Gun Digest 1911 Special

Superior Firearms Begin With Superior Components Uselton Arms builds the fnest custom built 1911’s on the planet. And we build them one at a time in Franklin, TN. With many classic 1911 styles and fve calibers and option, Uselton Arms will build your custom 1911 pistol you have been dreaming about.

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THE GSR: SIG QUALITY IN A 1911

OUT FRONT WITH DAN WESSON’S POINTMAN 7 BIG GREEN IN THE 1911 GAME: A LOOK AT REMINGTON’S R1

LOOK TWICE:

TAKE ON:

AT THE DOUBLESTAR 191 1911 1

And to celebrate the 100th Anniversary o the 1911, Uselton Arms oers you the 100 Year Anniversary Custom 1911 Pistol Limited Edition Limited to 100 Ofcers Models and 100 Government Models Match Sets Available

Uselton Arms, Inc. 390 Southwinds Drive Franklin, TN 37064 615-595-2255 [email protected] www.useltonarmsinc.com

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EDITOR’S SHOT

| Kevin Michalowski

GunDigest The World’sForemosT

100 Years and Still Going Is there really a Debate?

4 Champion Springfeld’s 4-Inch 1911 Is A Shooter. By Bob Campbell

8 Doublestar’s 1911 Worth the Wait Doublestar’s 1911 Is Ready or Action. By Kevin Michalowski

10 Pointman Seven Dan Wesson/CZ USA Model 1911 Government 45 ACP. By L.P. Brezny

1911 17 Sig’s Tactica l 1911 Sig Sauer gets into the 1911 market with an emphasis on cratsmanship, perormance and quality parts. By Bob Campbell

20 Back in the Game

the shootoing public. Oddly there are more makers o 1911 pistols than in anytime during the previous 99 years. Many o those makers are acing production backlogs because demand continues to outpace supply. A good pistol rom a good maker is a hot commodity and no one seems to mind that the basic design is 100 years old. It still works. And whether you want a ght-stopper One Good Idea or a tack-driving target target pistol, the 1911 Te 1911 pistol sprang rom sever- delivers. al earlier models, all o which showed promise but came up short one way One Little Piece or another. As John Moses Browning tweaked and changed this part or that We can’t hope to capture all that the the nal version came to lie, won the 1911 is on these pages. Entire books pistol trials and was named the primary have been written about the pistol, this sidearm o the U.S. military. Tis all company publishes several o them, and happened when the cavalry charge was the world has more opinions on the still an accepted military tactic. 1911 pistol than any other rearm. But From that one good idea rose an we can pause or a while to take a look entire industry designed to wring the at what many people consider the greatmaximum perormance rom a pistol est pistol ever produced. And the more design that by all reports has its short- we look, the more we see. comings. Still, the idea that no one has ever set a 1911 pistol on a table and Good Shooting, said, “Tere! It’s done.” is a test ament to those who love the gun and continue to

How many other products can you name that maintain devoted ollowing or 100 years? Tink o it, a century o service with no sign o slowing down. Tat alone speaks volumes or the 1911 pistol. But the idea that shooters keep buying pistols o this design is nothing short o amazing.

Gun AuThoriTy

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KEvIn MIchalOWSKI assoite Edito

anDy BElMaS Desig

TOM nElSEn Oie Edito

cOrEy Graff comists

BrIan MccOMBIE, M.D. JOhnSOn WalT haMpTOn, phIllIp pETErSOn DavE WOrKMan, DavE MOrEllI Dan ShIDElEr, ScOTT frEIGh, KEvIn MuraMaTSu adetisig Ses 888-457-2873

BrucE WOlBErG x13403 [email protected] [email protected]

STEvE DOnarSKI x13406 [email protected] Steve [email protected]

MISSy BEyEr x13642 [email protected] [email protected] adetisig assistt

BETTy aanSTaD Eetoi pbitios e sei-iteest odtios o Gun DIGEST ThE MaGaZInE (ISSn: 1938-5943), coigt 2010 Kse pbitios,  diisio o f+W Medi, I, 700 E Stte Steet, Io, WI 54990. Gun DIGEST ThE MaGaZInE d its ogo e egisteed tdemks. Ote mes d ogos eeed to o dised i editoi o detisig otet m be tdemked o oigted. Te pbise d detises e ot ibe o togi eos tt m e i ies o desitios i detisemets.









