A Modern-Day Classic from a GREATEST

www.gundigestbooks.comAn imprint of F+W Media, Inc.

Gun Digest Books®

MASSAD AYOOB’S

GREATESTHANDGUNS

OF THE WORLD

Here, in one entertaining, photo-packed

volume, are the handguns that changed

fi rearms history. From the Colt 1911 to the

latest and greatest Glock, Massad Ayoob

shares his half-century of experience with

the world’s greatest pistols and revolvers

as only he can. Whether you’re a collector,

a plinker, a competition shooter or simply a

fi rearms enthusiast, you’ll agree that Massad Ayoob’s Greatest Handguns of the World is

required reading for anyone interested in the

history and development of handguns.

Th e next best thing to shooting the world’s greatest handguns is reading

about them. And nobody writes about great handguns like

Massad Ayoob.

• Colt

• Smith & Wesson

• Ruger

• Glock

• High Standard

• Heckler & Koch

• And more!

A Modern-Day Classic from aMaster Handgunner!

Massad F. Ayoob is one of the world’s outstanding handgunners and is the Director of the Lethal Force Institute in Concord, New Hampshire. A prolifi c author, Ayoob is the author of Gun Digest ® Book of Concealed Carry, Gun Digest ® Book of SIG-Sauer, Gun Digest ® Book of Combat Handgunnery and many other books and more than one thousand articles on fi rearms, combat techniques, self-defense, and legal issues.

About the Author

FnL1

04 012

0 01 J

UYrVyB

QdWJsa

WNhdG

lvbnMsI

EluYyA

o 02 S

W9sYS

BkaXZp

c2lvbikP

R3JlZ29

yeSBL

03 cnVl

Z2VyAE

q3hFcE

MTAuN

AI4MA

ExBVVQ

04 Q

y1BDD

A3NDk2

MjAxMT

MzNgA=

74962 011330 6

UPC

US $27.99Z6495 (CAN $33.99) ISBN-13: 978-1-4402-0825-6 ISBN-10: 1-4402-0825-5

FnL1 0

4 0124

01 JUYr

VyBQdW

JsaWN

hdGlvbn

MsIElu

YyAo

02 SW9

sYSBka

XZpc2lv

bikPR3J

lZ29yeS

BL 03 c

nVlZ2V

yAEq3e

RsEMT

AuNAI4

MAExB

kVB

04 Ti0xM

w05Nzg

xNDQw

MjA4Mj

U2AA==

781440 2082569

52799

EAN

MA

SS

AD

AY

OO

B’S

GR

EATEST HA

ND

GU

NS

OF

TH

E W

OR

LD

AYOOB

Z6495FULLCVR.indd 1Z6495FULLCVR.indd 1 12/16/09 9:33:00 AM12/16/09 9:33:00 AM

Th e Once – and Future? – King of Pistols

1CHAPTER

In continuous pro-duction since the eponymous year of its introduction, the 1911 is a classic of design, a classic of a magni-tude that extends beyond the world of the gun show.

CHAPTER 1: THE 1911 9

Your hand closes fi rmly around the slim grip-frame of the pistol, and as you slide it smoothly from the holster, your thumb closes natu-rally down until you feel the snick of the safety snapping into the

“fi re” position. Th e pistol seems to point itself at the target, and your fi n-ger fi nds the trigger at just the right spot, pressing rearward. You feel the clean, crisp release through your trigger fi nger, and the familiar, soft bump of the recoil through the palm of your hand. Downrange, a reaction target is slammed over by the heavy bullet you have launched, and the pistol has already cycled itself, its sights coming almost automatically back on target as you let the trigger come forward a tiny bit until you feel the click of its reset and begin the second pull.

The 1911 is more than a magnifi cent legend and a classic piece of

Americana – it is a splendidly functional

tool of protection, sport, and combat.

Th e 1911

Chapter1NEW.indd 9Chapter1NEW.indd 9 12/14/09 7:35:06 AM12/14/09 7:35:06 AM

One of the world’s most recog-nizable silhouettes: the GI issue 1911A1 .45 caliber semiauto-matic pistol. This one is by Rem-ington-Rand, which produced more of them during WWII than Colt.

An original WWI-era 1911. Note shal-low ejection port, long trigger, short grip safety tang, fl at mainspring housing (bottom back of grip frame),“double diamond” cut stocks.

10 MASSAD AYOOB’S GREATEST HANDGUNS OF THE WORLD

You are fi ring a 1911, the classic “.45 au-tomatic.” You are also experiencing a classic meeting of man and machine, the function-ality of a tool intended to work as an exten-sion of your hand. And you are steeping yourself in history, and in Americana, and in the lore of the handgun.

Perspectives

In continuous production since the eponymous year of its introduction, the 1911 is a classic of design, a classic of a mag-nitude that extends beyond the world of the gun. Show its silhouette to someone who has only seen guns on TV and they’ll prob-ably identify it as “a .45 automatic.” Within the world of the gun, it has become abso-lutely iconic.

For some, this pistol literally takes on re-ligious overtones. More than one Internet fan

of John Browning’s most popular design will have as a sig-

nature line, not WWJD?

