Tisas 1911 Duty B9 101000530 9MM Luger

The 9mm chambering is the most popular pistol cartridge today, and manufacturers of the 1911 platform are capitalizing on that popularity — and with good reason. The 1911 is known for its comfortable grip angle and single-action-only trigger, and 9mm ammo is inexpensive and available nearly every where ammo is sold. 

When a 1911 is chambered in 9mm, the result is a softer-recoiling pistol because the 9mm pistol is heavier than a 45. The outside diameter of the barrel is the same as the barrel used for a 45 Auto-chambered gun, but the bore is smaller for the 9mm. This makes the barrel slightly heavier. The magazine is also 45 Auto size in outside dimensions, but it is re-engineered for the shorter 9mm cartridge. Magazine capacity increases with 1911s chambered in 9mm, too, because of the difference in cartridge diameter.

In this match-up we look at three economy 9mm 1911s costing around $500 — the Taurus 1911, Rock Island Armory (RIA) Rock Series M1911 A1 FS Tact II, and the Tisas 1911 Duty B9, offered by SDS Imports. All three of these 1911s are set up in a similar fashion with fixed snag-free sights, ambidextrous thumb safeties, single-stack magazines; thin, checkered synthetic grips; and a no-nonsense matte-black finish. The similarities end there, and soon we will get into the weeds with these guns. 

Because 1911s are hand fitted, the price point dictates the quality of parts and time spent assembling the gun. Think of 1911s in tiers of quality, and as you expect, the lower the tier, the less the cost. Tier 1 1911s are made by Wilson Combat, Les Baer, Ed Brown, and other high-end custom makers. These guns are produced with premium parts, and their makers spend a lot of time ensuring the guns perform as expected, and as a result, these guns cost a premium, often more than $2500. Tier 2 1911s are the Springfield Armory, Kimber, Colt, Ruger, and others from major handgun brands that jumped on the 1911 bandwagon. Many of these guns are in the $800 to $2000 range. Tier 3 1911s are under $800 and include brands like Girsan, Taurus, Tisas, RIA, and others. Tier 3 guns are usually built with inexpensive parts and are not finished as nicely as Tier 2 and Tier 1 guns. With all that said, your expectations of how a particular 1911 will perform should be tempered. But an inexpensive 1911 doesn’t necessarily mean cheap or unreliable, or does it?

How We Tested

We tabulated accuracy at 15 yards using a rest, and performed Bill Drills at 10 yards to see how the pistols performed in rapid fire. For the speed test, our shooters used IDPA-style cardboard targets with 8-inch bullseyes. 

Ammo consisted of Armscor 124-grain and Federal American Eagle 115-grain FMJ training ammo, and Remington Ultimate Defense loads with 124-grain Golden Saber Bonded jacketed hollow points. We started by shooting a mix of 9mm orphan rounds left over from previous tests and found none of the slides locked back after the last round fired. We guessed that these 1911s needed a break-in period, and after 50 rounds, they all performed without issue. Accuracy across all ammo choices averaged between 1 inch to 1.3 inches with five shots at 15 yards, which is not bad for inexpensive 1911s. Trigger-pull weights were heavy, and that is another common trait of inexpensive 1911s. No doubt a lighter trigger pull would shrink group sizes. Check the Range Data because we did see instances of brilliance with some of these pistols. We swapped magazines between the guns and they all worked, but we would deep six all of the magazines and replace them with Chip McCormick or Wilson Combat magazines for ease in loading. Now let’s get into the weeds.

Tisas 1911 Duty B9 10100530 9mm Luger

$416

Gun Tests grade: B

The least expensive pistol, but its fit and finish were good. The trigger was too heavy for precise work, so accuracy was just okay. Cycling was fairly smooth. The magazine was not its strong suit.

Turkish-made Tisas 1911s have tested well with us, and we expected the same with this 1911 Duty B9 gun. It uses a 70 Series action system, which is a plus, in our opinion. The frame and slide are forged, again pluses in our book. The Duty B9 is discreet, with minimal roll marks; on the rear of the left side of the slide is the Tisas logo and the word “Duty.” The right side is free of markings. The Duty series comes with a black Cerakote finish that was exceptionally well executed. The skeletonized three-hole aluminum trigger was left in the white and offered a sharp contrast to the rest of the gun. The barrel is forged stainless and is marked 9mm.

The slide has forward and rear angled medium serrations that offer a nice grasp when racking or doing a press check. The sights are white three-dot Novak style, dovetailed into the slide. The rear sight has a hex screw that locks the sight base into the dovetail, but after loosening the screw, the shooter can tap the sight left or right for windage correction, if needed. We tapped the rear sight to check it, even though the pistol shot dead on to start, and found the sight was easy to adjust with a punch and hammer. The paint on one of the white dots was not perfectly executed, but a knife cleaned off the excess paint.

The receiver has a dimpled slide-stop hole on the right side, which is something seen on custom and more expensive 1911s. The rear of the trigger guard is undercut for a higher grip, another plus in our book. The front grip strap is void of texture, but the mainspring housing is serrated. The Duty B9 comes with two sets of grips; the rubber set has a double diamond checkered texture, and the polymer set is plain checkered. The grips are the same thickness. We used the rubber grips in the test. 

The grip safety sports a nice beavertail and speed bump, and is blended nicely with the receiver. The hammer is skeletonized, with serrations for a sure grip when thumbing the hammer back. The trigger is also serrated. The ambidextrous thumb safety clicked on and off with authority. The right paddle was a hair thinner than the left paddle, but that did not hinder operating it. The magazine catch extends out like a typical GI 1911 — just enough and not too much. For a competition gun, we would have preferred a taller magazine catch for faster operation. The magwell is slightly chamfered, so inserting the single-stack magazine is easier, but it still takes practice to reload a single-stack 1911 quickly. 

Two steel magazines are included, both with polymer bumper pads. The pads enable more positive magazine lock up in the receiver and prevent damage to the magazine when you dump it. The Duty B9 also comes with a hard case, bushing wrench, and cleaning rods.

The Duty B9 uses a GI-style barrel bushing and a single recoil spring. It took 15 pounds of effort to rack back the slide. Trigger-pull weight measured 4 pounds, with about 1⁄8 inch of take up before it hit the wall, then a crisp press to drop the hammer. We deemed this to be a serviceable trigger. The B9 easily disassembled without need of the bushing wrench.

We could only load eight rounds into the nine-round magazine, and even those took effort. We busted our thumbs on the magazines and did not like them. 

It took 50 rounds for the B9 to settle down and perform like a good 1911. We initially had issues with the slide locking back on the last round fired, and after 50 rounds that went away. The trigger-pull weight measured 4 pounds. Our overall accuracy average was 1.37 inches, but the B9 shined with the 115-grain Federal American Eagle, shooting a best group that measured 0.79 inches and an average of 0.90 inches. In the speed test, the controls all performed as expected and the sights were easy to acquire. The B9 cycled fairly smoothly.

Our Team Said: The Duty B9 offers a great finish and extra grips, but the magazines had an eight-round capacity instead of the marked nine-round capacity. The money saved in buying this gun will allow you to buy better magazines, which we would definitely do.

To collect accuracy data, we fired five-shot groups from a bench using a rest. Distance: 15 yards with open sights. Velocities were recorded using a ProChrono DLX digital chronograph set 10 feet from the muzzle.

Special thanks to Eastern Outfitters (easternoutfitter.com) of Hampstead, NC, for their assistance.

Written and photographed by Robert Sadowski, using evaluations from Gun Tests Team members. GT