In November 1910, Colt and Savage test pistols were fired by the Army for 1,000 rounds each. Both test pistols broke parts and exhibited shortcomings. Both companies went back to the drawing board, and in March 1911 they resubmitted pistols for testing. Twelve thousand rounds later--6,000 for each gun--Colt was the winner.

Existentially minded firearms pedants might argue as to the birth date of the 1911 pistol: November 1910--the day the design was first formally tested--or March 1911--its adoption date--but the "1911" name stamped on the side has remained to this day. [Ed. note: And true existentialist pedants might actually argue for the date of John Browning's patent application, February 17, 1910.] Either way, you're going to be reading a lot about this famous gun in the coming months.

To understand how we've gotten where we are, you have to know where we've been. So we'll jump into the way-back machine and set the dial for 1911.

In 1911, there was no penicillin, radio or TV. Phones were new, electric lights were new, and even in the cities there were a large number of houses that still had outhouses.

In 1911, the cavalry was the premier military branch--king of the hill, cock of the walk. Cavalrymen had the status that fighter pilots would receive a generation later. And cavalry was worried only about other cavalry. Artillery? It couldn't adjust fire fast enough to match cavalry movement. Infantry? An impediment to be found, maneuvered around, harried and, if possible, ridden down.

And as much as cavalrymen loved their horses, they realized that often the best way to deal with opposing cavalrymen was to shoot their mounts. For the infantry officer, his concern was having small arms capable of stopping cavalry. Without that, his unit would be harried and dispersed, and his men would be ridden down.

The gun that started it all: Colt 1911 No. 1.

You'll read again and again that the Moros of the Philippines were the reason for the selection of the .45 as our caliber. Nonsense. Everyone wanted a .45, and the Philippine insurrection was the means to that end--hence all possible blame was heaped on the Colt 1892 .38 revolver.

While John Moses Browning made his first self-loading pistols for Colt in .38 Auto, and the Army tested them, when it came down to really putting a pistol through the grind of refining and selecting, only .45 caliber pistols were requested.

You see, the sidearm is uniquely defined in American use: the fighting handgun. In the rest of the world, a sidearm is seen as a badge of office, a symbol of authority and a poor tool for shooting anyone or anything with. Only Americans depend on it for more than that.

The pistols of 1911 and the next couple of generations were not the pistols we associate with the 1911 pistol of today. I've handled and fired a bunch of early guns, and they are uniform in a number of regards: They are made of relatively soft steel; they have tiny sights; and the triggers, while very crisp, are heavy by today's standards.

If you have a pre-A1 1911 pistol, don't shoot it much. Even through World War II, the slides the various manufacturers produced are relatively soft. My first 1911A1 was an Ithaca, made in 1943, and I shot the slide to scrap in a couple of years of early IPSC practice and competition. Colt began making "hard" slides after the war--slides that were properly and completely heat-treated--and those can withstand lots and lots of shooting.