(“What Would Jesus Do?”), but WWJMBD? (“What Would John Mo-ses Browning Do?”). One gets the sense that not all of those posters’ tongues are fi rmly plant-ed in their cheeks, and that some of them don’t believe John Browning’s middle name was Moses for nothing.

Many die-hard 1911 fans feel that poly-mer pistol frames are tools of the devil, and are undecided whether buying a polymer-framed 1911 would reserve a space for the shooter’s soul one ring higher or one lower on Dante’s fl oor-plan of the Inferno than purchasing a Glock. Th ere are those who feel that phasing out the 1911 .45 and replacing it with the Beretta 9mm in the American military was a greater act of treason than anything committed by Benedict Arnold.

Yet, in a time when modern technol-ogy has pervaded handgun design more

thoroughly than any other, there are also those who would cheerfully rel-

egate the 1911 pistol to the museum. Th ey point out

Ken Hacka-thorn’s famous remark that this king of combat

pistols is also the king of feedway stop-pages, and that stock Glocks are claiming competition victories only claimed in the past by custom 1911s.


Above: Long trigger proved too much of a reach for many doughboys with the original 1911 confi guration, and square cut of frame at back of trigger guard made reach more diffi cult. Note how shallow the ejection port is compared to 1911s of today.

CHAPTER 1: THE 1911 11

Praised and cursed for all the long years of its existence, this pistol has created frater-nal twin cottage industries of customizing gunsmiths and of all manner of accessories. Th e Brownell’s catalog for gunsmiths’ needs has more pages of accessories and tools for 1911s than for any other handgun.

Th ere are some who prefer the 1911 out of tradition and sentiment, but there are also those who cleave to it solely because they can fi nd nothing better. For the latter, the proof is in the performance. At Camp Perry, the rifl e ranges are now dominated by AR15s, but before that it was the M14 that ruled and before that, the bolt-action target rifl e and before that, the military Springfi eld, all within the past century. Yet at the pistol ranges of Perry, National Championship for National Championship, it is the 1911 plat-form that wins the .45 event every year, and usually the centerfi re event, and sometimes even the .22 event. It has been more than 50 years since a National Pistol Champion in the bullseye game has won the title without fi ring at least one 1911 in the course of the 270 precise shots that determine the overall winner.

Look to IPSC. Th ere will be Glocks winning Production class and occasionally, a CZ75 or clone thereof in the open winner’s circle, but most years, Limited and Limited Ten and Open will be captured with one or another high-tech 1911 derivative.

And, on the harder side, look to those at the sharpest of what British SAS always called “the sharp end.” Close to a quarter century af-ter the Beretta M9 in 9mm NATO was stan-dardized all-service-wide, the elite Marines of MEU-SOC are issued Kimber 1911 .45s, and operators of the US Army’s crack Delta Force are given an allowance to purchase their own customized 1911 .45 pistols.

Th e 1911, almost always in .45 ACP, is likewise still present in law enforcement cir-cles, and indeed is undergoing a resurgence

there. LAPD’s role-model SWAT team has carried the 1911 as its standard sidearm for some 40 years, and today each operator car-ries a pair of Kimber .45s, one with and one without dedicated SureFire fl ashlight at-tached. By the 1990s, FBI’s SWAT teams and elite Hostage Rescue Unit had gone to the 1911 .45 as well, acquiring both ParaOrd-nance and Springfi eld Armory pistols with various purchase orders. A number of po-lice departments in recent years have de-termined that “what’s old is new,” and au-thorized or even bought and issued one or another variation of 1911 service pistol.

It’s the Ergonomics, Stupid!

Before ergonomics was a word, John M. Browning understood it. Th e angle of barrel to grip is well nigh perfect on his 1911 design. For most people – not all, but most – it is possible to close their eyes, raise the pistol by feel and point it blindly at a predetermined


Left: 1911A1 has short-er trigger, with frame niched out behind it on both sides, for better trigger reach; arched housing to help hold muzzle upward; longer grip tang, wider rear sight notch, and slightly shorter hammer on this specimen. Plain, checkered brown plastic grips were stan-dard GI issue.

An unfi red Series ’70 Colt Gov-ernment Model. Author won this one at a match circa 1978, kept it as trade goods.

12 MASSAD AYOOB’S GREATEST HANDGUNS OF THE WORLD

spot, then open their eyes and fi nd the sights dead on. In some hands, a revolver may point better; in others, the steeper grip-to-barrel angle of the Glock or the ancient Luger. But, for many, that “sweet spot” of “natural point-ability” comes with the 1911.

With its original single-stack magazine – still the most popular version, by far – the grip frame of the 1911 is slim enough to ac-commodate even very small hands, yet not so big that Brobdignagian paws will dig fi n-gernails into heel of palm when the fi ngers take their hold.

Post-WWI studies of small arms indi-cated that many doughboys found the long trigger reach of the original 1911 to be too long. Remember, at that time, demographics indicated that the average American man was distinctly shorter than today, and would have had proportionally shorter fi ngers. Th e 1911A1 modifi cations of the 1920s included shortening the trigger markedly, and nich-ing out the frame on either side of the trig-ger guard to make it that much easier for the index fi nger to reach.


A Modern-Day Classic from a GREATEST

Documents

Transcript of A Modern-Day Classic from a GREATEST