When was the original M1911 adopted by the U.S. Military? As you might guess, the year was 1911, and the first model, the M1911, was used by General Black Jack Pershing’s expeditionary force of horse cavalry units to chase down Pancho Villa along the New Mexico and Mexico border in 1916. The M1911 was also used in WWI. Most modern 1911 pistol models take after the early M1911s, which had a flat mainspring housing and long trigger. Also, the iconic double-diamond checkered grips debuted on the M1911.

The U.S. Military made a few tweaks to the M1911 after the war that included a thicker front sight, long hammer spur, and arched mainspring housing, and a relief cut on the frame/receiver behind the trigger. These changes made this pistol more user friendly, and it was designated the M1911A1. Wood grips were replaced with checkered plastic grips, too. This model went on to be used in WWII and every other minor and major conflict or action until 1985, when the M1911A1 was dropped by U.S. ranks for the Beretta M9. The Marines and Army Special Forces still use 1911s, but they are modern models vastly different from the originals. All U.S. military 1911s are chambered in 45 Auto. The similarities with modern interpretations of 1911s end there.

GI and Mil-Spec–style 1911s are what many 1911 manufacturers call no-frills, plain-jane 1911 models. These models are stripped of any modern upgrades, such as accessory rails, snag-free or adjustable sights, magwells, extended beavertails, textured front grip straps, and a lot more. Typically, these models mimic some characteristics of the original 1911s Uncle Sam bought in the last century.

We requisitioned four GI/Mil-Spec style 1911s in 45 Auto to see how different they are from the originals and to see if these old combat pistols could still be used as defensive handguns. The four guns included the Taylor’s & Co. Full Size A1 1911, the Rock Island Armory GI Standard FS, the SDS Imports Tisas 1911 A1 U.S. Army 45 WG, and the Springfield Armory Defend Your Legacy Series 1911 Mil-Spec. The Rock Island, SDS, and Springfield pistols are closer to the amended M1911A1, while the Taylor’s is more like an original M1911. The Rock Island and Taylor’s were manufactured in the Philippines by Armscor, the SDS is made in Turkey by Tisas, and the Springfield Armory pistol is made in the U.S.

Generally speaking all four of these 1911s feature the classic dome shaped slide, tiny fixed sights, rear-only fine slide serrations, small beavertail safety spurs, plain grips, barrel bushing, lanyard loop, and spur hammers. All use a Series 70 internals which does not have a firing pin block and true to the original design. Since they all use a GI-stye bushing disassembly is easy and there is no need for extra tools. It’s the details that separate them from each other and originals and we will get into that later.

How We Tested

Accuracy testing took place at 25 yards away, and speed shooting was performed at 7 yards, where we ran the Mozambique Drill or Failure Drill — two rounds to center of mass and one round in the head of Thompson Targets B27 Stop targets, which present center-of-mass and head immobilization zones. Test ammo consisted of FMJ ball ammo and hollow points. Armscor 230 grains and Remington UMC 185 grains rounded out the FMJ ammo. We noticed the Remington ammo had the best accuracy across all the pistols. Defense ammo was 45 Auto +P Hornady Critical Duty 220-grain FlexLocks. We wouldn’t use +P ammo in an original 1911, but these modern clones are capable of handling the extra pressure. A steady diet of +P ammo will batter any pistol, and there was more recoil with the +P load, which manhandled the slide fast and hard. The Remington and Hornady loads produced noticeably more recoil than the Armscor ammo. The recoil was very tolerable, but the inside of some right-handed testers’ shooting-hand thumbs were rubbed raw on the bottom edge of the thumb safeties.

For concealed carry of these pistols, we used the Falco A105 Falcon IWB holster, belt, and ammo-pouch set from FalcoHolsters.com, $220, which allowed us to comfortably carry these heavy full-size 1911s. All three pieces of the rig wore a deep mahogany color. This leather is manufactured in Slovakia, and, like with all leather holsters, took some time to break in. We left one of the 1911s in the holster for a week, then repeatedly drew and re-holstered the gun to break in the leather. There was no retention device on this holster, just the friction of the leather against steel. We found the holster comfortable to wear, and it provided fast access to the 1911s. The belt is plenty sturdy to support the weight of these pistols, too. Both the holster and ammo pouch uses a sturdy metal clip that clamps onto the belt.

At the range, we averaged 2- to 2.2-inch five-shot groups at 25 yards across all four pistols, but as you can see in the range data, some pistols had moments when they absolutely shone, shooting tiny groups well under 2 inches. At 7 yards, these pistols were surgical. We did not experience any hammer bite, even though all the pistols had smaller grip-safety spurs compared to a modern beavertail. Also, we noticed that the Mil-Spec-style magazine releases do not extend from the frame as much as magazine buttons on more modern guns. To adjust, we had to change our shooting grip to completely press the button and drop the magazine. Also, we swapped magazines between all the pistols with no issues. The Springfield Armory and Tisas pistols used magazines truer to originals in design, while the Rock Island Armory and Taylor’s magazine designs were more modern and incorporated a bumper pad.

We had two failure-to-fire jams with Tisas and three with the Springfield, and none with the Rock Island Armory and Taylor’s. We re-oiled the Tisas and Springfield guns, which took care of the malfunctions. By the end of the test, all the guns were running extremely well. Here are the details of how they did.

Gun Tests Grade: B+

$438

The Rock Island Armory wore a well-executed matte-black Parkerized finish and smooth wood grips. It takes design cues from both the M1911 and M1911A1 and is perhaps the most bastardized of the GI 1911 tested. That’s not a bad thing, it is just not true to the originals. The narrow trigger spur and flat mainspring housing are nods to the M1911, while the relief cut in the frame and larger grip safety spur are traits of the M1911A1. The grip and the magazine are modern enhancements, the latter incorporating a bumper pad and a capacity of eight rounds. The magazine body and follower are also modern designs.

The Rock Island Armory came in a hard case with two magazines, which made us very happy. The domed slide features a period-correct round post front sight and dovetailed notched rear sight. Serrations are fine and vertical like the originals. The ejection port is slightly lowered compared to an original and flared. These modifications allow the pistol to more easily eject empty brass. The slide is forged steel, and the frame is cast. The trigger face is serrated, the hammer spur and magazine-release button are nicely checkered, and the flat mainspring housing is serrated. The thumb safety was more modern, meaning it was larger and more user friendly.

In hand, the Rock Island Armory felt slightly thinner and wore the same markings as the Taylor’s, except for the Rock Island Armory logo. It took 19 pounds of effort to retract the slide.

During the Failure Drill, the Rock Island Armory was easy to aim and hit center of mass. The smaller sights made the head shot more of a challenge. Accuracy shooting again proved to be harder due to the small sights. The best group of 1.79 inches was shot with the Remington UMC 180-grain FMJs. The best group shot with the Hornady defense ammo measured 2.15 inches. The average group size across all ammo selections was about 2.5 inches.

The Rock Island Armory was the least accurate pistol tested here, but 2.5-inch groups at 25 yards is plenty good for a defense gun, in our opinion. We appreciated the relief cut in the frame for more comfortable shooting. There were no issues with the Rock Island Armory, and it didn’t care what type of magazine we used in it.

Our Team Said: The Rock Island Armory is an all-business 1911 with design features from original military 1911s and modern guns. It’s kind of a mutt, but one we liked. This would be our choice for an inexpensive no-frills military-esque 1911.

45 ACP Range Data