In December, 1917, the Remington Arms-Union Metallic Cartridge Co. was instructed to prepare for the manufacture of 150,000 automatics, Colt model 1911, at a rate to reach a maximum production of 3,000 per day. Considerable difficulty was experienced in obtaining the necessary drawings and designs, because the manufacture of these pistols at the Colt Co. plant had been largely in the hands of expert veteran mechanics, who knew tricks of fitting and assembling not apparent in the drawings. The result was that the drawings in existence were not completely representative of the pistols. Finally complete plans were drawn up that covered all details and gave interchangeability between the parts of pistols produced by the Remington Co. and those by the Colt Co., which was the goal sought.
During the summer of 1918 in order to fill the enormously increased pistol requirements of the American Expeditionary Forces, contracts for the Colt automatic were given to the National Cash Register Co., at Dayton, Ohio; the North American Arms Co., Quebec; the Savage Arms Co., Utica, N. Y.; Caron Bros., Montreal; the Burroughs Adding Machine Co., Detroit, Mich.; the Winchester Repeating Arms Co., New Haven, Conn.; the Lanston Monotype Co., Philadelphia, Pa.; and the Savage Munitions Co., San Diego, Calif.
All of these concerns, none of which had ever before produced the .45-caliber pistol, were proceeding energetically with their preparations for manufacture when the armistice came to cancel their contracts. No pistols were ever obtained from any except the Colt's Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Co. and the Remington Arms-Union Metallic Cartridge Co.
Difficulty was experienced in securing machinery to check the walnut grip for the pistols, and to avoid delay in production the Ordnance Department authorized the use of Bakelite for pistol grips in all the new plants which were to manufacture the gun. Bakelite is a substitute for hard rubber or amber, invented by the eminent chemist Dr. Baekeland.
At the outbreak of the war the Army owned approximately 75,000 .45-caliber automatic pistols. At the signing of the armistice there had been produced and accepted since April 6, 1917, a total of 643,755 pistols and revolvers. The production of pistols was 375,404 and that of revolvers 268,351. In the four months prior to November 11, 1918, the average daily production of automatic pistols was 1,993 and of revolvers 1,233. This was at the yearly production rate of approximately 600,000 pistols and 370,000 revolvers. These pistols were produced at an approximate cost of $15 each.
| Pistols. | Revolvers. | Total pistols and revolvers. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colt. | Remington U.M.C. | Total pistols. | Colt. | Smith & Wesson. | Total revolvers. | ||
| Apr. 6 to Dec. 29, 1917 | 58,500 | 58,500 | 20,900 | 9,513 | 30,413 | 88,913 | |
| January, 1918 | 11,000 | 11,000 | 8,700 | 7,500 | 16,200 | 27,200 | |
| February, 1918 | 14,500 | 14,500 | 8,800 | 8,550 | 17,350 | 31,850 | |
| March, 1918 | 21,300 | 21,300 | 11,800 | 12,400 | 24,200 | 45,500 | |
| April, 1918 | 22,400 | 22,400 | 10,400 | 10,650 | 21,050 | 43,450 | |
| May, 1918 | 35,000 | 35,000 | 11,100 | 12,150 | 23,250 | 58,250 | |
| June, 1918 | 37,800 | 37,800 | 11,100 | 14,250 | 25,350 | 63,150 | |
| July, 1918 | 39,800 | 39,800 | 11,600 | 11,555 | 23,155 | 62,955 | |
| August. 1918 | 40,400 | 40,400 | 11,300 | 13,358 | 24,658 | 65,058 | |
| September, 1918 | 32,100 | 640 | 32,740 | 11,100 | 12,650 | 23,750 | 56,490 |
| October, 1918 | 42,300 | 3,881 | 46,181 | 13,500 | 16,675 | 30,175 | 76,356 |
| November, 1918 | 45,800 | 4,102 | 49,902 | 11,900 | 12,660 | 24,560 | 74,462 |
| December, 1918 | 24,600 | 4,529 | 29,129 | 9,500 | 11,400 | 20,900 | 50,029 |
| Total | 425,500 | 13,152 | 438,652 | 151,700 | 153,311 | 305,011 | 743,663 |
CHAPTER XII.
SMALL-ARMS AMMUNITION.
Prior to the war with Germany the Ordnance Department, in providing .30-caliber ammunition for our Army rifles and machine guns, had thought in terms of millions and had placed its ammunition orders on that scale. But when hostilities were at hand and steel and walnut were being assembled into rifles to arm the indefinitely increasing millions of Yankee soldiers that we would send and keep on sending to Europe until victory was ours, small-arms ammunition stepped out of the million class and became an industry whose units of production were reckoned by the billion.