First thing I noticed about this sucker: it's light. Real light. It's about the size of a 1911, and unloaded weighs in at just under 26 ounces; loaded, just under 33 with a 17-round magazine(the one I fired had a ten-round). Specifically,
Length: 8.81"
Height: 5.43"
Width: 1.18"
Barrel: 5.31"
In comparison: a standard 1911A1 is 8.25" long, 5.25" tall and .925" wide(at the slide) and weighs about 39 ounces(2.44 pounds) empty. So this is a full-size pistol
designed for target use with a nice lightening cut in the slide just behind the front sight
You'll notice the rear sight has a white outline, white dot on the front. First time I've fired something with that configuration. Personally, preferring a dot on the front and a black rear, I didn't find it better or worse than having two dots on the rear.
The trigger on this one wasn't as nice as that on the Model 26 I fired a week ago, but I think it's due to the usage: it felt like the thing needed a bit of lube(rental gun on a public range, it's had a few through it); didn't feel 'rough surfaces engaging', more 'dry and dirty'. Only felt it when doing very slow pulls, in fast shooting you'd never notice it.
How'd it shoot?
Ten yards, first ten rounds:
That's six in one elongated hole, offhand. Damn.
Second ten, same distance, from a rest:
I know why I was pulling these a bit left: size/shape of the grip was making me reach a bit with the trigger finger. Still, the first five(circled) were nice and tight. Then I ran the target back to look at it, ran it back out, and proceeded to blow it. Crap.
Did another group of ten, all offhand, same distance
I have to note that I'm having trouble with my elbow, which sometimes screws with my shooting after twenty or thirty rounds. So my accuracy(such as it is) was falling off a bit at this point.
I'm not being a real bullseye shooter, and I didn't think I was going to suddenly improve today so hung up a silhouette and went to some faster shooting. I put seventy rounds of Blazer 115-grain ball into it, this being the result
That's a mix of singles, doubles, some Mozambique drills and some one-handed both right and left, starting at about twelve feet and doing the last thirty at about nine, most as fast as I could fire controlled doubles.
Opinions
Really, not a thing wrong with this pistol a good cleaning wouldn't have taken care of(the trigger). And, seeming just as dry as the 26, it also suffered no failures of any kind.
I do wonder if, for target/match use, the weight removed by that cut in the slide might not be helpful if you were shooting a lot of hot stuff?
The size of the grip did cause me that difficulty with the trigger finger; if you've got small hands that girth might be a problem.
If you like a full-size carry piece and the size if this wouldn't be a problem, I'd think it would work well; that light weight and full-length sight radius would be nice, and there's lots of grip to hold on to.
I know it's capable of much better accuracy at distance that I am; of the first six rounds fired from an unfamiliar gun five of them were in that long ragged hole, which is a pretty good indication.
And thus ends this report
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