Within the NRA Museum’s collection is a fairly unassuming M1911A1 semi-automatic pistol. In appearance, it is not unlike the millions produced prior to and during the Second World War. However, it is historically far more significant, as General Dwight D. Eisenhower gave the firearm to Admiral Sir A.B. Cunningham of the Royal Navy just before the Operation Torch landings in North Africa in 1942.
That particular M1911A1 was Ike’s personal sidearm, and it was gifted to Cunningham as a sign of respect. The American general described the admiral as “at the top of my subordinates in absolute selflessness, energy, devotion to duty, knowledge of his task, and in understanding of the requirements of allied operations.”
One part of the story that needs mentioning is that Ike preferred his Colt Detective Special revolver, so it might not have been a great sacrifice for the American general to give up the M1911A1 .45 ACP semi-automatic handgun.
However, if history had gone in another direction, it is possible — albeit unlikely — that Ike could have handed Cunningham his Luger instead. The German-made firearm had been among the contenders that the U.S. Army considered just over three decades earlier when it sought a new sidearm.
The U.s. Military Needed a new handgun
The history and development of the M1911 doesn’t really bear repeating, as it has been told countless times in books and articles. But the quick refresher is that the U.S. military saw a desperate need to replace the Colt M1892 .38 Long Colt Revolver. It was arguably a reliable and fairly rugged handgun — and more than got the job done in the Boxer Rebellion in China and during the Spanish-American War. It even found favor with some British officers who used it during the Second Anglo-Boer War in South Africa.
Yet, the M1892 simply wasn’t up to the rigors of jungle warfare in which the U.S. military found itself during the Philippine-American War and the Moro Rebellion.
One problem was that the weapon performed poorly in humid conditions, but the bigger issue was that the .38 caliber just didn’t have the necessary stopping power in the latter conflict. The Moro warriors were an enemy like no other. They wore armor with plates made of either black water buffalo horn or brass plates connected with butted brass mail, donning Spanish-style helmets that seemed out of the “conquistador era.” No doubt many soldiers underestimated the Moros, and that was a deadly mistake to make.
Despite adhering to the Muslim faith, the Moro warriors often took strong narcotics to inhibit the feeling of pain in battle, while the hallucinatory effects reportedly allowed the warriors to feel almost invincible. With the combination of the drugs, the armor, and their faith, the Moro proved to be an adversary that no .38 round was going to stop. Stories told of U.S. officers and NCOs found dead with their throats cut next to a dead warrior who had taken six shots to the chest.
It was apparent that a new and more powerful cartridge was needed — but also a new handgun to fire it.
The Colt M1911 was the eventual winner, and the rest is history — even as the U.S. military explored several options, including the Luger.
The Luger Connection
The story of the Luger and the 1907 Army Pistol Trials has also been told countless times, likely because of the mystique the firearm has among firearms collectors, historians, and soldiers who fought the Germans in the World Wars.
The quick refresher on the P08 Luger is that it was named after its Austrian small arms designer Georg Luger, who worked closely with arms designers Ferdinand von Mannlicher and Hugo Borchardt in its development.
The P08 was also the first semi-automatic service pistol to be adopted by any military, but it wasn’t in Luger’s native Austria or even in Germany, where it was to gain such infamy. Rather, it was Switzerland, and those first pistols were chambered for Luger’s newly designed 7.65 Parabellum cartridge. The name “Parabellum” isn’t German. Instead, it came from the Latin saying “Si vis pacem, para bellum” or “If you seek peace, prepare for war.”
The German military did later adopt the P08, but chambered for the 9x19mm Parabellum round, also designed by Georg Luger. More than a century later that cartridge has remained a popular choice for handguns around the world.
It wasn’t what the U.S. military had in mind.
Instead, the U.S. had specified its new sidearm was to be chambered in John Browning’s .45 Automatic Colt Pistol (ACP), also known as the .45 Auto. The rimless straight-walled handgun cartridge was selected during the Thompson-LaGarde Tests, which were conducted by the U.S. Army to replace the .38 Long Colt cartridge.
Colonel John T. Thompson, who went on to develop the Thompson submachine gun chambered in the .45 ACP after the First World War, and Major Louis Anatole LaGarde of the U.S. Army Medical Corps oversaw the tests at the Nelson Morris Company Union Stock Yards in Chicago, Illinois.
The 1907 Army Pistol Trials
Initially, 20 companies — manufacturers of revolvers and the still-new-at-the-time automatic pistols — were invited to take part. That was quickly whittled down to several automatics and even an automatic/revolver that included designs from Colt, Savage, Luger, Bergmann, Knoble, White-Merrill, and Webley.
Double-action revolvers from Colt and Smith & Wesson were considered, in part because, in 1907, semi-autos were untested in combat, whereas revolvers had a proven track record. Militaries around the world weren’t always especially forward-thinking, and often believed the old ways were still the best.
The Colt New Double-Action and Smith & Wesson Double-Action were also part of the control group, providing the board with more familiar offerings. The Colt design was even adopted as the Colt M1909 as a stopgap before the M1911, and it was later improved as the M1917, chambered for .45 ACP.
While issued to the U.S. servicemembers due to shortages of the M1911, the M1917 found favor with law enforcement and in the civilian market.
