Iconic 1911 Pistols Have Finally Been Retired From Marine Corps Service

The Marine Corps’ time as the last major U.S. military user of the legendary 1911 pistol has come to an end.

BY JOSEPH TREVITHICK
UPDATED JUN 21, 2023 4:42 PM EDT

The U.S. Marine Corps has removed the last of its .45 caliber M45A1 Close Quarters Battle Pistols from service. The M45A1s, which are heavily upgraded variants of the venerable Colt M1911, have now been replaced by 9x19mm M18 pistols. The Marines had been the last major American military user of M1911-series pistols, though other versions remain in increasingly limited service in the U.S. special operations community.

Marine Corps Systems Command (MARCORSYSCOM) confirmed to The War Zone that the replacement of the M45A1s with new M18s began last year and was completed by October 2022. M45A1s had previously been issued primarily to Marine special operations and reconnaissance units, as well as Special Reaction Teams assigned to the service's Provost Marshal's Office...


Complete article with many photos:

https://www.thedrive.com/the-w...marine-corps-service

Well, a 112 year service run is pretty dang good...

(Though I suspect that service record will eventually be broken by the M2 Browning in another 22ish years.)

its hard to beat all the plastic fantastics out there, when it comes to weight, capacity and reliability as well as end user maint. , BUT, i still love my 1911 LOL

Just checked, the USMC shooting team still uses the 1911 for Bullseye competition. So technically the 1911 is still in Government use

quote:

Originally posted by golddot:
its hard to beat all the plastic fantastics out there, when it comes to weight, capacity and reliability as well as end user maint. , BUT, i still love my 1911 LOL

I’ll second that!

Didn't know they train to shoot gangsta style in the Corps. Lol.

One option for working around the shield. Some guys prefer to cant the shield, but that takes some ballistic coverage away.

I have a good friend who is a retired marine drill instructor and he loves his 1911's. Back in 2017 I talked him into going with me up to the Sig Academy and one of the classes we took was shooting a pistol at distance. Below is a picture of him with the rented Sig 1911.... he was still hitting that steel target with it at 120 yards. That makes a happy marine. I think he was actually giggling.

Bear in mind the 1911 was a VERY limited issue item for specialized units, much like the swan song of the 1911 in the other services.
If there are 30,000 marines assigned a pistol as an issue item, these last 1911’s accounted for less than 10% of them

I wonder if there is any data on actual effectiveness of the 9mm full metal jacket vs the 45acp full metal jacket in combat situations?

My assumption would be that there is a big difference... same reason the 45 came into use in the first place and replaced the 38. But then I'm sure the powers that be figured firepower was really about how much you can throw at an enemy and of course the 9mm has a big advantage here... same with the switch from M14 to M16. Throw lots of little bullets at them as compared to a few big ones.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Blume9mm,

^^^ somewhere on the internet there is.
Remember- US Military uses ball ammo. Round technology has come a long way in the past 10 years or so, especially with JHP. At this point, there’s not much difference between 9mm & 45 as far as penetration - again- the JHP.
Ball- that .45 is just a hard hitting round, more so than the 9mm.

One of the thoughts on the M-14 (7.62) vs M-16 (5.56) is you can hump more lighter 5.56 rounds than the 7.62.

Somewhere in the back of my safety deposit box is a custom made Springfield MEUSOC 1911-A1 that was built by one of the Marine Corps Armorers (2112 MOS IIRC) who was a great friend of mine. We got into and out of a ton of trouble when we were stationed in Okinawa together. Our career trajectories went in different direction after Camp Schawb, but we caught up with each other in Quantico when I was getting out.
Truly a craftsman and a font of knowledge when it comes to the 1911. I think at that time he had about 50 or so 1911’s in his personal collection. Most were his own custom builds. I know the FBI’s HRT talked to him when they were transitioning from the BHP’s to the 1911’s. (IIRC, they went to Wilsons then to Nighthawks)