Talk:M1911 pistol

for whoever insists on the word nomeclature: A nomenclature is a system of naming. "M1911" is a name or designation, based on military nomenclature, which often names equipment after the year it is adopted.

I prefer the term "designation" and would like to see it stick. Thanks for adding it.

Weight v. mass

I agree that it is correct in a technical sense to speak of the weapon's "'mass,'" it is to a certain extent "'weight'" that is the issue here; i.e. the force the weapon would exert if you were to hold or carry it. Thus I left weight in place when I revised the article. Also, at least in American firearms literature, the only time I have seen the word 'mass' used (however correct it might be in other places) is when referring to the slide or other moving parts within the blowback mechanism, which move during the firing cycle by absorbing the recoil (opposite the bullet's direction of travel) force. But ... I have left it, since you are technically correct, and I suppose there's no reason to follow that convention, since it is not really based on anything.

Also you will notice that I reordered the English and metric units; this was for two reasons. Firstly, it was because all the other dimensions are listed in English first, then metric -- but before you go and reorder all of them! -- it was more importantly because the English units are the ones actually taken from the weapon's specifications, and the metric ones were converted from those (introducing some rounding error). So therefore I think it is correct to keep them this way, since the English ones are in this case "measured" and the metric "derived" quantities. Come to think of it, there should really be 'approximately equal to' (aka tilde or ~) signs in front of the metric quantities, probably.

Perhaps the next time I have my 1911 out, I will measure it and come up with some more precise figures. Also, although I applaud whoever uploaded the folder for their effort, I think it would be nice to have something which IMO is more representative of the brilliance and beauty of the design. I'll see what I can do.