I finally did it. After years of searching for a 1911 I’ve finally purchased one. I didn’t want one of those new, flashy ones with all the bells and whistles and lots of shine and polish and funky grips. No, I very much wanted a mil surp WWII .45. The problem there is for a decent one in good condition you’re into it for $2k+. I also want to shoot it, a lot. It would certainly experience it’s share of abuse. Anything that would be in my price range and that I’d want to shoot would be worn out. It would have to be rebuilt, and would still be sloppy. I finally decided to go with a new, reproduction weapon, in the form of the Springfield Armory 1911-A1 GI .45.
Ok, so it’s not a surplus firearm, but it is as much like a WWII surplus 1911-a1 in a brand new firearm as there is.
First Impressions:
I took the GI .45 out for a spin last Sunday and I’ve got to say, damn nice! No trouble with the gun whatsoever. No failure to feeds, no failure to ejects, nothing, not even hammer bite. It was truly a pleasure to shoot, the fully jacketed UMC slugs lazily leapt from the muzzle time after time and found their way through the paper alongside their predecessor. Groups were tight when I did my part, and recoil was enough to be satisfying but not enough to be either fatiguing nor was the next shot delayed. Recoil was of course greater than my CZ-50 (32acp), but noticeably less than my CZ-52 (7.62×25 Tokarev). I’ve owned several 9mm Glocks and a 9mm Smith & Wesson Sigma and I’d say the GI .45 behaved better than the Sigma and on par with the Glock 19. Definitely a fine firearm, it’s easy to understand why it’s been THE handgun for 95 years.