I believe the M1917 was used minimally by the Marines in the Pacific during World War II.
Anyhow, it doesn't matter who produced it first, it matters who produces the model you're talking about. The gun has a designation (1911/A1) and that designation is the true name. You can call it a .45 so long as it takes .45 Caliber ammo, that's fine, it lives up to the pseudonym there, but not all of the 1911s are Colt made, so saying any old 1911 is a Colt, a Colt .45, or even a Colt 1911/A1 is tipping the scale to Colt, I feel unfairly, who just so happened to produce it first. Other companies followed suit during World War II and made their own. It's really about the connotation that Colt was the best because it was the first. If you have a Colt made 1911, Call it a Colt 1911, cause it IS a Colt 1911, hell, you can even be satisfied that it is the original, the Colt, but don't pick up a Para or a RIA and say "WOO A COLT 1911", because it's not, it's just a 1911. The fact that the gun is a 1911, the first great automatic pistol, should give you that warm and toasty feeling, not saying "Colt 1911" when it isn't one manufactured by Colt, just a copy of the design made by some guy who just so happened to give it to Colt.
Also I mean no disrespect to veterans or most gun people who have used the term Colt .45 or Colt in the past, but nowadays we should consider our vernacular and be true to what we really mean and what is meant, rather than just saying what everyone else says.
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