifleman Went to War, Herbert W. McBride, Published by Samworth / Small-Arms Technical Pub. Co., 1935., Onslow County, 1935) 

Capt. Ret. Herbert W. McBride (1873 - 1933) was an American who joined the Canadian Army in 1914 during the beginning of WWI because he “wanted to find out what a ‘regular war’ was like.” He found out.

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