Automatic Pistol Caliber .45 M1911 and M1911A1 Field Manual: FM 23-35

The M1911 is a single-action, semi-automatic pistol chambered for the .45 ACP cartridge, and served as the standard-issue sidearm for the United States military from 1911 to 1985. It was widely used from the First World War all theway up to the Vietnam War. Modern M1911 variants are still in use by some units within the U.S. Army Special Forces, the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps. The Automatic Pistol, Caliber .45, M1911 was designed by John Browning, and is the best known of his designs t...