The First Colt Automatic Pistol by Ed Buffaloe Historical Perspective The advent of automatic weapons had to wait for the invention of “smokeless” propellants, since black powder leaves so much residue it will quickly clog an automatic mechanism and render it inoperable. The first smokeless powder was introduced in 1884 by Paul Marie Eugène Vieille, a French chemist. Made from nitrocellulose, Vieille called his invention poudre blanche, or white powder, and it was generally referred to as Poudre B. Improvements came quickly. By 1900 there were several “smokeless” powders available. John Moses Browning began designing “automatic” or self- loading weapons late in 1889 after a seminal event that happened while he, his brothers and friends were out shooting. Will Wright, who was shorter of stature and hence closer to the ground than the tall Browning brothers, fired his gun and John Browning happened to notice that the high grass in front of him bent with the muzzle blast. The realization dawned for Browning that the muzzle blast represented energy that could be utilized to work the action of a gun. By the end of the next day, he had a working prototype to prove the concept. Browning filed his first patent on a gas-operated machine gun on 6 January 1890, and followed it with another dozen or so patents over the next decade on various types of self-loading weapons, both gas and recoil operated. In 1895 Colt’s began producing Browning’s machine gun, which marked the beginning of a long collaboration between John Browning and the Colt’s Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Company. Browning’s first pistol patent was filed on 14 September 1895 and was followed just over a year later by three more pistol patents filed on 31 October 1896. All four U.S. patents were granted on 20 April 1897, having been given successive numbers: #580,923, for an automatic pistol that was never manufactured, but various elements of which appeared in later Browning pistols; #580,924, for a design which became the Colt Automatic Pistol of 1900; #580,925, for an automatic pistol with a rotating barrel locked breech design and a grip safety, which was never manufactured; #580,926, for the design which became the 1900 FN Browning. In subsequent years Browning was granted further important U.S. pistol patents: #708,794 on 9 September 1902, for improvements which were applied to the 1902 Colt Automatic Pistol in .38 caliber; #747,585 on 22 December 1903, for the 1903 Colt Pocket Pistol in .32 caliber and the 1903 FN Browning in 9mm Browning Long; #808,003 on 19 December 1905, for various improvements which were applied to the 1905 Colt .45 auto; #818,739 on 24 April 1906, for another rotating barrel locked breech system which was never manufactured; #984,519 on 14 February 1911, for the 1911 Colt Government Model. These patents and others, including various foreign patents granted to Browning, were to revolutionize handgun design. Browning’s various designs are the most-copied in the world. There are very few pistols manufactured today that do not show the influence of Browning’s genius. Over his lifetime he was granted a total of 128 U.S. patents on firearms alone. Not many people realize that John Moses Browning actually invented the reciprocating slide, which appears in approximately 99% of all modern self-loading handguns. In his 1897 patent he referred to it as a “moveable breech block Captain H.B. Pollard, writing in 1920, noted: The adoption of the automatic pistol by a firm of the or bolt carrier mounted to slide upon [the] frame.” The eminence of the Colt Company practically patent used the word “slide” as a verb but, as is so often the established the principle. People no longer looked case, the verb became a noun for the item whose action it upon automatics as dangerous experimental toys, but recognized that the principle was a success... described. The second government report on the Colt Automatic Pistol, dated 28 April 1900 referred to it as “A sliding cover,” and later as simply “the slide.” The First Colt Automatic Pistol Colt’s first automatic pistol was based on Browning’s patent #580,924 of 1897. Browning completed a prototype of this pistol early in 1896, chambered for a .38 caliber rimmed revolver cartridge, and showed it to the Colt’s people in Hartford in May-June of that year. Colt’s immediately saw the possibilities Browning’s design held for military applications. It could fire seven rounds in less than a second and a half, and with a muzzle velocity much higher than most revolvers of the day. The fact that it was chambered for a .38 caliber cartridge made no difference at the time, since the Colt Double Action Army Revolver in .38 Long Colt had been adopted by the U.S. Army in 1892, and its inadequacies had not yet become apparent. Browning’s design has become known as the “parallel ruler” system because the barrel moves on two swinging links at each end, attached to the frame of the gun in the same way that two parallel rulers are attached to each other. Three transverse ribs on top of the barrel engage three grooves in the top of the slide to lock the breech. When the gun is fired the barrel and slide recoil together for about 0 .2 inches, then the barrel is forced downward by the two links at each end, and disengages Slide retracted, barrel forced downward, from the slide, which continues its rearward breech open. movement. The breech opens, the spent shell casing is ejected and, as the slide returns under pressure from the compressed recoil spring, another round is stripped from the top of the magazine, chambered, and the barrel is forced upward and again locked into engagement with the slide, sealing the breech. The two connecting links are pinned to the barrel and frame and can only be removed by drifting out the pins; however, there is no reason to remove the barrel under normal circumstances. The slide is installed on, or removed, from the frame from the rear and is held in place by the slide lock, a transverse steel bar just in front of the recoil spring and guide rod. The rear surface of the slide lock has a semicircular depression that fits into the front of the guide rod to retain the lock and prevent it from falling out of the pistol. There is no provision for locking the slide open. The gun has a non-inertial firing pin, and a very broad-clawed internal extractor. When field stripped, the gun is reduced to four components: the slide, the frame & barrel assembly, the magazine, and the slide lock. Browning and Fred Moore of Colt continued improving the design from late 1896 through 1898. A fully automatic prototype was manufactured at the Colt factory, but it proved impossible to control and was abandoned. During this same period, Browning developed a “rimless” cartridge for the gun (it was actually a semi-rimmed cartridge), but few details of its development are available. The cartridge was known as the .38 ACP (Automatic Colt Pistol) or the .38 Auto and was approximately equivalent in power to the 9mm Parabellum, though it had a longer case. Muzzle velocity was between 1050 and 1150 feet per second, depending on the weight of the bullet. The .38 ACP was superseded in 1929 by the .38 Super, which uses an identical brass case but with a heavier powder load. The .38 Super generates a muzzle velocity that is 25-30% higher than the .38 Auto, and delivers 50-60% more energy. .38 Super cartridges should not be fired in the early Colt .38 Auto pistols, but the cases can be reloaded at appropriate levels and will function perfectly well in the older guns. Loading data can be found in various reloading publications and in Cartridges of the World. However, great care must be taken not to overload cartridges for the early Colt autos--see Bill Gardner’s warning below. A prototype of the pistol was provided to the United States Ordnance Department on 9 November 1898, and it was examined and tested on 11 November, along with four other automatic pistols. The board of officers reported that “The Board is of the opinion, based upon a careful examination of the Borchardt, the Mannlicher, the Mauser, the Colt, and the Bergmann repeating weapons, that the development of this type of pistol has not yet reached such a stage as to justify its adoption in the place of the revolver for service use...” In September of the next year, Colt was requested to submit another pistol for further testing in November, but was unable to deliver it until mid-January of 1900. No spare parts were provided, as the gun was not yet in full production. Despite various problems encountered during testing, the Colt impressed the board with its simplicity, ease of loading, high rate of fire, and its accuracy over the revolver. By this time, the Colt auto’s primary rivals had been reduced to the Mauser “broomhandle,” which had been in production for two years, and the Luger Parabellum pistol, which had been in production for a year. The Colt was much more easily handled than the awkward Mauser, and ultimately the board recommended that additional Colts be purchased for further testing. Authorization was given, and 100 of the Colt Automatic Pistols were purchased by the Ordnance Department on 10 A U.S. Navy contract pistol, with sight safety, rear slide serrations, and smooth grips.