A PAIR & A SPARE…

You’ve seen them in our pages many times, from high quality factory 1911 models, to miracles of wood and metal from the likes of Ted Yost, Stan Chen and Terry Tussey — and others. Their accuracy is sometimes mind-boggling, the fit and finish sometimes drives me to sit quietly for a long time and just stare — and they sometimes can cost as much as a new car.

But lately, I was brought zooming back to the future. Peering into the nether regions of my gun safe not long ago (“I know I have that Zerfeltch 5.8mm Dragoon someplace”) and my eyes fell upon a long-ignored and neglected pair of Colt 1911 military models. One, a 1911 dating from 1917 (I’ve always wondered if it was a WWI vet) and a 1941-era 1911A1 (did it see action somewhere in the world?), are both military-marked and Parkerized. The 1911 must have gone to the armory for a refinish once as they began life blued, but the 1911A1 seems original. Both are well worn these days but seem to have all original parts, or at least correct for the vintage. I’ve had them for decades and, frankly, can’t recall the last time I fired either. Which led me to think about the stories — which we all talk about — stating these old guns “rattle like a can of stones” when shook, and “might deliver 5″ or 6″ groups at 25 yards” … on a lucky day. I recall saying things like that myself. But in all honesty, I can’t recall ever actually testing it.

I decided to have a round of truth or fiction.

I also dug up a brand new Rock Island 1911 — about as close to a 1911A1 as you might find today — as a way to see how it compares, for no particular reason at all. But at well under $500, it’s an all-steel, pretty darn close copy of these old Colts and as such, is fun in its own right.

A Good Couple of Hours

I happened to have a wooden case of new manufacture Winchester classic military-style “ball” 230-gr. .45 ACP ammo on-hand so used it for the test. Perfect.

I squirted some oil in the innards of the three guns, set up targets at 25 yards and settled down at a good rest. I fired a few rounds to settle things and get used to the tiny sights and “kinda” hard triggers — then went to work. After shooting five groups with each gun, there was a funny taste in my mouth.

It tasked like crow.

The old 1911’s best group (the 1917 gun) is shown, but they all tended to look about like that, with a round or two centered closer to the bull on a couple of the targets. Call it a solid 3.5″ gun at 25 yards with the Winchester ball ammo. The aiming point was the center of the lower target, so this gun shot about 6″ high at this distance, which makes sense since they were technically sighted-in for 50 yards.

The 1911A1 (the 1941 gun), shot more or less the same, with most groups hovering around the 3″ mark. But, check out this target. The overall group is 3.25″ and four of the five went into 1.5″! I found in the other targets shot with that gun I’d get two or three shots into 2″ or so, then with the other two, the group would open. The aiming point was also the lower bullseye so it shot high too.

The Rock Island felt tighter than the Colts and I predicted it would outshoot them handily, but much to my surprise, the average ended up being about 3″. It shot about 3.5″ high and a bit to the left.

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