On this day 101 years ago, the Colt .45 was officially adopted by the US Army as the M1911A1. Browning's design had competed against a host of other hopefuls, including Luger's legendary P-08 model, also chambered in .45. The Colt won by a slim margin for better reliability, easy of maintenance, cheap magazines and cost of production.
There were only two .45 Lugers produced for the trials. One was tested so extensively it fell apart. The other has never been fired and is now in the hands of a private collector, thought to be worth 2 million dollars.
