Introduction
In the early 1890s, with the advent of smokeless gun powder and jacketed bullets, the stage was set to create semi-automatic pistols. By that time, several types of semi-automatic pistols had been developed in Europe. The most notable included the: Salvator Dormus (first semi-automatic, patented July 11, 1891); Borchardt C-93, 1893; several Bergmanns beginning in 1894; Mannlicher in 1894; Mauser C96 in 1896; and the venerable Luger in 1899. Creation in the United States of semi-automatic pistols in the 1890s was limited to John Browning’s early work on what would become the FN Model 1900 a blow-back design in .32 ACP, for which John Browning received a US Patent on March 21, 1899, and John Browning’s parallel ruler design for a large frame recoil operated semi-automatic, patented April 20, 1897.
Much of the impetus for designing a semi-automatic pistol was the manufacturer’s goal of getting military contracts and improving sales. Colt’s path, through John Browning, began in 1898, with a series of prototypes, the first delivered for testing on November 11, 1898. This began Colt’s quest to develop a semi-automatic pistol that was sufficiently accurate and reliable to replace the revolver in service use. The result, 13 years later, was the venerable Model 1911. This brochure and the accompanying display sets forth the pistols that were the evolutionary developments along Colt’s path to the 1911.
