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Blogging to you from the Northeastern Badlands of The County of Lake, in the state currently known as Fatmanistan, DEEP DEEP DEEP DEEP DEEP inside the heartland of the Banana Republic formerly known as the USA, WELCOME TO THE NEXT CHAPTER! WARNING! ALL FORMS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ARE ADDICTIVE; EXCESSIVE USE MAY LEAD TO MENTAL HEALTH DISORDERS, REDUCED JOB PRODUCTIVITY, INSOMNIA, SOCIAL ALIENATION, GENITAL ULCERS, BLINDNESS, POLITICAL EROTICISM, AND / OR DEVIANT FUNAMBULISM. NOTICE: NO GUNS OR AMMUNITION ARE FOR SALE VIA THIS BLOG. (No, I will not trade my Colt Python for some lubricious adventures with your trophy wife and a future first-round draft pick.) CAVEAT: This blog is not suitable for viewing while at work, while inside a public library, while inside any public or private school, or while inside any public or private restroom. Do not view this blog while driving a motor vehicle or while piloting an aircraft. Viewing this blog may be illegal inside the EU, NYC, Chicago, Seattle, and other parts of the Third World. THIS BLOG CONTAINS (albeit often very childish) ADULT-CONTENT. DISCLAIMER: This blog is a hobby, it is not a livelihood. Even though much of what I blog about relates to firearms collecting and recreational shooting, I am not an expert (by any measure) on any facet of guns, shooting, hunting, or personal defense. Entries at this blog are akin to good old-fashioned campfire chats or post hunt bourbon-fueled barroom-bluster; I offer no opinion on what you should or should not purchase, or what you should be using or doing. What does or does not work for me could be rugged-country-miles away from your tastes and your needs. All products, places, and miscellany that I review for this blog are purchased / rented / leased at retail price by me. I do not accept payment, gifts, discounts, freebies, products on loan, distilled spirits, recreational pharmaceuticals, plea-bargains, probation, parole, Papal Blessings, Presidential Pardons, or sexual favors for doing any review or blog post. TRACKING COOKIES: Google et al stick tracking cookies on everybody. If you are online, you are being spied on via one method or another, for one reason or another; 'nuff said. You may be able to minimize your online DNA residue by using Tor and Duck Duck Go. Vive la liberté! Vive all y'all! Ante omnia armari. To each of you, thanks for stopping by!

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Springfield Armory 1911A1


Can you make a full size 1911 style pistol your “only gun,” suitable for both concealed-carry and home-defense? With a modicum of dedication, forethought, and a couple of good holsters, you probably can work it out. Although I have been shooting them for a “good long time,” it is well beyond my qualifications to venture into promoting or dismissing the 1911 as the “ultimate fighting pistol.” It is a fine design; if it works for you, cool, if not there is a world full of other handgun designs for you to choose from.

There was a time when Colt held the majority of the 1911 market. Since there was not much competition, new pistols became rather pricey and the quality disappointing. Some folks resorted to buying
military surplus pistols imported from other countries; some were quite affordable at the time but have since become scarce and spendy. Buying used pistols can be perilous; unless one is especially familiar with the mechanics of the design one can never be sure if critical parts have been “tuned up” by some dumbass. When all of the parts function as intended, the 1911 is a very safe and reliable tool, otherwise, it can be cantankerous or even downright treacherous. Thankfully, today it should be needless to look to the used gun market to find bargains on 1911 models. It is safe for me to speculate that more companies today are making variations of John Moses Browning’s 1911 semi-automatic pistol than at anytime in history. If you have decided to purchase a 1911 model, it would be hard not to find something new that fits your taste and budget. What calibers are available and which caliber is the best? The most popular caliber for the 1911 pistol is the .45 ACP, but there are numerous other choices available, among them are the .38 Super and the 10MM. I’ll let others argue as to which the best is.

Should you go with a bare-bones bargain model or push your budget for something superbly tuned like the
Wilson Combat CQB? It’s hard to go wrong by buying the best gun you can afford. Will a better gun make you a better shooter? While it is doubtful that a finely tuned pistol will ever hurt the skills of any shooter, I am unconvinced that one is essential for survival. If buying top-shelf means adding to an existing pile of family debt, go with the more affordable gun. Now, I can hear what’s coming next so please spare me from the “how much is your life worth?” cliché. We can’t all afford to move to gated communities guarded by heavily armed private security firms and we can’t all afford bodyguards and armored limos. A $2,000 - $5,000 pistol does not make a person either bulletproof or a master-class gunslinger. Each of us holds the price of life very dear but we can only do the best we can with the money that we have available. What we hanker for does not equal what we truly need.

