Welcome everyone to a new feature that we're calling the Saigon Report. During this video series we're going to discuss in detail demonstrate and fire weapons that we use during the Vietnam era. Now today we're going to talk about the standard issue sight arm during the Vietnam War and that would be the M1911 A1 pistol. What is significant about the M1911 A1 pistol? Well if you didn't know this was the first semi-automatic magazine fed fire arm handed down to the M1911 A1 pistol. Now before this it was all revolvers. Specifically the firearm that this replaced was the 1892 Navy Army revolver in 38 cult. Now you should know if you don't that the M1911 A1 was chambered in the 45 ACP which stands for automatic cult pistol. What was significant about this? Well number one up to this point all the Army sight arms either held five or six rounds. This one held seven in the magazine plus one in the chamber single column magazine. Yes the original 1911 magazines only held seven. Yes it was seven. Yes it was like yeah but my 1911 holds eight. I got that because they redesigned the followers. But the originals held seven rounds of 230 grain ball ammunition right there. Now what you may not know is when John Browning designed this gun. He designed it so that it could be taken apart field stripped by the average private PFC in the field using only the bottom of their magazine. If you didn't know you could take the bottom base pad of this magazine and push it right there and it fits perfectly. That's something that Browning did very deliberately. If you're going to issue a firearm to soldiers to troops to the Navy to the Marines whatever you want to make sure that they don't need a tool to disassemble it in the field to clean it. Now obviously there are armorers who are going to detail strip them and take them apart and so forth but for average in the field maintenance right. Just GI Joe and he's out in the desert he's in the woods he's in the jungle he needs to take it apart and clean it oil it a little bit. You don't want that guy to have to have a tool a special tool because what have we learned over the years we've learned that GI Joe will lose the tool. If you make a specific tool for that gun when he needs it it won't be there trust me I know. So what else is unique and special about this gun? Well it has if you guys didn't know a manual safety on this side right here you got a manual thumb safety you have a grip safety right there and it is a single action pistol. Unlike most of your modern firearms this one was single action and how you were taught to carry it at least when I was in the United States Marine I was taught to carry it chamber empty magazine inserted loaded in the holster. Now you say why would you want to do that because safety because safety now if you're going to be in an area where you knew you're going to encounter the enemy obviously you would load it up completely. So let's see how you can pull the hammer back put the manual safety on and carry it like that let's talk about how you would carry your gun if you look on my side right here you will see an all leather black flap holster. Now in World War 2 the leather was brown the one main change between World War 2 Korea and Vietnam was all the brown leather was transitioned over to black leather. Essentially the holsters were the same they went from brown to black and they've got ubiquitous US on them flap holsters with a tie down how many people tied them down to their legs I'm guessing not many. Who would carry this? Well obviously officers and NCOs would carry this a handgun was not normally standard issue for troops in the field PFC's privates and so forth. If you were on a vehicle crew you would be issued a handgun if you were on a crew served weapon crew for instance you carried the M60 machine gun you were a mortar man or so forth you would be issued one of these but the average grunt the average rifleman would not carry a pistol. Something else that the 1911 pistol was very famous for was used by the tunnel rat and a tunnel rat wasn't a specific MOS you didn't join the army or the Marine Corps and they said okay from this point forward you're going to be a tunnel rat. If you were a small slight of frame person you ended up being a tunnel rat. If you were 6 foot 2 230 pounds you probably weren't going down into a tunnel. But if you were 5 foot 8 or 5 foot 7 only way to about a buck 55 guess what you were going down into the tunnel and what would you use you would use a 1911 a1 pistol and your standard GI Joe green angle head flashlight. Now this one's got a red lens on it you take the red leads off and you can make it a white lens and you say but Paul those angle head flashlights are made of plastic they're probably pretty flimsy right. Well let me tell you a little story I can tell you for a fact that the angle head flashlight with 2D batteries in it weighs about a pound or so and will split a man's skull. Take that to the bank I've seen it happen I know that it can happen and you can split a man's skull and still turn the light on and use it. The tunnel rats no sure fires back then no super cool LED bulbs and incandescent bulb angle head flashlight and your 1911 that's what you had to go down into the tunnels and they did it all the time every day. Ladies and gentlemen the 1911 a1 the first semi automatic magazine fed handgun issued to the US Army Marine Corps Navy Air Force and used in Vietnam. .