Anniversary of an amazingly enduring design

Don Foreman · 2010-03-27T06:21:32+00:00

Monday, March 29, is the 99th anniversary of the legendary 1911semiautomatic pistol designed by John Moses Browning. The 1911 .45 was the standard U.S. military sidearm for most of acentury until the mid-80's when it was supplanted by the Beretta M99mm, partly because 9mm was/is a standard NATO munition, partlybecause the M9's were cheaper to manufacture and partly because itreduced training costs since learning to shoot a 1911 well takeslonger than learning to shoot a 9mm. The M9 is an accurate pistol,quite easy to shoot well, but spec ops who can have whatever sidearmthey want sometimes opt for a 1911 because a .45 hits harder.The 1911 is a classic, still very much in demand today. There aredozens of companies currently making 1911's including majors likeSpringfield, Kimber, Para and Taurus and more elites like WilsonCombat etc. One can buy a new one for as little as $500, or ahand-made custom for well north of $3K and the makers of those arebacklogged for over a year. Essentially same design, finely crafted.How many designs more complex than a paper clip are still so viable acentury after conception? The zipper might be one, but I think thelist of other candidates is quite short.The M2 50-caliber machine gun that JMB designed is still in activeservice with U.S. forces. The man was a genius designer. Attitudes toward firearms vary and I respect that, but I submit that adesigner of this rare level of accomplishment is worthy of note byreaders of a metalworking newsgroup.

Mar 27, 2010 162 Replies

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pyotr filipivich 16 years ago

cavelamb on Wed, 07 Apr 2010 22:03:34

-0500 typed >>

by our current

half the time

hamper progress

Possibly, but some things have been driven by civilian application

- computers is one area. Carbon Fibers? I suspect that a lot of technologies got a big boost from the government "investment" in them. I'm also sure a lot of data freely available to a private space program was first worked up by NASA in the moon race project. And let us not forget, that determining that something _won't_ work, is just as useful as merely determining what will work.

tschus pyotr

- pyotr filipivich We will drink no whiskey before its nine. It's eight fifty eight. Close enough!

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