Who would you say was the gun culture figure whose name was most closely associated with the 1911-pattern pistol? Sure, yeah, John Moses Browning. OK, who would you say was the second most closely associated? We don’t think there would be a lot of debate were we to say Jeff Cooper. However, in addition to all the things he had to say about 1911s and the shooting thereof, there’s a quote of his related to the handgun biz in general. In answer to the question, “What’s it for?” regarding some unusual firearm, he’d quip, “To sell, of course.”
And that brings us to the pistol at hand, Springfield Armory’s Emissary model.
Initial reactions to the pistol from our more utilitarian-minded friends — even those who were avid closet fans of the 1911 pattern pistol — were extremely skeptical, if not more than a little dis-dainful. And it’s not hard to understand why. As
