Rare Colt SSP Experimental Military Semi-Automatic Pistol
A rare example of the Colt Model SSP Automatic Pistol. Only a handful of these SSP models were ever actually made (estimated at somewhere around 30-50 pistols total) by Colt in response to the Department of Defense solicitation for a new service pistol to replace the Model 1911A1. The original Colt Model 1971, as it was called, was designed and developed by the Research and Development Department of Colt Industries just prior to 1971/72-time frame and displayed some very unique features; namely it had a double stacked magazine, hammer block safety, single and double action mechanism, and a stainless-steel slide and frame. Colt's intentions with this pistol were two-fold; one for it to be the next evolution of the famous Model 1911A1 pistol, with new updated features, like the double action mechanism and double stack magazine capacity intended to help Colt's sagging US commercial and world-wide sales; second to compete on any future U.S. Army solicitation requirement to replace the aging M1911A1 pistols.
The Model 1971 pistol nomenclature continued for several years until the late 1970s, where it was changed to the "SSP" (Stainless Steel Pistol) when the U.S. Government announced its intentions to replace the Model 1911A1. A similar version of this SSP handgun (only in 9mm) was submitted by Colt on two different occasions to the U.S. Government for testing and evaluation against the new XM9 performance specification requirements. The first time was in early 1980, and the second time was in early 1984 |
