Pistols45

In this evaluation, we will look at three .45 ACP 1911-style pistols. Not too long ago, this would mean three pistols that looked almost exactly alike. But today's 1911 may contain as many different components as the total number of its parts. For example, the new Brownells catalog devoted solely to the 1911 lists as many as 27 different styles of custom hammers. Thus, our test guns offered several different variations on the 1911 platform.

Our three test guns were the $1421 Kimber Custom SIS RL, Springfield Armory's $1332 Loaded Operator MC, and the $1129 Para Ordnance P14-45S GR. Each gun fired from a 5-inch barrel supported at the muzzle by a bushing and could be referred to as full-size "Government" models. But the Para Ordnance pistol offered higher capacity, feeding from a wider magazine wherein the rounds were piled in a zigzag pattern rather than stacked in a single column. All three guns varied in the designs of their grips, sights, and thumb safeties.

Gun Tests readers sometimes ask why reviews on certain guns vary over time. For instance, they wonder why Gun A, reviewed two years ago, got a "Don't Buy" rating, but in a more recent evaluation, it gets a B+. The short answer is that test to test, guns vary, ammunition varies, the story angle varies, and, perhaps most important, the match-ups vary. In an earlier draw, Gun A may have run up against other models that made it look like chopped liver. Then when we tested it again, Gun A may have whipped Guns B and C because the latter two weren't much good, and Gun A benefited from the comparison.

In a way, that's what happened when we tested a new-for-2007 Smith & Wesson M&P 45 .45 ACP, $619, against a $1235 Heckler & Koch USP Compact Tactical USP45CT .45 ACP, which we last tested in June 2007, and the $635 Glock 21 SF, which we tested in July 2007. In June, the H&K got an "A" rating, when we said its "…light weight, ease of maintenance, and accuracy makes it very appealing. Our staff concluded that it was best to operate the USP45CT either as a full-time single-action pistol or a full-time TDA. Sticking with one system or the other was the only way to stay trained up, in our opinion."

Likewise, the Glock 21 SF got kudos from us as well, when we said in July, "No question this is an improvement on the G21. Better handling, but still a big gun with little potential for concealed carry. In our view, we think police will be trading in their G21s for the improved SF model."

First introduced by S&W in February 2007, the M&P45 is the newest addition to the M&P pistol series, a product line launched in December 2005. We've tested the M&P9 9mm and the M&P40 with varying degrees of success, rating the Smith & Wesson M&P 9mm Compact 2009004, $624, as a "D" in the April 2007 issue. The Smith & Wesson M&P .40 S&W No. 209000, $624, got a "Conditional Buy" in the August 2006 issue, and a Smith & Wesson M&P40 .40 S&W, $495, got an "A-" in the October 2007 issue.

The M&P45 began shipping in May 2007. Leland Nichols, president and COO of Smith & Wesson Corp., said at the time, "By combining the powerful .45 ACP cartridge with the performance and safety features of the M&P series, working professionals and shooting sports enthusiasts have a new option in the growing line of M&P products well-suited to fulfill a variety of needs."

Nichols continued, "We are also aware that multiple branches of the U.S. Military have expressed a desire to shift from their current 9mm weapons to either a .40 or .45 caliber duty weapon for greater stopping power. We are now currently shipping both .40 and .45 calibers, as well as a 9mm, in the M&P Pistol Series, and are fully prepared to address either requirement, should the U.S. Military initiate a request for purchase."

The gun was rolled out as a full-size polymer pistol with a 10+1 magazine capacity and an optional 14+1 magazine. It was originally offered with a traditional black frame and was manufactured with or without a frame-mounted ambidextrous thumb safety. Later, the M&P45 came with a dark earth-brown frame and a standard manual thumb safety, which is the gun we acquired for this test.

Chances are that whenever a pistol is described as being a single-stack .45, it will automatically be assumed that the handgun in question is a Browning 1911. But that isnt always the case. Not every .45 semi-auto that feeds from a single-column magazine was meant to be carried cocked and locked. Nor does every single-stack .45 operate with a single-action trigger.To wit: In this test we will evaluate three single-stack .45s that operate with a hinged trigger, with at least the first shot being fired double action. The $711 Smith & Wesson Model 457 has been in the catalog since 1996. The 457 is a traditional double action (TDA) pistol that once charged, can be "decocked" to both raise and drop the hammer on the first shot. Both the $697 Kahr TP4543 and the $620 Glock G36 are striker-fired pistols that define double action in a less traditional manner.Nevertheless, the benefits of a single-stack pistol were in place throughout. All were narrow, making them easier to conceal, and their slim profiles offered a rectangular sensation to the hand. Our staff agreed that this helped them point the gun at the target more quickly. All three guns were snag free, and thanks to the use of polymer and aluminum alloy, each pistol was lighter in weight than most big-bore handguns. Please note that in regards to how we measured the front strap and the overall height of our test guns we chose a slight variation in protocol. Since each of our guns relied upon their magazines to either complete or extend their grips, we measured with the magazines in place.In choosing our test ammunition we took a cue from the July 2007 test of the Sigarms P220 SAO. In that test we learned that our best choice for rapid fire was the 185-grain Hornady XTP/JHP round. Accordingly, we again chose these 185-grain Hornady rounds plus 185-grain silvertip hollowpoints from Winchester. With so much rain falling in Houston, we shot the guns indoors at Top Gun of Texas (topgunrange.com). So we packed some Winchester 185-grain BEB WinClean ammunition as well.The pistols were tested from a distance of 15 yards. We used a sandbag rest to support each gun and reduce shooter error. In this way we could tell more about the machines themselves and determine the level of accuracy available from each gun.We also let our staff shoot each pistol in what we call a 557 test. By 557, we mean five shots standing unsupported offhand, with a maximum time limit of five seconds from a distance of seven yards. The goal of the shooter was to land the tightest five-shot group in the given time period. Our point of aim was the 3-inch circles along the margins of the Hoffners ABC16 target (hoffners.com). In this way we were able to better ascertain what was required of the operator to shoot each gun effectively. Lets see which of our test guns did the most to help us get the job done.