CAMPbELL ❱❱ by bOb CAMPbELL

he positive attributes o the 1911 Government Model are well known. Tey include: A low bore axis that limits muzzle ip; a grip that ts most hands well; a slide lock saety that alls readily under the thumb, straight to the rear trigger compression and excellent reliability. Te 1911 is my handgun, but I realize the 1911 is not perect. Te most valid criticism is weight. A number o pistols have been

cern. All these elements impact reliability and must be accounted or. So, who makes a solid 4-inch. 1911? Springeld Armory, o course. Te Springeld Champion is among the most successul o the short .45s. Te Champion relies upon technology originally de veloped by US Army gunsmiths in perecting the Ocer’s Model, a pistol specically designed or issue to eld grade ocers.









Oered in several styles and nishes, Springeld Armory’s Champion series...

Te Champion eatures Novak low-mount sights. Our test pistol included ritium inserts. Te Champion also eatures a speed saety and a beavertail grip saety. rigger compression is a smooth and creep-ree 5 pounds. Te ejection port is scalloped to allow greater ease in administrative handling and in clearing a malunction. Te pistol is supplied with a single magazine. Tere is a choice o a matte blue nish or stainless construction.. Tere are a number o necessary elements in evaluating a handgun. Bench rest accuracy is the least important. Practically any handgun will place every round in a single hole at 7 yards. Te Champion is not as accurate as most 5-inch barrel 1911 handguns, but it is a astinto-action 4-inch pistol that gets on target quickly and oers excellent hit probability. Speed into action and a rst-shot hit are important. Reliability is a million times more important than anything else. Te Springeld exhibits good workmanship, attention to detail and thus reliability.

Test and Evaluation ... oers shooters all the benets o the 1911 platorm in a compact size with Springeld Armory’s legendary quality.. quality....

I have tested handguns more ofen with handloads during the current ammunition shortage. Ammunition prices seem to have reached the point that the ammunition locker is more valuable than our 401K. Loading supplies were also in short supply to some extent, with primers

I have deployed the Champion in several holsters but at this date I am carrying the pistol in a K and D Holsters Tunderbird, inside the waistband rig. Tis is a well designed holster, well boned or the Champion and well tted and nished. Afer an initial break in period the Tunderbird demonstrated good speed. Tis is as comortable a design as possible with the IWB, and one that deserves your attention. Te initial evaluation period included drawing and ring at 7 yards as quickly as possible. Te Champion is ast and the short sight radius allows quickly lining up on target. Te pistol clears leather more quickly than a 5- inch pistol and to most o the testers, seemed to get on target more quickly. At 7 yards, the pistol would eat out the X ring on demand. As a test o control, I red ve shots at 10 yards as quickly as I could realign the sights. Te cadence o re is not set by how quickly we are able to press the trigger but by how quickly we are able to align the sights afer each trigger press. Oddly I red the best group with +P ammunition. I believe t hat subconsciously I knew I had to bear down and get it right with the harder kicking loads and took the gorilla-grip option. As we passed the 1000-round mark and continued, my respect or the C hampion grew. Te Champion never ailed to

The initial evaluation period included drawing and fring at 7 yards as quickly as possible. The Champion is ast and the short sight radius allows quickly lining up on target. The pistol clears leather more quickly than a 5-inch pistol and to most o the testers, seemed to get on target more quickly. eed, chamber, re or eject with a variety o ammunition. Speed work was good. However, I realized that while the pistol is accurate enough or personal deense and service use it is not among the most accurate Springeld pistols. A service pistol needs more accuracy than a concealed carry pistols. My Springeld RP will group a number o quality loads into 2 inches at 25 yards, while the Champion’s average is closer to the 4-inch mark. But then the RP costs twice what the Champion does. Te Champion is aster into action. Te shorter sight radius simply makes slight movement in the ront sight less perceptible. oward the end o the 1,500-round evaluation we red the ollowing groups at 75 eet. Tere is some concern that a shortbarrel .45’s loss o velocity may reduce the threshold or reliable bullet expansion. We eel that since the .45 relies primarily upon bullet mass and rontal area, this is less o

