Right-Sized 1911

Ruger’s Model 6711 is a worthy, modern take on the famed lightweight commander.

- Chuck Taylor

In 1949, the world saw events -- some good, some not -- that altered the course of history. Chiang Kai Shek was deposed by Mao Tse-tung and China felt under communism’s dark yoke, the Western nations formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to combat Soviet Russia’s growing threat, and President Harry Truman and his cabinet ignored the ever-louder warnings from the fledgling CIA and military intelligence analysts that North Korea was preparing to invade South Korea.

NEW GUN FOR OFFICERS

Less publicized, but nearly as significant in the firearms world, the U.S. Army announced that it was looking for a limited replacement for the venerable M1911 .45 ACP pistol for use by officers. Its specs called for more compactness, lighter weight, and that it be chambered for the 9mm Parabellum (9x19mm)..

This last specification stunned the shooting world in that the terminal ballistic capabilities of both the 9mm and .45 ACP were well known. The 9mm had first surfaced in 1902, whereas the .45 ACP appeared shortly thereafter in 1905.

Their subsequent use in multiple “big and little” wars had by 1949 shown the 9mm to lack stopping power, while the big .45 ACP had achieved legendary status for “putting them down.”

The M1911 pistol, too, had achieved legendary status. The product of an extensive research and development program by its inventor John M. Browning and the U.S. Army that began in 1902, the M1911 began production in 1912 to a chorus of enthusiastic accolades.