Pistols45

How much should you spend on a "perfect" handgun? How much should you spend for anything that is generally considered to be at the very top of its field? A Ferrari F60 will set you back half a million bucks, give or take a few hundred thousand, and a new Purdey shotgun today lists at around $85,000. But how much ought you to spend for a really good 1911 .45 auto, when your lifes on the line and money is no object? Were leaving engraving out of the picture entirely in this discussion, though many will want it on their ultimate handguns. Its possible to acquire a thoroughly reliable 1911 for well under a grand, but it may not satisfy you completely over time, for one reason or another, especially if you have lots of experience with the type. It might not be completely dehorned, or its finish may not be all that durable, or itll need a trigger job or better accuracy, or whatever. All these things can be fixed, but all cost time and money. How about if you spend around two grand?For that kind of money, it seems to us, you ought to get a gun that needs exactly nothing. It ought to work every time for many thousands of rounds, with zero failures of any sort. It ought to outlive you, all your grandchildren, and then some. It should have a decent trigger pull. The finish, whatever it is, ought to be durable. There are plenty of excellent finishes available today that are in fact really durable, and you should not have to pay extra for that. Nor do we believe such a handgun should show any appreciable wear from several years spent in a holster. The gun should be fully dehorned so you can practice clearance drills, or go through any training center in the country - or the world - without the gun ripping up your hands. The sights may or may not be adjustable, but these top-notch guns probably ought to have tritium sights, unless you specifically dont want them. If the sights are adjustable they must never break, and thats a tall order. If the sights are not adjustable, they should be capable of being regulated to your favorite load. The gun should at least hit mighty close to center when you get it. The grips and the front and rear straps should have decent traction, but not too much of it until you grab it hard.The gun ought to be able to feed, fire, and eject any reasonable self-defense loads (we assume these are self-defense guns). It is unrealistic to expect the gun to print to the same impact point with light 185-grain target loads or with 165-grain JHPs as it does with 230-grain ball, so that means either the gun should have adjustable sights or, more important, the shooter needs to know what load he or she will use in it. If you get our drift, were assuming such a handgun will probably not be the best choice for the inexperienced shooter. To justify such a costly handgun, the shooter, we think, should have put in his time with a 1911 and ought to know what features he wants on his gun, and should have a good idea of the type of ammunition to be used.The individual may want some special features, such as a lanyard ring or maybe a special grip material, checkering pattern, etc. Also, were talking a full-size 1911 in this evaluation. Lighter or smaller 1911 types are generally preferable for long-term concealed carry, but many shooters are mighty happy with the full-size gun and dont want - or are not allowed - anything smaller.What we like may not be what you like, but remember the test crew for these 1911s has many years and hundreds of thousands of rounds experience with the type. The three we looked at were the Rock River Pro Carry ($1795), Wilson Combat CQB ($2150), and Nighthawk GRP ($2695 as tested). We tested them with five types of ammo. Black Hills remanufactured hardball, Federals Hi-Shok JHP in both 185 and 230 weights, with Winchester 185-grain BEB truncated cone, and with sizzling Cor-Bon 185 JHP. Well jump ahead here and let you know there were zero failures of any kind with the three guns.All three were very tightly fitted, yet none needed a "break-in" period before we could operate them in all their functions by hand. All had beavertails with bumps, skeleton hammers, lightened aluminum triggers of the Videki type, and grip safeties that worked without needing recontouring, as we found with the S&W. All had straight mainspring housings of steel, and checkering on front and rear grip surfaces. Two guns had forward slide serrations for the new-type press checking, but all three could be press checked the old way, with a careful pinch. All had tritium sight inserts, but one of the setups was superior. All three had decent triggers, but only two were perfect. They all had relieved mag-well openings to aid fast reloads, and all had pads on the magazines. They all had dovetailed front sights with the protrusions rounded to blend with the slide. One final observation that applied to all three is that they were very well fitted between slide and frame, with no observable movement. Lets see what else we found out.

Recently we received a letter from a subscriber who asked us to compare a small .45 ACP 1911 pistol to some of today's more popular options in the category of subcompact pistols. Keynotes of comparison were action design, similar size, and similar stopping power. Also, our reader wanted us to compare the speed and integrity of fundamental controls other than the trigger. A concealed-carry gun may never be reloaded during a confrontation, but you wouldn't want to drop the magazine by accident or fumble releasing the slide.

Your competition or hunting gun may be the love of your life but a powerful subcompact pistol is the one you are likely to spend the most time with. In this test we'll get up close and personal with three pistols small enough to blend in with your lifestyle and powerful enough to preserve it. The Springfield Armory Ultra Compact 1911A1 PX9161L, $952, represents the traditional .45 ACP single-action single-stack pistol. The Glock polymer pistol is another very popular option. The Glock 33 No. PI3350201, $599, is chambered for .357 SIG, which offers .357 Magnum power in a controllable high-capacity platform. Smith & Wesson's SW990L in .40 S&W is also a polymer pistol with a double-column magazine, but distinguishes itself from the Glock pistol by utilizing a Walther design. Our SW990L No. 120233, $729, like the others, employed approximately a 3.5-inch barrel, and all three were specifically designed for concealed carry.

Two recent pistol introductions have been much-ballyhooed in the gun press and firearms industry: Springfield's XD 45 and the Smith & Wesson M&P 40. At the NRA annual meetings in Milwaukee May 19-21, the new XD pistol in .45 ACP won Handgun of the Year notice from NRA's American Rifleman magazine, and it won Handgun of the Year at the Shooting Industry Academy of Excellence awards. The S&W M&P .40 was likewise nominated for the Shooting Industry award, and another NRA publication, Shooting Illustrated, named the M&P as its 2006 Handgun of the Year.

