Bottom Gun
New member
I shot the new Springfield Armory “loaded” 1911 yesterday. Overall, I was pleased with it.
Tamara was right on the money with her assessment of this gun.
The Novak sights gave a good picture, the thumb safety was still a bit stiff but operated nicely with very positive clicks, the beavertail grip safety was smooth, and the trigger broke cleanly. The workmanship was as good as any I’ve seen on a box stock pistol.
The only feature I didn’t care for was the mainspring housing, which appears to be plastic. I’ll replace it with a flat checkered one as soon as I can find one. There’s really nothing else I’d change.
I started at 10 yd using my standard homemade target with a 1 3/16” bull to check the zero. It cut one ragged hole with 8 rounds slightly left of my point of aim.
I moved out to 25 yd and started shooting groups of five. The groups opened up to about 1 3/4” to 2 1/2” average at this range and the gun was shooting about 2” to 2 1/2” left of my POA. I feel this gun is capable of shooting much tighter groups in the hands of a better shooter.
I wasn’t able to move the rear sight since in my infinite wisdom I hadn’t thought to bring an allen wrench for the set screw in the sight, but it really wasn’t an issue since I wasn’t shooting my best yesterday and I hate to zero anything when I’m having an off day.
I went on with the reliability test.
I had been shooting GI hardball and Remington UMC hardball in the yellow box and was rotating magazines. I used the two SA 7 rd factory mags and two Colt marked 8 rd mags, which I noticed came with Shooting Star followers. I didn’t know quite what to think about that.
I also shot some 230 gr Winchester Personal Protection HP’s and some Speer Gold Dot 185 gr and 230 gr HP’s for a total of about 150 rd. The right grip loosened a bit after the first 100 rd but I wasn’t able to tighten it, not having an allen wrench.
Everything functioned flawlessly with the SA mags, but the “Colt” mags wouldn’t feed the 185 gr Gold Dots reliably. Everything else fed perfectly though all mags.
Accuracy wise, the Winchester ammo seemed to shoot the best and burn the cleanest.
Overall, I’d say this is an excellent service pistol. While not quite as accurate for me as my Kimber or my National Match Colt, it certainly appears to be more accurate for me than many others I’ve fired and quite reliable with the proper ammo/magazine combination.
It’s a keeper.
Tamara was right on the money with her assessment of this gun.
The Novak sights gave a good picture, the thumb safety was still a bit stiff but operated nicely with very positive clicks, the beavertail grip safety was smooth, and the trigger broke cleanly. The workmanship was as good as any I’ve seen on a box stock pistol.
The only feature I didn’t care for was the mainspring housing, which appears to be plastic. I’ll replace it with a flat checkered one as soon as I can find one. There’s really nothing else I’d change.
I started at 10 yd using my standard homemade target with a 1 3/16” bull to check the zero. It cut one ragged hole with 8 rounds slightly left of my point of aim.
I moved out to 25 yd and started shooting groups of five. The groups opened up to about 1 3/4” to 2 1/2” average at this range and the gun was shooting about 2” to 2 1/2” left of my POA. I feel this gun is capable of shooting much tighter groups in the hands of a better shooter.
I wasn’t able to move the rear sight since in my infinite wisdom I hadn’t thought to bring an allen wrench for the set screw in the sight, but it really wasn’t an issue since I wasn’t shooting my best yesterday and I hate to zero anything when I’m having an off day.
I went on with the reliability test.
I had been shooting GI hardball and Remington UMC hardball in the yellow box and was rotating magazines. I used the two SA 7 rd factory mags and two Colt marked 8 rd mags, which I noticed came with Shooting Star followers. I didn’t know quite what to think about that.
I also shot some 230 gr Winchester Personal Protection HP’s and some Speer Gold Dot 185 gr and 230 gr HP’s for a total of about 150 rd. The right grip loosened a bit after the first 100 rd but I wasn’t able to tighten it, not having an allen wrench.
Everything functioned flawlessly with the SA mags, but the “Colt” mags wouldn’t feed the 185 gr Gold Dots reliably. Everything else fed perfectly though all mags.
Accuracy wise, the Winchester ammo seemed to shoot the best and burn the cleanest.
Overall, I’d say this is an excellent service pistol. While not quite as accurate for me as my Kimber or my National Match Colt, it certainly appears to be more accurate for me than many others I’ve fired and quite reliable with the proper ammo/magazine combination.
It’s a keeper.
