Khaki Posted 23 May , 2012 Share Posted 23 May , 2012 Has anyone read what WSC carried during his time on the Western Front, was it a standard .455 or did he continue with his Mauser of earlier days despite it being a German arm. Considering his personality I would have thought that he would have preferred something unconventional, maybe a Webley Fosbury/ Webley Auto or maybe a 1911 in 455 auto. khaki Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David B Posted 23 May , 2012 Share Posted 23 May , 2012 Khaki, according to the blurb about the Churchill website he carried a Colt .45 automatic 60 (whatever that is). I had a look at the site but couldn't find any reference but may have missed it as the site is rather large. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyE Posted 23 May , 2012 Share Posted 23 May , 2012 Apparently before he went to France Churchill purchased a Colt Government Model in .45ACP, probably from the London Armoury Company, the Colt UK agents. Quite what the website means by "60" I have no idea! Regards TonyE Edit: I found the reference on the Churchill site. There is a full stop missing after ".45 Colt Automatic" and the "60" refers to the next reference! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevem49 Posted 23 May , 2012 Share Posted 23 May , 2012 He should have been carrying a lot of guilt after Gallipoli. SM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khaki Posted 23 May , 2012 Author Share Posted 23 May , 2012 The concept of "Gallipoli campaign" may have been Churchills, but I doubt whether he was involved in the overall military planning of the campaign in detail. Stll someone has to take the blame, and he was the one. khaki Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khaki Posted 23 May , 2012 Author Share Posted 23 May , 2012 Very interesting that he purchased a 1911 in 45acp, I wasn't surprised by the handgun but I would have thought that it would have been in 455 auto. I wonder what happened to the pistol, does anyone know? khaki Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikB Posted 24 May , 2012 Share Posted 24 May , 2012 Very interesting that he purchased a 1911 in 45acp, I wasn't surprised by the handgun but I would have thought that it would have been in 455 auto. I wonder what happened to the pistol, does anyone know? khaki I expect there's a dozen places you could buy it from, complete with Certificate Of Authenticity... Regards, MikB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyE Posted 24 May , 2012 Share Posted 24 May , 2012 Very interesting that he purchased a 1911 in 45acp, I wasn't surprised by the handgun but I would have thought that it would have been in 455 auto. I wonder what happened to the pistol, does anyone know? khaki Churchill purchased his Colt from the London Armoury Company (Colt's London agent) in 1915, presumably around the time he resigned from the Government on November 15th and returned to active duty on November 18th. His pistol was serial number C15566 and was one of 200 that had been shipped by Colt to the London Armoury Co. on 19th July 1915. Coincidentally, in the same shipment from Colt were the first 200 .455 S.L. Colt Government Model pistols serial numbered in the range W19001 to W19733 (the W prefix for Webley calibre).No further .455 calibre pistols were shipped until January 1916. There are a number of possible reasons why Churchill had a .45 ACP pistol: He simply wanted one in that calibre. By the time he bought his pistol, LAC had sold all the .455 inch weapons. The Ministry of Munitions had purchased them, although the first known purchase is 1916. Since the LAC records are long lost and the Ministry records are incomplete we shall never know. Regards TonyE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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