The Pistol That Almost Beat the Colt 1911: The .45 Savage Model 1907

The US Army had been embroiled in a long search for a satisfactory new service pistol since the last decade of the 19th Century.  The .38 calibre revolvers, such as the Colt Army Model 1892 Double Action, used during the Spanish American War and the Philippine Insurrection had proven themselves ineffective at close quarters, often failing to provide adequate stopping power even after several shots.  In 1905 the Thompson-LaGarde tests had found that .45 calibre was the optimal round for stopping power.

A series of tests conducted by the US Army Board of Musketry between 1906 and 1911 saw up to 20 manufacturers asked to submit designs. Manufacturers including Webley, Colt, DWM (Luger), Mauser, Smith & Wesson and Savage. By 1907 the selection of pistols had been narrowed down to half a dozen. From these emerged three, the Savage 1907, designed by Elbert Searle, facing off against the Colt-Browning 1911 and the Luger.  The commercial Savage 1907 was originally cambered in .32 but like all pistols seriously considered it was up-scaled to accept the much larger .45 ACP round, however the pistol’s magazine still managed to hold 10 rounds, 3 more than the Colt.  It also incorporated a grip safety which was a direct request from the Army. During the tests the pistols were rigorously tested with 6,000 rounds being put through each of them.  As well as being exposed to mud, dirt, water and sandy conditions.  The Luger and Savage were not able to match the reliability of the 1911 and the Colt-Browning was subsequently selected.  

John Browning’s Colt M1911 (source)

During the extensive testing problems with both pistols became obvious with the Colt having some weaknesses and problems with the hardening of the barrel. However, the Savage’s flaws also became obvious with evaluating officers complaining that it has a poorly designed ejector, the grip safety pinched the operator’s hand, the grip panels broke and fell off and the slide stop and magazine catch were difficult to operate and magazines deformed from use and the trigger pull was too heavy.

Savage produced 200 M1907s in .45ACP for the tests. Compared to the Colt-Browning they look radically different  They were also used a slightly more complex action which made them more expensive to produce costing $65 per pistol to produce compared to the $25 it cost to build a Colt 1910.  

While the US Army declined to adopted the M1907 approximately 50,000 pistols were manufactured for the French Army during WWI.  Additionally the Savage 1907 was extremely popular with the civilian market with more produced than it’s rival the Colt 1903 Pocket.

The Savage was a well balanced, fast firing pistol with superior magazine capacity, but for stoppages during final testing in March 1911 and a preference for Browning’s simpler, more robust design the Savage 1907 could have been America’s service pistol throughout the 20th century instead of the legendary Colt-Browning 1911.

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Images Source

The 1907 Pistol Trial, Shooting Sports USA, Feb. 2001 (source)