Carry Reimagined
Among the new models is the S103, a reimagined carry gun with the slide travel of a full-size Government Model but with the outward dimensions of the 3/4″ shorter Commander and comes in 9mm or .45. Cabot sent an early transitional version of the S103 that had some teething issues, but replaced it quickly with a second improved one, also in .45 ACP.
The test gun came with the businesslike matte black finish you’d expect (nitride on ours, now DLC) and walnut grips, with only the barrel and trigger adding a flash of silver. The rear sight is a genuine Novak LoMount and the front sight blade is mounted in a longitudinal dovetail closed by the barrel bushing, a design that makes it impossible for the sight to get to knocked to one side and lose its windage. Between the two sights is a machined flat with lengthwise serrations ending in an arrow pattern intended to draw the eye to the front sight. While gold bead and tritium inserts are available, ours came with a plain black rear and white dot front.
Cocking serrations, located at the rear of the slide only, are Cabot’s distinctive Trinity Stripes. Designed by architect Tom Pierce, it’s a checkered panel interrupted by three smooth recesses. The barrel is deeply crowned, giving the muzzle a funnel-like effect, and the flat wire recoil spring wraps around a one-piece full-length guide rod. The practiced eye will notice the front stirrup cut is shorter than an ordinary Commander, an artifact of the S103’s longer slide travel.
Controls are an extended, strong-side only thumb safety machined from billet and a standard slide stop, and a slightly extended, checkered magazine release and an alloy trigger with Cabot’s trademark three stars EDM’d through it.
The face of the trigger has a shallow curve and a rounded profile (similar to early M1911/M1911A1 service pistols) rather than the usual square contact area, giving it a substantially different feel. The trigger itself was a bit loose, with fore-and-aft play in its raceway, but once the slack was taken up, it broke crisply at 4 lbs., 3 oz. with zero creep and no discernible overtravel. With the sole exception of the free play, an outstanding trigger and a good reminder of one of the biggest reasons people love the M1911.
The hammer is skeletonized and carefully beveled to remove all sharp edges, and well-protected by the upswept beavertail grip safety, which is equipped with the customary “speed bump” at the bottom of its contact pad.
Both the frontstrap and flat mainspring housing are wrapped in what Cabot calls its rhombus checkering in a 24-LPI pattern consisting of barely flattened diamonds formed on the diagonal as opposed to the usual checkering layout where lines run straight up and straight across the gripping surface. While offering excellent purchase, the flattened rhombi lack the aggressiveness of the square cut checkering that has ripped the lining out so many of my jackets.
While several grip options are available (it is, after all, an M1911), ours came with walnut panels grooved with a Fibonacci spiral pattern. The magazine well is thoroughly beveled for fast reloads, and while one of the four Cabot magazines we had didn’t always drop free (and the mags themselves were a little stiff to insert at the beginning), we had no trouble finding the magwell or doing reloads once the magazines had broken in a bit.