A Legend of the Philippines - The Colt 45

During its campaign against the Moros, 1899 –1935, the U.S. Army adopted the Colt .45 Model 1911 semiautomatic pistol after American soldiers found that the .38 caliber New Army Long Colt and Smith and Wesson revolvers they had previously used were unable to stop the fierce Moro warriors of the Southern Philippines. Eyewitness accounts describe Moros continuing to kill American soldiers with their barongs and kris after receiving multiple rounds from the .38 pistols and .30 caliber Krag rifles. Realizing the Moro was tougher than any opponent previously encountered, the Army requested guns with more “knocking power” to physically shock and immobilize their opponents.

In 1904, Brigadier General William Crozier, Chief of Army Ordnance, requested a study to determine what caliber would be best to serve this need in a new service handgun. The research led to the recommendation of a cartridge with a caliber of no less than .45.

In selecting a new model for the gun itself, designs from several manufacturers were examined. The choices were narrowed down to two candidates including the Colt. On March 15, 1911, an endurance test was held having each gun fire 6000 rounds. Afterwards, the pistols were then tested using deformed cartridges, which had been rusted in acid and submerged in sand and mud. By the end of the test, the competing design suffered over 37 incidents of malfunction or breakage, but the Colt never failed even once.

Thereafter, the Colt design known as the United States Pistol, Caliber .45, Model 1911 became an icon of Philippine and American history as it was adopted on March 29, 1911 and served the U.S. Armed Forces for decades.

Five Facts about the Colt 45 M1911:

1. The 45 in .45 caliber refers to the .45 inch diameter of the cartridge also known as the round or slug.

2. Following its adoption by the Army, the M1911 was also accepted by the Navy and the Marines and became the official sidearm of the US Armed Forces.

3. The Colt .45 M1911 was designed by legendary gunsmith John Browning who invented a variety of pump and automatic shotguns, rifles, and the Browning .50 caliber Machine Gun, as well as most of the .30 cal and .50 cal machine guns produced by Colt and used in WW II.

4. Although minor modifications were made, the essential M1911 design continued to be used by the U.S. Armed Forces until 1985.

5. In selecting the .45, the Army tested several types of handguns, calibers and bullet styles on live cattle, deer and human cadavers.

How many waves in a Keris?

Currently we are designing an aluminum training keris for Kali Gear. What we would like to produce is something that represents the very recognizable Indonesian keris shape and feel. The challenge is that there are in fact over 145 different distinct shapes of keris catalogued in central Java alone. The hard part is deciding which one to make first.

Although the keris comes in many shapes and sizes, whether straight or wavy, every keris has some standard attributes. Two of the main characteristics that describe the physical aspects of the keris are the dapur, (the blade shape) and the pamor, which is the surface patterning resulting from the damascening of iron, steel and often nickel or titanium. Since our keris will be made of aluminum as a training blade, we will focus primarily on the dapur.

A keris can be straight or it can have waves, known as luk. Typical keris luk (wavy keris) designs range from 3 – 13 waves, but keris can also have up to 29 luk. Keris always have an odd number of luk, and the number of luk can determine some of the mystical properties of the blade. Our keris will likely have 15 luk, which bears no specific mystical significance. See the sketch to get and idea of the coming prototype. The number of luk a keris has, can be counted from the base of the blade. Start at the bottom edge and count inside the depressions, while alternating sides, until reaching the top.
A real keris is made by an empu who in addition to physically making the blade, will chant mantra and prayers, meditate, fast from sleep, food and sex. This process is to enrich the blade with mystical powers and tailor it for the owner. I’m sorry, but if all goes well, we will not be skipping any meals or missing out on life to make this training keris for you. Nonetheless, we hope to capture as much as we can of the primary keris features while still making a simple training blade. Any ideas you have on this design or others are welcome.