Enter the .45 Auto Rim in 1920, just a .45 ACP case with a small rim added. That gave the gun makers (especially S&W) the impetus to design large, target revolvers built around it. With the rim, the case behaved like any other revolver case. Those S&W guns were top-notch, the am...
They used donated human cadavers, live cattle, and other targets to test the ammunition’s effectiveness –grisly, but it gave them the data they needed. The Army eventually adopted the New Service revolver,caliber .45 Colt, in 1909 as the official sidearm before the M1911’s adoption came a...