I like a Government model because it's an old school, big bore chunk of steel with an external hammer,......that's designed to last forever. It's definitely a pistol made for a man.

I read an article years ago about how much handguns were valued by soldiers in WW1.A 1911 was gold to the soldiers who were lucky enough to have one,...for fairly obvious reasons. When things got up close and personal in a trench, a long, bolt action rifle was hard to use. The Germans in WW1 would sharpen the edges of their entrenching tools and use them as battle axes when the enemy would come piling in the trenches with them rather than try to use their rifles.

A dependable big bore handgun was a big step up from a battle ax in the trenches. 1909 Colt .45 revolvers as well as the 1917 S&W's and Colts chambered for .45 ACP were very valued implements. Even a lot of single action Colt .45's found their was to the American occupied trenches. But a 1911 was the holy grail of handguns in WW1.

The way I hear it,..if a soldier had one on him when he got either killed of wounded, he got relieved of it by the first Doughboy who came along.

The rifles of that period were good for shooting across no man's land. But when the wolf was at the door, the big bore handguns ruled the day,...and the 1911 was as good as it got for that situation back then.