M1911 .45 Caliber Pistol - The Army Historical Foundation
armyhistory.org
In 1906, Army Ordnance publicly released their specifications to gun manufacturers eager to land a government contract. At the time, the only effective automatics were 7.63mm or 9mm pistols, neither of which had the desired stopping power.
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/rockenman1234 on 2025-06-10 16:57:50+00:00.

Original Title: TIL the U.S. military stopped producing new M1911 pistols in 1945 but continued using refurbished models for over 40 years, officially replacing them with the Beretta M9 in 1985 - though some special forces continued to carry them well into the 21st century.