The weapon weighed just over 1 kg (2.2 lb) and was 218 mm (8.6 in) in length. It was recoil operated and loaded from a 7-round box magazine, having an effective range of about 50 m (54.7yd). There were two safety devices; a safety catch, mounted just forward of the spur on the frame, and a grip safety at the upper rear part of the pistol grip which fitted into the web of the palm between the thumb and index finger. The pressure exerted by the palm when firing released the grip device and unlocked the safety.

The usual cartridges for the Colt pistol were the 0.45in ball M1911 (which has considerable stopping power), the blank M9 and the tracer M26. To these was added the High Density Shot M261, a round that was loaded with steel-shot projectiles and packed a heavy punch.

Although the last M1911A1 came off the production line as far back as 1942, soldiers continued to prefer the Colt over 9mm Parabellum cartridge pistols such as the Browning High Power GP 35. A recent survey revealed that, of the 418,000 M1911A1's still in the US armoury, every last one has been either overhauled extensively or rebuilt at least three times.

In the light of weapons trials held after the Vietnam war, a number of proposals were mooted for an improved pistol. Among these was a design that modified the M1911A1 to take a 9mm cartridge. This new service pistol, a version of the Beretta 92 9-mm pistol, was designated M9. However, the M9 was so dogged by problems that the M1911A1 was back in use during Operation Desert Storm. In the meantime, companies still produce spares and components for the M1911 series, knowing that the robust Colt semiautomatic will remain in faithful service for some time to come.

The Browning design is of classic simplicity, so classic and so simple that it is still appearing on new pistol designs to this day. The pistol consists of three major components, the frame, the barrel and the slide. The slide moves back and forth on rails in the frame, and the rear half of the slide is the breech block, carrying the firing pin and extractor.

The frame consists of the butt, holding the magazine, the trigger, the hammer, and a grip safety device which prevents the hammer going forward unless the butt is properly held and the grip compressed. The barrel is attached to the frame by a short link pinned underneath the barrel at its upper end and anchored to the frame by a cross-pin at its lower end; this acts as a sort of hinge around which the rear of the barrel can swing. The top of the barrel has two ribs machined on it, and these match two grooves in the inner surface of the slide top.

To fire the pistol you insert a magazine into the butt, pull back the slide against a spring which lies beneath the barrel, and release it. The slide runs forward and the edge of the breech block collects a cartridge and pushes it into the chamber of the barrel forward, and the 'swinging link' underneath it causes it to pivot forward and up. As it does so, the lugs on top move into place in the grooves inside the slide top and the barrel and slide are locked together.

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