After that rather loquacious opening, it is high time that I get to the subject of today’s post, the
Springfield Armory 1911A1 (SA now calls it the GI .45). How good are these low-end 1911 style pistols? My ever-humble opinion is that they are darn respectable. This is my second SA 1911A1, the first I sold to a needy young Sheriff’s Deputy for half of what it was worth, and he only paid me half of that amount before being dismissed from duty and disappearing with the gun and the rest of my money. In any case, I was so impressed with the reliability and accuracy of that pistol that I bought another. It is a no-frills 1911 style pistol with the standard ejection port and unbeveled magazine-well. I find the Springfield Armory Parkerized finish to be durable and attractive. It has the small Mil-Spec sights, forged barrel, frame, and slide. I believe SA gets all of the parts from Brazil and assembles the pistols in the USA; the fitting is quite good. While the different makers of the 1911 style pistols strive for the same look and feel as the Colts, often there are differences whereby some parts are not interchangeable. For example, the SA 1911A1.45 ACP in the above photo uses a .38 Super firing pin (smaller diameter). The dust cover and front strap appear to be thicker than on a Colt.

Without using a
Ransom Rest to do an “all-things-being-equal” test, I cannot say for sure how the accuracy of this pistol compares to my other 1911s. On the rare days when I impress myself by shooting consistent small, tight, groups, it is usually with this pistol. Most likely, there are nuances to this no-frills pistol that enhance my mediocre shooting skills. The fact that the sights are so small and hard to see may be an asset; perhaps I tend to use the sights casually instead of obsessively. I shoot more often with this pistol than with the others, so maybe my instincts are more in tune with it. I have not compared the actual weight of this pistol to the others by using a scale, but it feels perceptibly heavier so there may be less felt recoil and muzzle-flip. There is a noticeable area on the outside end of the barrel, sized to the inside of the bushing. This I believe enhances the accuracy more than a just smidgen.

Whether marketed as a bargain-gun or a high-end defensive masterpiece, a 1911 style pistol must reliably feed hollowpoint ammo or it is neither a bargain nor a masterpiece. I don’t ever remember having a jam of any sort with this pistol, but the majority of my shooting with it has been with ball ammo. If I were to move this pistol to home-security duty, I would need to prove its worthiness by exercising it with a goodly amount of quality hollowpoints. I have no doubt that it would measure up.

CLICK HERE for Xavier’s review of the Springfield Armory GI .45




7 comments:

  1. Greetings from Texas,
    You are speaking my launage here Zack. Rather than Springfield Armory I went with the Kahr Arms version. The two are interchangable from what I can tell.
    I had a problem with the hammer not falling to half cock when I used the slide release but they fixed it. The only complaint I could offer is (to me waiting to get my gun back) they seemed to take their sweet time with it. The folks at the gun shop told me had I bought the Springfiend I would have had it back in half the time. Having gotten my grumble out it hasn't given me a speck of trouble since.
    From my experence "Full Sized Americans" have no trouble conceling a full sized 1911. I have a stack of weapons that will fill the bill, but the 1911 is the one I feel most confortable with. I think it comes down to what you have made friends with and trust.

    ReplyDelete
  2. One of these was my very first gun, and is still my main defensive handgun. Living in New Jersey, where concealed carry is off the table and hollowpoints are "not exactly illegal but governed by confusing and deliberately burdensome regulations", the GI 1911 basically has no downside.

    The no-frills design philosophy may have one downside: when the gun shows you how much the basic package can do, it gives little encouragement for customizing. I feel so left out of the 1911 Legos game. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Elmo, thanks for stopping by and for your perspective of .45 ACP ball being an option in areas restricting hollowpoints; that fact slipped my mind.

    Best,

    Zack

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hey there Art!

    You are correct, people are best served by toting whatever they have total confidence in. I have a few holsters that make the 1911 an option for me... I'm just too lazy to want to carry any extra weight if I don't have to ;) Besides, in this state I am a felon if I mosey across my property line carrying anything...

    Best as always,

    Zack

    ReplyDelete
  5. Greetings from Texas,
    I was just rereading my comment and spotted a typo. I should have said "I had a problem with the hammer FALLING to half cock when I used the slide release but they fixed it."
    Truth is I often carry ".45 Ball". It always feeds well and military personal can attest it get's the job done even if the "flying ashtrays" do more dammage. I practice with both loads.

    ReplyDelete
  6. i've just discovered your blog today, while Googling the PSP-25. my girlfriend is the owner of a GI .45, in stainless steel, and i can attest to the fact that it has met or exceeded both our expectations, in terms of accuracy, and reliability.

    both of us are avowed 1911 lovers, and between the two of us, we own a few. my everyday carry is a Taurus PT1911, while hers is the Springfield (or Springer, as she refers to it). she seems to get more accuracy out of hers using 185 g. JHP rounds, although any ammo she feeds it works well.

    i look forward to expolring your blog, and reading about these wonderful tools.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Alexandre, it's good to have you stop by. Thanks! Stay safe.

    Best,

    Zack

    ReplyDelete

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