1911 The First 100 Years: The First 100 Years

I will admit right off that I am a huge fan of the M1911 pistol and of its creator John M Browning and that my opinion of the subject matter is obviously biased. That said this book isn't geared towards a 'casual fan' of the design, but those who love the pistol, the history in it, or both. I've spent all of my life shooting guns of all types and sizes, first for fun and food and later for work as a member of the US military for the last twelve years. Having fired hundreds of thousands of rounds over the years in training and war I still prefer the M1911 pistol to all others and for many reasons.This is a book about the 1911 pistol but is more than just that, it is a book about the history and happenings that required such a pistol. As well as the uses it has seen over the century that followed. There is no other pistol, or any military weapon, that was designed 100 years ago and is still in active service with military forces. Yet the 1911 soldiers on gracefully serving our nation and allies with realistically minor updates. I find that to be amazing and inspiring from a historical small arms perspective as well as from a proud American's view point.Patrick Sweeney is a well known author when it comes to firearms and has written a number of books on the 1911 specifically. That said he takes a slightly different approach with this book looking at the design, history, reasoning, use, upgrades and future of this weapon platform. The writing is quite good but I find the photography even better. There are pictures of 1911s that are so rare most people will never see them in person. Indeed many people may not even have known some existed. As a reference for the collector and fan the pictures alone are worth the price of the book.As the centennial of the M1911 pistol arrives I think there will be a number of books looking to take advantage of that. Some may be very good, if any are as good or better than this book then it will be a great year for the fan of the platform.

Having recently purchased a 2011 Colt Government in recognition of that fine weapon's 100th anniversary, I set out to find more information to fulfill my curiosity about its history. I had no experience with Sweeney's books before, but looking through the sample available on Amazon, it looked as if it would be an interesting read and for the price, I had to have it.After learning a little more about Sweeney, I found that he's a VERY prolific author, with many books to his credit about all kinds of guns. Some folks might have some little quibbles about some of his facts or how writes his books, but I think that's a mighty impressive amount of knowledge about guns, and I have to give him credit for that alone.I've been reading this book like a novel, starting at the beginning and working my way through each chapter. I was especially interested in the development and adoption of the 1911, and as another reviewer noted, Sweeney takes a while to get there. Still, the history is fairly complete, and I can't complain about the level of detail except that it was slow slogging through the first couple of chapters.There are parts of the book that aren't as interesting to me, such as the information about various shooting competitions, but I realize that no book can be all things to all people. I did find things that I never knew before, such as how the .45 was chosen partly because smaller calibers had failed in battle against the fanatical warriors in the Philippine Moro rebellion. (That spawned another whole interest, and now I'm about halfway through another book about the Moro war...)I was particularly gratified to see homage to the grand old masters of shooting, such as Jeff Cooper, Thell Reed, and Jack Weaver. When you read anything about handguns today, these were the men that lived it. Many younger readers don't know them, and I was glad to see Sweeney keeping their history alive.I'd definitely recommend the book to anyone with more than a casual interest about the 1911 platform. It may not be a definitive reference, but it's certainly a valuable addition to anyone's collection.

For reasons that I can't fully explain, I recently became very interested in custom 1911 pistols from the 1970's and 80's. I had purchased another book on custom 1911 pistols, but was disappointed that these decades were almost completely ignored apart from a few photos and two or three paragraphs. Mr. Sweeney does a good job of covering the whole history of the 1911, and even goes back in history before 1911 to give an idea of what the 1911 was competing with. The book also goes into detail of some of the shooting sports, and personalities involved in using or gunsmithing 1911 pistols during it's history of use.Photos are of good quality, but usually not staged as well as the cover photo. Unfortunately, not all of the pistols photographed have been cared for like museum pieces, and some are not in very good condition.Between this book, and PDF copies of vintage American Handgunner magazines available online, I was able to scratch my itch.If you are really interested in continued reading, Bill Wilson's 1984 book on The .45 Combat Automatic goes into detail on period modifications and gunsmithing for sport and self defense. Used copies can be found through Amazon and auction sites.

THE AUTHOR OF THIS BOOK HAS DONE A FANTASTIC JOB !THE BOOK COVERS MOST OF THE IMPORTANT 1911 MAKERS, BESIDE THE AUTHOR GIVING HIS VIEWS AND HIS FINDINGS AFTER TESTING. THIS BOOK GIVE A QUICK OVERVIEW INCLUDING A BRIEF HISTORY AND BRIEFLY LOOKS AT CUSTOMISING. THE PICTURE PLATES ARE VERY GOOD FOR THE COST OF THIS BOOK. ALL ROUND A GREAT BOOK AND FOR ME CERTAINLY GREAT VALUE FOR MONEY ( MESSAGE TO AUTHOR KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK)B.G.KNIGHT

A superb book for anyone interested in the subject. very comprehensive,covering the full history of the 1911. Altogether five stars.

Excellent coffee table book packed with information. Good for coming back to again and again.

This book is available for the Kindle but why would you. A beautiful and extremely informative book, easy reading, a joy to own.

Superb read. Anyone who isinterested in shooting will enjoy this book.