Jim:
I’ve listened to your advice and digested what you’ve written over a number of years now. You are a confirmed Model 1911 [.45 ACP] individual. (Gee, ya think?) At any rate, I thought I’d pass along what locked me into .45 ACP 1911s and the results. I know, I should start this out with “Now this is no sh*t”, since it’s a war story from Vietnam.
I had been supporting an A team, [of the] 5th SF Group for 8 months or so. The guys took pity on the poor pilot and would occasionally take me out on a patrol with them. (What a hoot!) Anyway, we were doing a trail ambush and when it triggered, this huge NVA comes charging across the clearing straight at me and totally charged up on some fun drug. Using my favorite Swedish K [Karl Gustaf M45 9mm Parabellum SMG] , I hit this guy with 29 rounds center chest of aimed fire and he didn’t even slow down. The “old guy” Team sergeant (my Nanny) hip-butted me out of the way and dropped the NVA with three rounds from a M1911 [.45 ACP] center chest and, I swear, it stopped the guy dead in his tracks and laid him down backwards. That [Swedish K] was the last 9mm I ever carried out of CONUS. While I was in southeastern Mexico working with the group stopping the Cuban insurgency, I acquired my Detonics Mark VI .45 and have carried it ever since. Now I carry a pair [of them] and they are still my only handguns without Tritium [sights]. I just don’t trust any gunsmith not to screw up my slides. Just won’t. While in Brazil and Chile, my Detonics reliably did what the SF team sergeant’s 1911 did in RVN …. more than a few times. I like 9mm but work is work and remember, SAS does carry Uzi’s … but, little known fact, they are chambered in .45 ACP, just like the Secret Service’s. Actually, I prefer Mitch Werbell’s M10 and M-11. Regards and enjoy the snow. Want some more? I’ll send ours south. 🙂 – The Army Aviator
Letter From The Army Aviator Re: .45 ACP Stopping Power and the M1911