Once again we are responding to a subscriber by filling out a test roster with pistols suggested by reader mail. The category requested was full-size single-action-only semi-automatic pistols chambered for .45 ACP and framed with a built-in accessory rail for attaching a light or laser.We got 1911-style pistols from Kimber and Springfield Armory along with a single-action-only version of the Sigarms P220R. The Kimber was a an $1113 Custom TLE RL II, essentially the model sold to LAPD SWAT.Springfield Armorys $1740 TRP Light Rail Armory Kote is referred to on the manufacturers website as being "designed around the same specifications" as the companys FBI contract pistol.The Sigarms P220 series was, from the beginning, designed for military use. Our $1013 P220R TSS SAO was probably developed to compete for the United States military contract that ultimately failed to materialize last year. Kimber and Springfield Armory have built their reputations producing 1911-style pistols, but for Sigarms the combination of a single-action trigger teamed with ambidextrous thumb safeties was a fresh approach. We couldnt wait to see how these single-stack pistols stacked up.Each gun was tested from a sandbag rest backed by solid support from a distance of 25 yards. We measured five-shot groups printed with three different types of ammunition. They were Hornady Custom 185-grain XTP/JHP hollowpoints, Speer Gold Dot 200-grain GDHP +P hollowpoints, and Winchesters 230-grain USA FMJ round-nosed jacketed ammunition. The Winchester USA rounds were also used throughout our "practical" tests, which consisted mainly of pounding "Evil Roy," steel plates from Action Target (actiontarget.com), punctuated by reloading as quickly as we could. Each gun digested about 350 rounds throughout our tests. Here is what we learned.

In this test we will look at four different polymer handguns that offer higher round capacity but take up less space than full-size models. Our first pistol, the $503 Taurus PT24/7 Pro 45-BP-12 could be considered a true compact, especially when compared to Taurus's new OSS pistol. The Springfield Armory XD45 4-inch Compact XD9645HCSP06, $589; and the Springfield Armory XD45 5-inch Compact Tactical XD9655HCSP06, $619, have undergone the Colt Officers treatment, receiving a shortened grip frame attached to a full-length slide. The $637 Glock SF21 is a remodeling of the Glock 21, but the SF21 does not seem to be much smaller. We wanted to find out if any of its subtle streamlining added up to a better pistol than the original.

We established basic accuracy for each pistol by measuring five-shot groups fired from a rest at 15 yards. Our test ammunition consisted of a typical practice round, Winchester's 230-grain FMJ Q4170 load and two hollowpoint defense rounds. Our JHP rounds were Winchester's USA45JHP ammunition and the Hornady Custom 185-grain JHP/XTP No. 9090 load. In terms of accuracy all three guns exceeded our expectations.

We also put the guns through an action-shooting test in which the operator pressed the trigger as fast as he could confirm an acceptable sight picture. For this test we visited American Shooting Centers in Houston (amshootcenters.com). There, we posted a Hoffners ABC16 target at the 7-yard line. This target measured a full 35 inches tall by 23 inches wide with six 3-inch aiming circles on each side of a humanoid silhouette. We fired 10 three-shot strings at the silhouette for a total of 30 rounds. The first two shots were aimed at the 5.5-by-8.0-inch A-zone chest area. The third shot was aimed at the B-zone, represented by a 5-inch-diameter half circle in the head. Firing from the bench at a 1.5-inch bull and unsupported at the Hoffners target were simple but revealing tests. Here is what we learned about each pistol.

The use of the word "basic" in describing pistols in this test would shock pistol shooters from less than a decade ago. When it comes to the 1911 .45, what passes for standard equipment has improved dramatically. All three of the guns in this test share the same design and are the lowest-priced models available from their respective manufacturers, but they are by no means "basic" guns, at least not in historical terms.We recently got and shot the $904 Springfield Armory Parkerized w/Night Sights PX9109L, CZ USAs $1079 Dan Wesson Pointman Seven 01900, and one of the lowest-priced 1911s weve encountered, the $617 Taurus PT1911 1-191101.Here is a list of features shared by the test pistols that not long ago were upgrades that were only available from the hands of a custom gunsmith: Beginning at the muzzle we found full-length guide rods, dovetailed-mounted front and rear sights, forward cocking serrations, flared ejection ports, reduced mass hammers, relieved-mass triggers adjustable for overtravel, a wide beavertail grip safety with raised contact area, checkered mainspring housing, checkered grips held in place by Allen screws, and a beveled magazine well.Elsewhere, there were some differences worth noting: The Dan Wesson Pointman had a stainless-steel finish and a BoMar-style adjustable rear sight. The Taurus pistol was blued, and the Springfield model was Parkerized. The latter two pistols offered a low-mount rear sight, windage adjustable by drift only. They also came with ambidextrous thumb safeties. The Dan Wesson thumb safety was left side only.

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: