STI International, manufacturers of custom 1911 pistols, produced a very detailed and effective flash animation of the the workings of this platform back in about 2005. This is shown below and it has numerous features that permit different views. To permit viewing larger you can download the file for viewing in an application such as Irfanview, which is freeware. (It does require having the Flash plug-in for watching -- available here, latest version.)

There are four control columns which can be manipulated. By default when the file loads everything external is shown. Experiment and discover just how much can be seen of the mechanical function at different levels. For anyone unfamiliar with John Moses Browning's classic semi-automatic platform, this will easily demonstrate the rugged simplicity of the design.

• Column #1 -- "SPLIT": Selecting this gives a cutaway section effect
• Column #2 -- "ALPHA": Similar to "SPLIT" but foreground areas are given alpha transparency.
• Column #3 -- "HIDE": This of course hides (removes) the selected section.
• Column #4 -- "SHOW": This will reinstate any section or sections previously altered.