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Faring better was Springfield Armory, a new commercial company that had acquired the name of the former government facility. Springfield began in 1985 with pistols that were essentially recreations of the WWII 1911A1. It continues as one of the major 1911 manufacturers. A few other 1911 pistols, such as the MP Express from Meister Products, were made for a short time and then went out of production. Interarms, the large importer, built over a thousand 45-caliber 1911 pistols on new frames using surplus GI parts. With a sly reference to Colt’s Gold Cup, the new pistols were marked and sold as the Interarms Silver Cup.

In 1985, a stir was created by the U. S. military selection of a 9mm service pistol. A version of the Beretta 92, with a 16-round magazine, was chosen. Even in the period of the wondernines, some old-timers were less than enthusiastic about the choice of cartridge. Thinking of the performance of the .45 during WWII, one remarked, “Now we have the pistol cartridge used by the countries defeated during the war.”