You can thank Bill Clinton for your 1911

[Miami_JBT]

Yup.... you heard right. Now before you all stone me to death allow me to explain.

As a child of the 1980s I grew up in the age of the Wonder Nine. Beretta, GLOCK, Sig Sauer, HK, and Smith & Wesson. Everyone was dropping the wheel gun and adopting a 9x19mm of some sort or another. Hell, even Uncle Sam saw the writing on the wall and ditched the rattle trap 1911 for the Beretta.

Films like Die Hard, Lethal Weapon, RoboCop, The Rookie, Predator, Commando, Terminator, etc.... all of them had a ton of Wonder Nine action. They fueled the fire in sales long with every article in every gun rag about the next agency that just adopted a Wonder Nine. The LAPD, NYPD, FBI, etc... police sales do drive civilian market sales.

What was happening to the 1911 at the time? Well, it was being made by Colt and a couple of other folks. There was a small problem. The majority of them sucked! Standard procedure back then was you bought a 1911 and then sent it off to your gunsmith so it could work right. They were rattle traps that didn't feed anything but ball ammo and that's if you're lucky. They were low capacity, large, heavy, and a money pit. Why spend your hard earned money on an outdated piece of crap when you can buy a new hi tech GLOCK or an Italian Stallion Beretta 92? What about the ultra well crafted Sig P226?

The 1911 was starting to fade away..... than President William Jefferson Clinton came into the picture and signed into law the Assault Weapon Ban. A hideous piece of legislation that banned magazines over 10 rounds..... Gasp! That should reduce crime! Well, it didn't and we all know that. But we're not discussing the AWB itself.... more on the effect on the popularity of the 1911.

Now post 1994 you can still buy a GLOCK or a Beretta but why would you? Unless you had a source of pre-ban magazines you'd feel screwed and cheated. Why would you carry a fullsize pistol that can hold 15 to 17 rounds of 9x19mm when by law you were limited to 10 rounds max. All of a sudden the 1911 becomes in vogue again. Here you have a fullsize pistol that is also now all of a sudden "slim" and carries a cartridge that has more "knock down" power. 8 rounds of .45 will do what 15 rounds of 9mm can do! Everyone and their mother started cranking out 1911s.

You started having companies that made 1911s update the design. Make them work better, feed better, feel better. The 1911 I have today is 110 times better than one produced in the 1980s. I have a 2011 production Colt Combat Commander and a 1986 Colt Series 80. The Series 80 still can't feed JHP even after sending it off to a great gunsmith in the Miami area. But the Commander feeds everything and anything right out of the box. No tweaking needing.

The AWB helped fuel the 1911 market because folks thought "if I can't carry or own a fullsize 9mm pistol with proper magazines I might as well own something that is more powerful even though it has less capacity". Caliber effectiveness isn't being discussed here either. Just marketing and sales. Gun magazines were pushing 1911s and the .45 ACP for the simple reason that the AWB gutted the Wonder Nine market. what sold the Wonder Nines was capacity. Restrict it and the market drops like a rock.

The .40 S&W also gained market share due to the AWB. A Beretta 92FS, Sig Sauer P226, and S&W 5906 all held 15rd of ammunition. But their .40 caliber cousins held 11rds. Buyers wouldn't feel as cheated with the loss of one round than with the loss of five. Also agency sales drove that market too. Because in the mid 90s a ton of agencies swapped their Wonder Nines for .40 cals. It also drove the CCW market too. Before the AWB most companies didn't produce compact pistols. During the AWB a ton of companies did due to the 10rd limit. If you had to work with 10rd max, why build it a huge pistol around it. Compact and subcompact power house pistols started to show up. Those 9mm and .40 and .45 pocket pistols spelled the death of the Beretta 84 or browning copy...the .380 high capacity pistol was killed. GLOCK came out with the subcompacts because of that very reason. But that is also another discussion.

In the end... the 1911 market is what it is today because of Bill Clinton and the AWB. The AR-15 also is where it is today because of that. But that was more of the "If I can't have it I want it" mindset.