Because interest seems high, we wanted to weigh in on which pistol we thought was the best, so we acquired a $559 Springfield Armory XD (Extreme Duty), and a $624 Smith & Wesson M&P (Military and Police) pistol. Of course, both were designed to provide an effective weapon for law enforcement and military use, but they certainly will serve as personal defense guns for civilians that are durable, easy to maintain and within most budgets.

The XD is based on the Croatian police sidearm that Springfield Armory has adapted to the American market. Chambering the XD for .45 ACP is the latest volley aimed at landing the XD in the holster of every policeman. The XD is a proven design, but we wondered how the power and size of .45 ACP ammunition would affect the integrity of the machine as well as the friendly ergonomics that have attracted so many buyers in other chamberings. The Smith & Wesson M&P 40 S&W is the result of research and development that included consultation with the law enforcement and military training community. Starting with a clean slate, Smith & Wesson has risked much more than Springfield Armory by having to spend money on tooling up. Was it worth the investment?

In this review we will evaluate three 1911 45 ACP pistols relatively new to the market. Each one was manufactured by names first associated with pistols other than the single-stack Browning design. For instance, Para-Ordnance is a Canadian firm most famous for introducing high capacity to the 1911 by enlarging the receiver to house a double-column magazine. STI International is known for its modular design melding a polymer grip to a set of rails to produce a high capacity pistol also fed from a double stack magazine. Sigarms has been making a single stack .45 for many years, the P220. But the P220 is closer to Browning's BDA design, operating with a traditional double-action trigger. Sigarms's single-action gun, the GSR Revolution, costs $1,049 and this puts it squarely between the $1,344 STI Lawman 5.0 and the $899 Para-Ordnance SSP.

We began our tests by removing the top ends of each gun and making sure they were properly lubricated. All three guns were function fired with a variety of ammunition left over from other tests, then loaded with at least 200 rounds of a handload featuring the 200-grain lead-swaged bullet from Precision Bullets (www.precisionbullets.com) that offered molybdenum coating to minimize deposits. Alliant Power Pistol smokeless powder was the propellant, ignited by Winchester large primers. We recorded accuracy data at an outdoor range from a 25-yard bench rest with this round plus three factory loads. They were 200-grain +P Speer Gold Dots, Federal's 165-grain Hydra-Shok JHP rounds, and the Atlanta Arms and Ammo 185-grain JHP match ammunition, (www.atlantaarmsandammo.com). This is the same load used by the United States Army Marksmanship Unit, (AMU). Our test team members believed that any full-size gun in this price range should deliver five-shot groups measuring approximately 2.5 inches or less and run without any problems. Let's see how these new .45s did when examined by our critical group of shooters:

In this report the Smith & Wesson 1911SC will be matched head to head with Springfield Armory's Service Model 5-inch Lightweight Bi-Tone pistol. We will also reflect upon our recent test of the Kimber Tactical Custom II and bring our findings of the three pistols up to date. The ammunition used to test-fire the Springfield Armory and Smith & Wesson pistols was the same selection used in our test of the Kimber published in the November 2005 issue. The Kimber was re-chronographed along with our current two pistols to account for the change in temperature between test dates. consisted of Winchester's 230-grain FMJ and JHP rounds plus 185-grain JHP rounds from Black Hills Ammunition. Test distance was once again 25 yards from a bench rest. Since each of our guns was priced above $900 MSRP, we expected tight groups without malfunctions or breakage. If each gun came through as expected would we be able to make a clear choice? Only the shooting will tell.

A lot of shooters still like a small, concealable .45, but they wonder about simplicity in operation: i.e., should they stick with the tried-and-true single-action 1911 cocked-and-locked formula, or go to a double-action trigger? In this test we will look at two competing ways to conceal and deliver the .45 ACP using a smaller-sized handgun, and also see how two new guns stack up against a previously tested gun of similar size and operation.

Our fresh test products were the Springfield Armory Micro Compact LW Bi-Tone Operator, a traditional single-action 1911 greatly reduced in size from a full-size gun, $1,247. The second gun was a Para Ordnance CCO CWX745S, $1,049, a full-time double action.

We collected using a 15-yard sandbag rest, but we also tried rapid repeat fire to gauge how the guns would work straight out of the holster, looking in particular at how the difference in the triggers would affect accuracy, rapid fire capability, and safety. To test the guns, we shot self-defense loads from Winchester (185-grain FMJ and 230-grain SXT JHP rounds) and 200-grain TAP FPD hollowpoints from Hornady.

Also, we evaluated these products from a historical perspective, gauging how they fared against a top-ranked gun we've already tested and liked. If the new guns offer performance equal to or better than what we've already seen, then they'll get our nod here. If not, we'll tell you what guns are better buys, and why.

Here's what we found:

HK's USP Expert 45 .45 ACP is a rugged combat pistol with accuracy and versatility. We can't recommend Kimber's Gold Match Ten II because of function problems we encountered.

Springfield Armory's Lightweight Champion GI wouldn't shoot hollowpoints, and we didn't like the laser grips on Smith & Wesson's 1911PD. The Kimber had but one easy-to-fix flaw.

Glock created the .45 GAP for its polymer pistols, but Springfield Armory's XD 45 puts the round to good use as well. What would happen when we compared it to the 21 and 21C?

Glock's 36 is barely okay, in our estimation, and we had doubts about the Para Warthog's ability to shoot comfortably.

Also, we loved Colt's Gunsite CCO, but it had what we thought was a fatal flaw, and S&W's SW1911 Sc may not go bang.

The new Taurus 24/7 is a great combat gun, and we liked Ruger's P345, but the person shooting the Taurus PT 945 must have big hands to get the right shooting grip.