In the April 2024 issue, our Houston Gun Tests team compared the Savage 1911 and a Ruger SR1911, with the Ruger earning a half-grade win over the more costly Savage. Because the Savage was a new release, and new releases often need some time before the bugs get worked out, we had our South Carolina test group working independently with a second Savage 1911. During test firing, the Savage in Houston had solid results as far as combat shooting and accuracy were concerned, and we saw no reliability problems. The second pistol’s reliability, however, was questionable. One tester in South Carolina, a frequent shooter with a great deal of practical shooting and gunsmith experience, felt that the Savage could have been a stellar pistol with a little more prep. While we recommend readers send problem-prone pistols back to the factory, we kept working with the second Savage to identify issues readers might encounter with their pistols.
The Second Savage
Before firing the pistol, our team examined the fit, finish, and features of the pistol. This black-coated pistol features Novak sights. The adjustable rear sight features a tritium bar, while the front sight is the Novak Mega Dot, a large tritium insert. These are ideal for practical shooting and defense work. The pistol has ambidextrous safety levers, a memory groove beavertail grip safety, and well-fitted magazine release and slide lock.
The grip safety, by most shooters’ preference, should release its grip on the trigger about halfway into compression. The Savage grip safety required being pressed nearly flat with the backstrap. This was worked around during firing, but was not ideal. Conversely, the two halves of the feed ramp feature the proper 1⁄32-inch gap between the ramp sections. The raters also noted the magazines seemed to drag in the magazine well. We lubricated the pistol, and the crew went to the firing line with a good supply of 230-grain FMJ ammunition.
One of the magazines was difficult to load to full capacity. During the firing stage, the Savage pistol suffered several short cycles. The chambered cartridge would fire and eject, and the next cartridge in line in the magazine would not be chambered, as if the magazine spring did not have sufficient power to present the cartridge to the feed ramp. While it is possible the recoil spring is at fault, the first step was to try another magazine. The result was good function. We had Wilson Combat magazines on hand in the range bag, so we tried them in the Savage. Function was restored. The pistol has fed, chambered, and ejected with other magazines. This wasn’t a break-in malfunction; the Savage-supplied magazine that was difficult to load still malfunctioned after a 100-round firing session. The magazines were the trouble. Moreover, the Savage magazines showed signs of running into the trigger bar, whose finish was scratched during the testing. This did not occur with any other brand of magazine. The rubs on the magazine were both horizontal and vertical.
Custom pistol smiths sometimes detect a magazine that contacts the trigger bow during firing. This is far less common today with good-quality magazines and pistols. We did not modify the existing Savage magazines. It is simpler to use other magazines. There were no feed issues with jacketed hollow-point ammunition during the test.
At the end of the test, the Savage 1911 45 showed wear on the barrel hood. The pistol is fairly tight. The barrel bushing demands a bushing wrench for removal. Some like this tight bushing. Pistols with equal or superior accuracy often do not require a barrel bushing. At least for now, the bushing was left as issued. If a shooter wished to relieve this tightness, the bushing — never the barrel — would be polished out. Our gunsmith rater noted that while the pistol seems well fitted, very few 1911 slides and frames run exactly parallel. This rater was taught to fit a 1911 slide so that the slide would have clearance between the slide and the frame. Many modern 1911 handguns feature a slide that runs on the frame, and the Savage is one of them. Quite a few modern handguns are quite accurate and reliable with this design.
Grip-safety function, which we mentioned above, may be adjusted. Some like a let off of the grip safety earlier into compression, while others like a late release of the trigger. The pistol as issued required the palm to press the grip safety inward further than most pistols. The leaf spring controlling the trigger sear and grip safety offers some adjustment and was removed in what must be called a gunsmith operation. We don’t recommend you do this, because triggers and sears require a lot of experience to adjust correctly, and adjusting them wrong can make the pistol unsafe to load. From the rear of the pistol toward the muzzle, the right-hand prong of the leaf spring controls grip-safety tension. Moving the “finger” forward to decrease tension and to the rear to increase tension is standard. We would imagine that all leaf springs supplied should have the same configuration, but also that the pistol is inspected before it is sold. This Savage’s leaf safety was carefully bent with padded pliers until the grip safety properly released its hold on the trigger. We then reassembled the pistol and went back to the firing line with different magazines and a different feel to the grip safety.
One rater in particular really liked the Savage and wished to use it as a personal gun, so he fired the pistol with additional 230-grain FMJ ammunition and also 200-grain and 230-grain JHP loads. At almost exactly 200 rounds fired, there was a failure of a spent cartridge case to eject. Nothing we had done affected the extractor of the pistol.
extractor and coated firing pin were easily removed.
We experienced three more of these failures in two magazines of ammunition. The soon-to-be owner chose to tune the existing extractor rather than obtain and fit a new extractor. The extractor appeared to have good tension and was not cracked, but the extractor’s cartridge-case rim was dull. We filed the extractor hook sharp and bent the extractor slightly to increase tension, a gunsmith’s trick.
We reassembled the pistol and fired again. We felt that 50 additional rounds of ammunition was reasonable to check for malfunctions. The pistol fired these cartridges without any issue.
The Bottom Line
We felt that the poorly fitting magazines were a considerable demerit in a pistol costing more than $1000. Had we not elected to test the pistol with alternative magazines, the second Savage would have rated a C at best, and perhaps a D, because it was not reliable. If you have any extraction problems, we recommend you send the gun back to Savage to have a new extractor fitted under warranty.
In the end, we felt that the pistol should not have left the factory with the magazines as issued. The extractor perhaps could have happened with any 1911, but it happened with a new pistol with much promise. As it stands, we’ve tested one Savage 1911 that worked fine, but the second Savage pistol did not meet the promise of a reliable custom-grade pistol. If you bought one of the Savages, please let us know about your experience with it, good or bad.
Written and photographed by Gun Tests Staff, using evaluations from Gun Tests Team members. GT
