Editing M1911 pistol (section)

== Usage ==
The M1911 design has been offered commercially and has been used by other militaries. 

The M1911 was likewise widely copied, and their localized variants remain in use worldwide to date.

=== During wartime ===
====World War I====
By the beginning of 1917, a total of 68,533 M1911 pistols had been delivered to U.S. armed forces by Colt's Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company and the U.S. government's [[Springfield Armory]].  

The M1911 and M1911A1 pistols were also ordered from Colt or produced domestically in modified form by several other nations, including [[Brazil]], [[Mexico]], [[Argentina]]{{sfn|Thompson|2004|p=27}}{{sfn|Thompson|2004|p=39}} and [[Spain]]. 

Britain ordered approximately 13,000 1911s in [[.455 Webley]] Auto during the First World War, with examples known to go to the [[Royal Air Force]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=McCollum |first=Ian |date=2020-10-27 |title=WW1 British Contract M1911 in .455 Webley Self-Loading - Forgotten Weapons |url=https://www.forgottenweapons.com/ww1-british-contract-m1911-in-455-webley-self-loading/ |access-date=2025-04-25 |website= forgottenweapons.com |language=en-US}}</ref> Some remained in service during the Second World War. 

====World War II====
The M1911A1 was a favored small arm of both U.S. and allied military personnel during the war. 

In particular, the pistol was prized by some British commando units and Britain's highly covert [[Special Operations Executive]], as well as South African Commonwealth forces.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bishop |first=Chris |title=The Encyclopedia of Weapons of World War II |publisher=Orbis Publishing Ltd. |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-7607-1022-7 |place=New York}}</ref><ref>Dunlap, Roy. ''Ordnance Went Up Front'', Samworth Press (1948), p. 160.</ref>{{sfn|Thompson|2011a|p=48}}<ref name="Poyer" />

Numbers of Colt M1911s were used by the [[Royal Navy]] as sidearms during World War I in [[.455 Webley|.455 Webley Automatic]] caliber.<ref name="Poyer" /> 

The pistols were then transferred to the [[Royal Air Force]] where they saw use in limited numbers up until the end of World War II as sidearms for aircrew in event of bailing out in enemy territory. 

The German ''[[Volkssturm]]'' also used captured M1911s at the end of World War II under the weapon code P.660(a), in which the letter 'a' refers to "Amerika", the weapon's country of origin.<ref>{{cite news |last=Scarlata |first=Paul |date=February 20, 2011 |title=Small Arms of the Deutscher Volkssturm |publisher=Shotgun News |page=24}}</ref>