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The M15 General Officers is a .45 ACP pistol developed by the U.S. Army's Rock Island Arsenal from stock M1911 pistols as a replacement for the aging Colt Model 1903 and Model 1908 Pocket Hammerless pistols. The pistol was issued to United States Army general officers as a personal weapon.
The name and technique come from the leather holsters used by the cavalry of both the United States Army and the Confederate States Army, during the Civil War.The pistol was in a covered holster carried high on the cavalryman's right side, but was placed butt-forward for crossdrawing by the left hand.
Locally, Threepersons was well known for his exploits, and starting in 1925, the S.D. Myres Saddle Co., of El Paso, began advertising the "Tom Threepersons-style holsters". The holster, which included a cutaway top exposing the pistol hammer and trigger guard, became popular and was copied by several other manufacturers. [9]
Approximately 570,000 Colt Pocket Hammerless pistols were produced from 1903 to 1945, in five different types. Some were issued to U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force general officers from World War II through the 1970s; these were replaced in 1972 with the RIA Colt M15 general officer's model, a compact version of the M1911A1.
The pistol's formal U.S. military designation as of 1940 was Automatic Pistol, Caliber .45, M1911 for the original model adopted in March 1911, and Automatic Pistol, Caliber .45, M1911A1 for the improved M1911A1 model which entered service in 1926. The designation changed to Pistol, Caliber .45, Automatic, M1911A1 in the Vietnam War era. [10]
As an M1911 style pistol, it is usually chambered in .45 ACP. It also has been produced in other calibers, including .40 S&W, 10mm Auto, 9mm Luger, and .38 Super. The individual gun's caliber is stamped on top of the barrel and is visible with the slide in battery (fully forward). The Custom is a full-sized model 1911, with a five-inch barrel.
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SIG Sauer of Newington, New Hampshire, manufactures a full line of 1911 styled handguns.The earliest models were very faithful to the John M. Browning designed Colt M1911 Pistol which became the United States standard sidearm and served in that capacity for some seven decades before being replaced by the Beretta M9 handgun.