The idea is captured in the early scenes of the movie “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen”. In Britain there were “things that are done” and there were “things that just aren’t done”. However, in Britain there was a rather different culture than the United States or Europe. and even the ultra conservative British decided to develop automatic pistols of their own. Not only the Colt 1911, but the Luger (such as the P-08 of 1908), and pistols from Steyr, Mannlicher, Beretta, Glisenti etc. The original classic designs almost all date from this period. The beginning of the twentieth century was the time of the birth of the automatic pistol. Thus it was that John M Browning was asked to re-design his pistol around a 45 calibre cartridge and the Colt 1911 was born. It took practical experience in the Philippine-American War of 1899-1902 to convince the US Army that nothing less than a 45 calibre produced the stopping power they found necessary when coming against highly motivated tribesmen, who had often used drugs to both raise their level of aggression and to reduce their perception of pain. Hence John Moses Browning’s early automatic pistol was chambered for the 38 ACP (Automatic Colt Pistol). Thus as we began the twentieth century the British army was settled on the 45 calibre as essential for the stopping power demanded whilst our “Cousins across the pond” in the United States were considering the 38 calibre. The company supplied the colonial British Army and Navy with revolvers that, though they were described with typical British self deprecation as “Wobbly Webleys”, earned themselves a reputation for reliability and stopping power against determined foes from Africa to Afghanistan. One of the most influential of the British gun makers was Webley and Scott. As a schoolboy growing up near London I was told at school that “The British are best at everything” and at the time I believed it, not least because the people all around me seemed to believe it so in my school boy mind I knew it to be true. In such an environment where soldiers, sailors, sportsmen and women were putting the products of Britain’s gun makers to the test, and often to the test in life and death circumstances, that the British developed both firearm and ammunition technology that attained near legendary status. The British Gun Trade grew up in the economic boom of the British Empire, providing the rifles and pistols for the army and navy, and firearms for the sportsmen and women both at home and in the exotic far reaches of Britain’s colonies.
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