I had a few people ask me recently as to the differences between the M1911 and M1911A1, as well as what makes a 1911 a GI Longslide or a Commander, or Officer; 70 series or 80, so I put this together.
For more detail on how to speak 1911, check out the article below in my column over at Guns.com
https://www.guns.com/news/2019/11/14/how-to-speak-1911-holding-class-on-the-evolutionary-differences
John Moses Browning’s celebrated 1911 design was adopted by the U.S. military just in time for World War I and soon after Colt began to respond to feedback to tweak the gun for further use. In January 1932, Colt responded to the common fine tuning done to service pistols by military marksmen at the National Match competitions in Camp Perry by introducing the National Match series of accurized 1911s that offered upgrades such as hand-fitted internals, match barrels, checked triggers and mainspring housings and adjustable sights. This model proved popular until it was suspended in 1942 due to the pressing needs of World War II.
In 1957, Colt rebooted the concept as the “Gold Cup National Match” line and has retained the terminology ever since.
Fundamentally, these guns have been the benchmark for right-out-of-the-box competition pistols for more than a half-decade with Colt long describing them as “the finest shooting semi-automatic in the world.”
Check out a sweet spread that covers several decades of these classics in my column at Guns.com.