Pistols45

Though the $2,000 STI Target Master was Our Pick, it cost twice as much as the Springfield Long Slide 6-inch .45, which we rated as a Best Buy despite some hiccups.

We review three high-end .45s from a single maker — Les Baer — asking, "Which model offers the most bang for the buck?" In this case, less is plenty.

We pit the STI Lawman and Springfield's ‘Loaded' pistols against the polymer-bodied Glock to see how they match up.

The $749 Para Ordnance LTC combined accuracy, reliability, and affordability into one nice package. The Rock River Arms $1,560 Commando Elite is a find, if you can find one. Kimber's lighter $1,060 Tactical Pro II might be best for concealed carry.

High-grade 1911s can do a multitude of tasks for their owners. The jobs can include NRA target shooting, various action-oriented competitions, hunting, and of course self-defense. In this report we look at two relatively high-dollar 1911s to see how well they might work for any task to which a good .45 might be put. The companies who made the guns suggested these are target-grade or match-specific weapons. Yet each came with very similar and rather special modifications that told us the story only began with accurate target busting.

The $1,560 Springfield Armory TRP and the $1,495 Colt Gunsite 1911 45s prove to be "pro tools" worth the extra investment.

Playing G.I. with the Springfield Parkerized Mil-Spec, $559, was more fun than with the Auto Ordnance 1911, $515.

Glock's new $640 Model 37 excels with a brand-new round. Smith & Wesson's titanium $812 4040PD opens new doors, but the $550 FN P9 comes up short.

We pit a trio of custom production guns and learn a lot about what makes a topnotch .45 ACP. But did we like Kimber's LTP II, the Lone Star Lawman Match, or Wilson's CQB best?

In the fall of 2003, Earnest Langdon captured the Custom Defensive Pistol Division (CDP) at the annual International Defensive Pistol Association (IDPA) championship match held in Little Rock, Arkansas. That Langdon, a top competitor in the Practical Shooting ranks, was victorious is not news. What was news is that he did it competing with a traditional double action Sigarms P220ST pistol rather than a custom 1911, the type of pistol for which the CDP division was founded upon. Naturally, we wanted to know what was so special about this gun. Taking a quick look at it, we immediately recognized that another pistol, the Smith & Wesson 4566TSW, was similar.

We couldn't wait to strip these guns down and see if they differed radically on the inside, and then take them to the range. Keeping in mind that an IDPA Custom Defensive Pistol was allowed plenty of leeway in terms of modification we also wanted to find out if these pistols could be "hot-rodded" with aftermarket parts. What we found impressed us.

To produce a sidearm that is portable, the key is to reduce weight and size. Before the advent of durable plastics such as polymer, the only alternative was to fashion the frame from a metal alloy. Minimizing the weight of the barrel and slide is generally limited to making it shorter, which also makes the gun more concealable and easier to draw. A number of manufacturers have expanded their product lineup by adding smaller and smaller versions of full-sized models while leaving the basic design intact. One of the first variations in size that stayed true to the original design was the Colt 1911 Commander. This pistol first became available shortly after World War II. The primary variation from the Government model was a reduction in barrel length from 5 inches to 4.25 inches. This made the Commander more portable and easier to handle without reducing magazine capacity.

The subjects of this test not only have shorter barrels but also employ alloy frames further reducing their weights. Our three test guns were chosen because they represent different ways of getting the job done. Of the three pistols in this test the lightweight Colt model was the most direct descendent of the original Commander. Kimber's Tactical Pro II was a radical variation with a shorter barrel set atop a full size 1911 frame. Our third test gun was the High Standard Crusader Combat Lightweight. This 1911 sells for much less than either the Colt or the Kimber, so we were hoping we had found an inexpensive downsized 1911. Here's what we learned.