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Still, the lackluster performance of the three Hand Ejectors prompted a search for information about the handgun accuracy standards of either the British, or U.S. Armies during World War One. Checking the assorted reference material on my bookshelves proved relatively unproductive. Charles Pate’s excellent and very comprehensive book, U.S.Handguns of World War II, contains copies of United States Army specifications for secondary pistols and revolvers used in the Second World War. The accuracy requirements for .38 caliber revolvers, both .38 Special and .38-200, are described in a memorandum dated January 26, 1944. The memo reads: “Revolvers shall be tested for accuracy by firing six shots at a 2-¾ inch bull’s-eye, 15 yards from the muzzle. An arm rest shall be used, and sights held at six o’clock. All the shots shall be in or cutting the bull’s-eye. Full loads shall be used.”

While this circa 1944 memo was helpful, it didn’t address the question of military handgun accuracy standards during the First World War. Failing to find reference to the subject in my resources, I consulted one of the foremost authorities on such matters, firearms historian and author, again Charles Pate. Mr. Pate graciously informed me that in all of his research he had never come across any documentation dealing with World War One military standards of handgun accuracy for either revolvers, or the Model 1911 pistol. I asked him if the U.S. Army had a set of criteria for rejecting Model 1911s. He said they did, but poor accuracy wasn’t one of them.