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History of .45 Auto Cartridge
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Interesting read, and the different nomeclatures attatched to this round....
The Sight M1911
.45 Auto Cartridge History
By Stefano Mattioli
Spring of 1904, nearly 100 years ago, the Frankford Arsenal as well as the civilian Industry were asked by the U.S. Government to develop an .45 caliber pistol round to improve the existing pistol rounds and to compete with the ready available .45 caliber revolver rounds of good fame.
The Arsenal however put it on "wait and see". Not so for the folks at Winchester Repeating Arms Co., that in conjunction with COLT Mfg. Co. came up, just after a few months, with a new .45 caliber round housed in a modified .38 Colt pistol model 1900, the .45 Automatic Colt.
Cartridge length was .900" (22,86mm), case was brass and of .470" (11,938mm) diameter, bullet a 200 grains cylindro-spheric gilding jacketed, extraction area had .085" (2,159mm) in length and markings were "W.R.A.Co. .45 AC" on the base and a "W" on the primer.
Now, after the official introduction in 1905 by Winchester Repeating Arms Co. & Colt Mfg. Co. of the .45 AC together with the Colt model 1905, the folks at Frankford Arsenal began to activate matters, starting and trying to better up the existing round. They ended up with a slightly modified .45 cartridge with a longer case and heavier copper-nickel jacket bullet of 230 grains, named "Cal. .45 Automatic Pistol Ball Cartridge Model of 1906" (FA M1906) to be on time for the upcoming tests planned by the Government for June 1906. The Government however couldn't set on both of them and in the spring of 1907 contracted the Union Metal Cartridge Co. to design another .45 cartridge based on the existing one but with a shorter case. After 5 more months, the cartridge named ".45 Automatic Colt Government" (UMC M1907) was ready. Again, other modifications, a larger extraction area, were needed and the Government reordered the Union Metallic Cartridge Co. and Winchester Repeating Arms Co. to redesign it as needed. At the end of 1908, two close to identical cartridges emerged from this request (UMC M1908 & WRA M1908). At the same time, in 1908, the folks at Frankford Arsenal worked on another .45 cartridge (FA M1908), hoping to get the contract for delivering test ammunition to the troops. This contract, however, was issued to UMC, that started delivery of the test ammunition in the year 1909. This round was basically the same as the UMC M1908, but had a cannelure on the bullet just over the case mouth. Markings were " U.M.C. .45 A.C.P." (UMC M1909). After the tests, this round was finally and officially adopted, after some slight modifications (drop of the cannelure), by the Government as the " Cal. .45 Automatic Pistol Ball Cartridge, Model of 1911". This was August of 1911. The ammunition makers could start their production. The first cartridges, Model of 1911, known to be issued came from the Frankford Arsenal (FA M1911) and had the markings "F A 8 11"( the 8 stands for the production month).
"It is hard to soar with Eagles when your surrounded by Turkeys"
"I dont care how thin you make a pancake, it still has two sides"
"A wise man is a man that realizes just how little he knows.
The Sight M1911
.45 Auto Cartridge History
By Stefano Mattioli
Spring of 1904, nearly 100 years ago, the Frankford Arsenal as well as the civilian Industry were asked by the U.S. Government to develop an .45 caliber pistol round to improve the existing pistol rounds and to compete with the ready available .45 caliber revolver rounds of good fame.
The Arsenal however put it on "wait and see". Not so for the folks at Winchester Repeating Arms Co., that in conjunction with COLT Mfg. Co. came up, just after a few months, with a new .45 caliber round housed in a modified .38 Colt pistol model 1900, the .45 Automatic Colt.
Cartridge length was .900" (22,86mm), case was brass and of .470" (11,938mm) diameter, bullet a 200 grains cylindro-spheric gilding jacketed, extraction area had .085" (2,159mm) in length and markings were "W.R.A.Co. .45 AC" on the base and a "W" on the primer.
Now, after the official introduction in 1905 by Winchester Repeating Arms Co. & Colt Mfg. Co. of the .45 AC together with the Colt model 1905, the folks at Frankford Arsenal began to activate matters, starting and trying to better up the existing round. They ended up with a slightly modified .45 cartridge with a longer case and heavier copper-nickel jacket bullet of 230 grains, named "Cal. .45 Automatic Pistol Ball Cartridge Model of 1906" (FA M1906) to be on time for the upcoming tests planned by the Government for June 1906. The Government however couldn't set on both of them and in the spring of 1907 contracted the Union Metal Cartridge Co. to design another .45 cartridge based on the existing one but with a shorter case. After 5 more months, the cartridge named ".45 Automatic Colt Government" (UMC M1907) was ready. Again, other modifications, a larger extraction area, were needed and the Government reordered the Union Metallic Cartridge Co. and Winchester Repeating Arms Co. to redesign it as needed. At the end of 1908, two close to identical cartridges emerged from this request (UMC M1908 & WRA M1908). At the same time, in 1908, the folks at Frankford Arsenal worked on another .45 cartridge (FA M1908), hoping to get the contract for delivering test ammunition to the troops. This contract, however, was issued to UMC, that started delivery of the test ammunition in the year 1909. This round was basically the same as the UMC M1908, but had a cannelure on the bullet just over the case mouth. Markings were " U.M.C. .45 A.C.P." (UMC M1909). After the tests, this round was finally and officially adopted, after some slight modifications (drop of the cannelure), by the Government as the " Cal. .45 Automatic Pistol Ball Cartridge, Model of 1911". This was August of 1911. The ammunition makers could start their production. The first cartridges, Model of 1911, known to be issued came from the Frankford Arsenal (FA M1911) and had the markings "F A 8 11"( the 8 stands for the production month).
"It is hard to soar with Eagles when your surrounded by Turkeys"
"I dont care how thin you make a pancake, it still has two sides"
"A wise man is a man that realizes just how little he knows.
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