What do you think is the best military pistol of it's period. Revolver or automatic.

Also, if you have a nominee for the worst pistol, feel free to tell us about that too.

Dave

M1911 .45 Automatic - a very powerfull round, 7 round clip, total reliability, easy to take down and clean. I once had to shoot someone with my .45 and having witnessed it's knockdown power, nothing else would and will ever do.

can not add much more than that ! look also how long it stayed in the u.s. military service. my brother was in and trained with it , then with it's garbage replacement. when my brother was on his 2d tour in Iraq , he never even touched the newer m-7, found something better over there in a warehouse. but later after "the tiger incident " , he got into some trouble over it.
jeff

I think it was General Abrahms who testified that the M1911 45 Auto was the best pistol in a small elevator that we had in our aresenal.

The 45 was developed to stop drug crazed philipinos from reaching our troops and is fine within 25 yards.

But best pistol ever.

How about the pure simplicity of the P38, or the fact that 110 year old lugers are still in mint condition and fire perfectly.

I believe the 45ACP was developed a few years after the Philippine-American war was over. The 1911 would probably be my favorite WWI or WWII period handgun, but I'd go with the Glock as the best of the current period. They're very reliable, have few parts that can break, and are very easy to work on.

Just to keep history straight, here is the evolution of the 45 ACP

"The .45 ACP (11.43�23mm) (Automatic Colt Pistol), also known as the .45 Auto by C.I.P., is a cartridge designed by John Browning in 1904, for use in his prototype Colt semi-automatic .45 pistol and eventually the M1911 pistol adopted by the United States Army in 1911"

"The U.S. Cavalry had been buying and testing various handguns in the late 1890s and early 20th century. The .45 Colt Single Action Army had largely been replaced, even by some double action versions of the same. The Cavalry had fielded some double action revolvers in .38 Long Colt. They determined that the .38-caliber round was significantly less effective against determined opponents, such as the warriors encountered in the Moro Rebellion of the Philippine�American War, than the .45 Colt. The current issue rifle at the time, the .30-40 Krag, had also failed to stop Moro warriors effectively;[5] the British had similar issues switching to the .303 British, which resulted in the development of the Dum-dum bullet. This experience, and the Thompson-LaGarde Tests of 1904 led the Army and the Cavalry to decide that a minimum of .45-caliber was required in the new handgun. Thompson and Major Louis Anatole LaGarde of the Medical Corps arranged tests on cadavers and animal remains in the Chicago stockyards, resulting in a finding that the .45 was the most effective pistol cartridge. They noted, however, that training was critical to make sure a soldier could score a hit in a vulnerable part of the body."

As you can see, the developement was a direct result of the Philipino Insurection. The Philipinos would tie wire around there body making touniquets, use drugs, then charge our men. Teh 45 was developed to drop them where the stood.

But, it's use is long gone.

I've read the same Wikipedia page, but I feel too much credit is often given to the Philippine campaign having to do with development of the 45 ACP. I've read in various sources that the 30 Kraig also had a tough time stopping the drugged up Muros, and it had far more stopping ability than any handgun, 45 or otherwise. I don't the Philippine campaign was the main reason the U.S. dropped the Krag however. The U.S. had used 45 caliber sidearms for years before the move to the 38's. I'm sure the Philippine problems helped with the decision to move back up in caliber, I'm just not sure we can say that was reason for the 45 ACP development. But I'm straying away for the topic.

As far as worst handgun, sticking with the major issued sidearms, the Nambu would be at the top of my list due to it's rather anemic round. The Luger wouldn't rank to high either based on it's tight tolerances which make it not too dirt and mud friendly plus the number of hand fitted parts making field repairs not that easy.

For worst pistol, I would have to nominate the Webley .455 revolver. Heavy, kicks lick a mule, not very accurate.

Nambu would be another as mentioned above. The Japanese in WWII used a lot smaller ammunition than we did. I think their 'victories' over the Chinese in the 1930's gave them a false sense of security.

Dave, while I will not argue your assessment of the Webley's place among effective weapons, I do think it deserves special award as the best movie prop when repelling either Arab armies or Huns with bayonets.

Snapping open the pistol to reload and then slap is closed adds to any battle scene.

Agreed, Jim. They even had Michael Caine doing it in "Zulu". Lugers are good movie guns too, but have you noticed they NEVER show them being cocked? Or staying in the open position after the last round ?

The guys hand shaking from nerves as he reloads his Webley is one of my favorite scenes in Zulu. I never found the 455 to be a hard kicker, but I spent a lot of time shooting magnum handguns so that might be why.

For it's early period (WWII), I would have to vote for Mr. Browning's last pistol design; the model 1935 High Power. Had it been designed as a double action pistol in .45acp, I would probably nominate it for all-time best. As it is, I would reluctantly vote for it instead of the M1911A1 because of it's 13 round magazine capacity. A 9mm may not have the same stopping power, but if you point either one at me, I promise to follow your instructions to the letter.

As worst pistol I would nominate the late-war Nambu Type 94. Scary stuff!

Denny,

while quite valuable, I would also nominate that one shot .45 pistol as a bad number

Disagree about the Nambu, it was perfect geometrically in shape to get hit in the head with if thrown at the right velocity. But the 1911 45.cal,,, no doubt the best in knock down power

I understand the love of the .45, but I really like the Browning Hi Power. Throws a lot of lead without a chance to reload.

For single shot percussion pistols, I will nominate the Royal Navy's model 1842 Sea Service pistol. .56 caliber. Swivel on the butt, sash hook on the left.

Walther P-38 is my choice. I like double action though!