a concern that it would be with other calibers. As an example a 230-grain JHP rated at 850 ps rom a 5-inch barrel will exhibit 780 to 800 ps rom the 4-inch Champion. Tis is acceptable. For personal deense use a low-penetration loading such as the Cor Bon PowRBall is acceptable. Tis loading demonstrates excellent expansion per our test program. For police duty a 230-grain JHP with a balance o penetration and expansion avoring expansion would be superior. We used a variety o magazines during the evaluation including Metalorm magazines in both seven- and eight-round conguration with good reliability. We detected a tendency o the speed saety on the Champion to contact the sweat guard on certain types o holsters. When wearing the Champion in these holsters the saety sometimes wiped o. Tis needs to be changed! At the very least careully evaluate your holster and gun combination. With our chosen leather, there was no problem, with others, there was a serious problem. I also added a 10-8 Perormance at-ace trigger. I did not perorm a trigger









MICHALOwsKI ❱❱ by KEVIN MICHALOwsKI

Functioning was awless, with no ailures to eed, re, or eject. Working on the assumption that reliability is mandatory and accuracy is secondary, it was nice to see that accuracy varied rom very good to outstanding. Hornady AP 200-grain bullets would provide ve-shot groups at about one inch at twenty-ve yards. Te Wol 230-grain FMJ were creating about 3-inch groups at the same distance. Te pistol comes in a very nice padded nylon 5.11 actical sof case with separate compartments or the pistol and magazines. It is sup8 + 1 round 45 ACP with forged 4140 steel frame and slide. Beveled plied with an eight-round magamagazine well. Grieder match zine, and will accept any brand trigger. Novak white dot sights. o single-stack ull-size 1911 Strieder grips. Ed Brown memory groove beavertail grip safety. Ed magazine. Brown extended thumb safety. Te DoubleStar 1911 is not Grieder extended magazine a cheap gun. You can expect catch. Flat checkered mainspring housing. 5-inch barrel. to pay anywhere rom $1100 to $1500, but it is a worth the price. Also they can be a bit hard to nd, so contact your dealer early. Oddly i you are looking or inormation about the pistol. You won’t nd it at the DoubleStar’s website www. star15.com. Tat seems reserved or inormation about their AR-15s. Read more! Te Gun Digest Book of Combat Handgunnery is available at www.gundigeststore.com.

Gun GunDigest









❱❱ by L.P. bREZNy

Where and when allowed a good gun or the job. In this case o duty or heavy carry.



















Accuracy Table: Pointman Seven 45 ACP Load

10 Yds: Group Inches


Magtech 165 Gr SCHP

1.130

4.239

Remington Golden Saber 185 Gr BJH

2.179

2.67

Winchester Personal Protection SXT

1.120

3.666

Winchester USA 185 Gr FMJ

0.980

2.122

Recommended Reading for More Intriguing Firearms History

Off Hand Shooting / Practical Combat Range Load


Winchester USA 185 Gr FMJ

Featuring a stainless steel rame and slide, this handgun makes use o a blasted nish on the lower rame and rounded areas. Dan Wesson designers also bring


2.720

mainspring housing, and Commanderstyle match hammer behind its 5-inch barrel, this new autoloader autoloader is nothing but striking in the good looks depart-

5.037

gives a complete review o those results as well as shooting at both the 10- and 20yard ranges. I wanted to take some o the human error out o the accuracy test, and

1911 The First 100 Years by Patrick Sweeney For the beginning handgunner, the advanced shooter, the collector









FREE with your Blade Show admission!

EXPO

CAMPbELL ❱❱ by bOb CAMPbELL









rigger compression is set at 4 pounds with no creep or backlash. Te GSR eatures Novak sights; the ront sight is not only dovetailed, but also pinned in place. Tese sights are adjustable, but in normal use won’t go anywhere. In the nal ormula, the GSR made a concession to European Sigs with a redesigned slide that gives the pistol a unique look. Te slide is narrowed to resemble the P series Sig, but it’s all 1911 in operation. Engineers also included a light rail on the rame. (Tere is a slick-rame option available.) A light rail isn’t uniquely Sig, but the pistol is intended or hard-use situations. And those who make a liv-

preers some types o ammunition over others or accuracy but always eeds, res, and ejects regardless o the type o ammo. For this report, I tested the gun on two levels. First, I red ofand at 10 yards or combat accuracy, ring as quickly as I could pull the ront sights back into the rear notch. I then red or absolute accuracy o the benchrest. While combat accuracy is more important,









BACK BACK IN THE GAME GAME !













































Gun Digest 1911 Special

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