Next in the Phil Noir series is the Colt 1911.

For those new to our play on words, Phil Noir is a take on Film Noir. And what is film noir? A "cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas"--the all-time classic example being The Maltese Falcon.

As the 1911 story goes, American troops ran into trouble during the Philippine-American War. Apparently the Colt .38 Long revolver was having little effect upon their adversaries. In response, the Army went in search of a .45 caliber semi-auto. Colt, along with five other firearm manufacturers, submitted their designs and the M1911 was born.

So effective was the 1911 that it saw service in World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and even Desert Storm.

That's all we're going to give away! For the full scoop, join National Firearms Museum Senior Curator Phil Schreier at 10:20 p.m. EST during this week's segment of Curator's Corner on NRANews.com or Sirius Patriot 144.