Posted: 5/22/2002 11:00:49 PM EDT
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Ok, I just read, on another post, that some of you do not know what ACP stands for. One person thinks it stands for "A Clean Plate".... For the Love of God !!!!! Both the .38 ACP & the .45 ACP came from Colt. The ACP stands for Automatic Colt Pistol. Any Questions? |
That's amazing? Are you sure? Can you help explain that for me? How did the development come about? I bet there's an interesting story behind all that. What's the history? Jim-just wanting to know. |
Ok, just from memory and I may be off. Old age you know. But I believe that with the dismal performance of the .38 in the Philippines that the military specified that the new Automatic Pistol's Cartridge performance was to be comparable to the .45LC cartridge that had proven itself so effective. Right/Wrong? I gave it my best shot 
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That's pretty much the story. The round that did so poorly though was the 38S&W (also known and the Colt 38 New Police and the Webley 380) and not our familar 38Special. The 45acp was actually introduced in 1906. The initial performance testing was done with revolvers. Both Colt and S&W produced revolvers chambered in the 45acp and the 45LC to be used to evaluate the cartridge. In 1908 the evaluations of the semi-automatics was begun and the evemtual winner was the Colt 1911. But the 38Super also did well and several of the Automatics were in contention right to the end. This may be one of the Original 45acp test revolvers delivered to the Army in 1905 or 1907. 
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For starters, the .38 S&W, .38 ACP, and the .38 Super are NOT the same cartridge. Second, Browning & Colt worked together on the 1906 Colt .45 ACP. It looks very close to the 1911 we all know and love. Also, the only reason they chambered revolvers in the new .45 ACP was to compare it more closely to the .45 Long Colt. As it turned out, Colt couldn't produce enough M-1911's for the coming War so they also re-chambered a large number of revolvers to fire the new cartridge. For a short second or two we almost adopted the 9mm as our military caliber in 1910 or some where in there. The Germans were having great luck with the Luger Semi auto pistols of the time. any way, I might be wrong on a date here or there but as far as I can remember that is what happened... If any body knows any more I would like to know more about the how and the why of it all. Hell, the .45 LC pushed a 250 grain bullet at about 600 to 700 FPS. That is only about 225 Ft Lbs of energy. My 10mm Glock 20 will push a 200 grain JHP at about 1260 FPS. That is a cool 700 Ft Lbs of energy. Now, think about this... there are 18 rounds in the gun ( 15 rnd magazine with +2 floor plate & 1 in the chamber ) Plus two 17 round spare mags in the spare ammo pouch. Before some one cries "spay'n pray" or some stupid bull pucky about "I ownly need the 6 in my wheele gun" , I will say this... survive a real shoot out, then you can talk your trash. Until then, I don't want to hear it. When copper & lead start flying I want as much on hand ammo as I can carry. I was once told, "The guy who runs dry first... usualy dies." As for the photo of the revolver in the post above.... That is not a period correct handgun. The front sight looks more like a newer model than 1905 or even 1917... Granted, I could be way off... I honestly do not know for sure, but my guess is that handgun is newer than 1930. And of course, I am not a big fan of revolvers. |
You'd lose on the date. One the COLT, the barrel is non-standard, the front sight is non-standard and the grips are custom made AND SERIAL NUMBERED to this revolver. You're right about the 38S&W, 38Super and 38acp are Not the same cartride. Not to sure why you might have thought anyone implied that. Sorry if we once again misled you. But I'm still pretty sure that acp stands for a clean plate. |
Altho there is evidence to support the claims that ACP stands for "Awesome Cillin' Power" or "Always Cappin' Peeps" I am confident it stands for "Army Cartridge Pistol".  |