laststandonzombieisland

So you say you want a 1911-style gun in a compact loading. Well, we say take a look at the SIG Sauer P238, and you just may have a smile on your face.

For story behind the story, let us go back to John Browning and his famous Colt Model 1911. Known by most as simply the Government model .45, this longslide single-action pistol was beefy. In fact, to carry around its 7+1 rounds of .45ACP, the gun tipped the scales at 39-ounces (unloaded) and was an impressive 8.25-inches long. Almost as soon as it came out, people tried to make smaller, more compact versions of the gun for those special social moments.

The Spanish firm of Bonifacio Echeverria (better known as Star) built compact versions in both 9mm and .380. This lead to the Mexican firm of Armas Trejo SA producing their own shrunken 1911 clones in .380ACP and .22LR throughout the 1960s. Then in 1986, Colt finally caught on and produced the Mustang. This was a (wait for it) 1911 that had been scaled down to fire .380ACP. Only 5.5-inches long and about 13-ounces, it could carry six shots. Sadly by 1996 Colt has stopped production of the Mustang, Star had shuttered their doors a decade earlier, and Trejo was shut down by the Mexican government long before. This left no one in the downsized 1911 business. That is when the Swiss stepped in.

Read the rest in my column at University of Guns.com