The other offerings were considered for their merit, but some performed better than others.
The Knoble Automatic Pistol
William Knoble’s design — the Knoble Automatic Pistol — caught the attention of military officers overseeing the program, but largely for its crude design. It was more of a prototype than a refined design, and it showed in the testing. After disassembling and then reassembling the firearm, the board was unable to get it to discharge a round.
Knoble wasn’t present, but that didn’t matter as the board didn’t even test the weapon.
The official record stated, “A careful examination and several efforts to fire these weapons showed that they were so crudely manufactured as to render any test without value, smooth working being impossible. It was therefore decided that these arms would be given no further consideration by the board.”
White-Merril 1907
Massachusetts gun designers Joseph Chester White and Samuel Merrill submitted their White-Merrill 1907. While it was noted for its excellent accuracy, it fared extremely poorly during the endurance trials where it malfunctioned nearly one-fifth of the time during test fires.
The failures included failure to feed, failure to eject, and light strikes on the primer.
Bergmann Model 1906
The Bergmann Model 1906 — also known as the Bergmann-Bayard — was also rejected due to its failing hammer, which resulted in light strikes of the primer. The issue could have been that it wasn’t suited to the .45 ACP round.
However, it proved more successful when chambered for the 9mm Largo cartridge. It was adopted by the militaries of Denmark, Greece, Germany, and Spain. It saw use in the First World War, the Finnish Civil War, the Spanish Civil War, and notably was still in use with Denmark when Germany invaded in 1940.
Webley-Fosbery
Arguably the most unique of the designs was the Webley-Fosbery, designed by Major George Fobery of the British Army. While it passed all the tests, and even scored higher than the autos in the rust and dirt drills, it was dismissed as it offered no serious advantages apart from offering lighter recoil.
It was also deemed to be too complicated, could only hold six rounds, and was time-consuming to reload. Yet, it remains the only automatic revolver to ever be produced commercially in large numbers.
The Final Three: End of the Line for the Luger
As the Army Pistol Trials moved forward, it was down to three finalists, which included Colt, Luger, and Savage. The U.S. military required that each designer supply 200 examples in .45 ACP. Though the Army had already purchased some 1,000 7.65 Lugers and a few in the 9mm, the trials were even delayed so that Georg Luger could accommodate the requirements.
Both Savage and Colt met the quota, but Luger only had time to make two. There remains speculation that he felt that it was doubtful that his foreign design would be successful over two American contenders, yet as the NRA Museum noted, Georg Luger personally demonstrated his design before the board, and that included disassembly and reassembly in eight minutes using just a screwdriver and two drifts.
The Luger design performed well and averaged below the Colt in the number of jams and below the Savage in the number of misfires. However, the Luger was tested with specially prepared “hot rounds” with faster-burning powder than was available in the U.S. at the time.
The two Lugers — Serial number 1 and Serial number 2 — are considered among the rarest pistols in the world today. In the 1987 film Wall Street, nefarious corporate raider Gorden Gekko (played by Michael Douglas) even brags about owning one, but incorrectly states that only six were manufactured. A “regular” 9mm Luger was reportedly used as a stand-in for the extremely rare .45-caliber version.
Due to their rarity, the pair has long been known as the “million-dollar Lugers,” after one had sold for $1,000,000 in 1989. It didn’t prove to be the best investment after it went to auction in 2010 and sold for $494,500 — making it a “half-million dollar Luger.”
The whereabouts of the other one are unknown.
In the late 1990s to early 2000s, Mike Krause of Krausewerk out of San Mateo, California, produced high-quality replicas. While not the real deal, it is a reminder that copies can hurt the values of the original!
Savage Vs. Colt
The 1907 trial came down to a fight between Savage and Colt, and the .45 Savage Auto seemed to be the frontrunner at the time. The delayed blowback pistol had nine fewer parts than the Colt M1905, held more rounds, and notably required fewer tools to completely disassemble. It was noted to be more accurate than the Browning-designed pistol and even passed the sand test in half the time.
Unfortunately for Savage, its handgun had 40 percent more jams and misfires than the Colt. The board further found the Savage to be quite violent in discharge and slightly heavier of the two sidearms — weighing around half an ounce more than its competitor.
In addition, the board found the Savage Auto to have the same deficiencies as the Colt, including no loaded chamber indicator and no automatic safety.
Field tests of both pistols continued for several years, during which time John Browning worked with Colt to address any issues, while Savage also carefully refined its pistol. At one point, Savage reportedly even put political pressure on the military, but in the end, the showdown occurred on March 15, 1911 — when Colt’s improved Model 1911 went up against the Savage Model 1910.
More than 6,000 rounds were fired from each of the two pistols. The Savage had 37 misfires, while the Colt had none. In addition, the M1911 consistently grouped better in the accuracy tests and was much quicker and easier to disassemble than the Model 1911. The four years of refinement under John Browning’s watchful eye made a significant difference and arguably resulted in what was seen as a firearms masterpiece.
The Colt M1911 was unanimously approved by the U.S. Army Testing Board and it was officially adopted on March 28, 1911. It remained in service as the primary U.S. military sidearm for more than seven decades!
