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Forty plus years ago I looked up the FSN for the 1911A1 pistol. The government price for one was 57 dollars—— which of course meant that none had been purchased since WW2.

I believe that the biggest problem in accuracy for GIs was the wretched POS sights they were issued with——just like my brand new expensive Colt Series 70 in the 1970s.

Since the end of WW1 Colt had more than 60 years to improve their product and couldn’t be bothered to lift a pinky finger to improve it. I also bought a Gold Cup so I know they were capable of it. They deserved to lose the contract.

Colt's new M45A1 CQB pistols are very well constructed and will serve the Marines well. Colt has coasted on their reputation for years and done little or nothing to improve their commercial production of the 1911 design — military production ended in 1945. The last major “improvement” to the base design was the five piece firing pin interlock introduced by the Colt Series 80. These five worthless parts are nothing more than an attempt by Colt to appease trial lawyers because all other 1911 clones do NOT have them.

The new M45A1 guns will not have the firing pin interlock parts and revert back to the original 1911 design. Design improvements reflect combat proved changes that the Marines made to their M45 MEU(SOC) pistols — including the ancient, worthless sights and awful triggers of WW2 production guns. It wasn't until Colt actually got serious about competing for the Marines new M45A1 CQBP that it caught up to improving its “bread and butter” design. Without the driver of the CQBP competition, even the Colt Custom Shop would not offer such changes.

I applaud the Marines and their improvements to John Moses Browning's classic deign. Today, the 1911 remains the most copied pistol design on the planet. It is available in various calibers besides .45 ACP. Besides Colt's, the 1911 is produced by such diverse makers as Springield Armory, Remington Arms, Ruger, Armscor, Kimber, and Les Baer to name just a few.