[brickboy240]

Some will complain about certain 1911 makers and their offerings today. Back in the day...getting a 1911 right out of the box that would run 100% with hollow points was a damn miracle! You bought a Colt, Springfield Armory or (if you did not know better) an Auto Ordinance 1911 and you immediately sent it to a smith for feed ramp polishing and other adjustments to make it fly right. Today...it is very possible to pick up a 400 dollar Rock Island or Springer GI and have the damn thing run 100% with hollow points right out of the box.

Yep...this truly is a "golden age" for the 1911.

-brickboy240

[SteyrAUG]

I understand your premise, but I don't agree that the Clinton magazine ban resurrected the 1911.

As someone who entered the 94 ban with a lot of wonder 9s, including a recently released HK USP, there were still LOTS of magazines out there. Places like CDNN became famous for bringing in pre 94 magazines from other countries and offering them for $25-35 at the height of the ban.

Sure there were people selling factory Glock mags for $150.00, but there were also people selling them for $45 is you knew where to look.

And to some degree, it did make people take a second look at ALL .45s (10 round vs. 12 round magazine wasn't a big deal), the .40 and even a few wheel guns. But the fact of the matter is I know people who carried before, during and after the ban and still carry the 1911 today. And it isn't an "improved" version, it is the same Series 70 Colt they bought decades ago.

The only places that were really driven by such considerations are states with their own magazine ban that don't allow grandfathered mags that aren't dated or something along those lines. In those states, it is a big consideration, but they are not really representative of the gun market as a whole.

Had Bill Clinton never passed the domestic assault weapon ban, there would still be a huge 1911 following just as there has always been a cult of the HK P7.

[hatt]

1911s were always popular. I still remember the Colt ads in the 80s gun rags, along with Cooper's constant drone. The ban certainly took the wind out of the sails of the full size hi-cap guns and directed it toward other designs. How many new full size 9mm/.40s came out during the ban?

[markm]

The 1911 is like a classic car. People will always enjoy taking them out for a spin. I even keep one around. And every 5 to 10 years they come out with a mag that will finally make the design reliable.

I lived through that Clinton era and read the BS about how...

1. Everyone is carrying a much larger caliber because of the ban, and..

2. Our ARs are more accurate without the flash hiders/threaded barrels.

Both of those point were silly nonsense perpetuated by lunatic gun rag writers in a labored attempt to find unintended favorable aspects of the Ban.

[Dienekes]

Back when I was in the service and later an LEO, I carried what I was told to by my "betters". Sort of, most of the time.

Had the good fortune to sit down with a couple of the major "been there, done that" guys back in the day. They weren't very interested in what other people thought.

[one]

I don't think you're all that right. Your points are good and thought out but the truth of the matter is the 1911 has always been a staple of magazine covers, custom builds, and Jeff Cooper followers. Those that love it are like religious zealots when it comes to that pistol. And I've owned literally more 1911's than I can remember due to trades and sales. In fact right now I've got three. Most recent is a railed Springfield LW. So when I write all this I like the gun. I always have, even when cursing it over some failure or part that needed fitting.

In short the gun would have always been just about as popular as it is. It's virtually America's handgun.

Now as far as bans in the past that have affected advances in technology you can thank the MG ban of '86. With no market left for machineguns of new manufacture suppressor technology began to move well ahead with companies putting more money into quieter, stronger, and lighter cans.

The sad side of this is since most military small arms came out of development from the private sector, what potential great new weapon did we maybe miss because no one pursued an idea that could have become something entirely relevant?

[matemike]

How many new full size 9mm/.40s came out during the ban?

To further your question; how many of them sold?

OP: Your theory seems possible, but we'd need sales and revenue figures to see the facts.

[SteveS]

I am not sure I have anything to thank Bill Clinton for. Except the popularity of herpes.

[brickboy240]

Maybe in the same breath you can thank Dubya for allowing the high capacity mag ban to sunset.

This allowed us to return to our "wondernines" and other high capacity guns. Those guns (hi cap 45s included) also gained in popularity after the 10rd mag ban was lifted. Suddenly, it was appealing to buy Glocks and other pistols that could hold more than 10 rounds, without the worry of tracking down hard to find expensive pre ban 15rd mags.

Yep...thank Dubya while you're at it! LOL

-brickboy240