Handguns

First manufactured in 1907, a John Browning-designed pistol was forever christened the "1911" when it was chosen in that same year to be the sidearm of the American armed forces. Another name for the unit that sports a 5-inch .45 ACP-chambered barrel is the Government model. Since then the 1911 has also been available in 9mm Parabellum, but with much less popularity. Said simply, the mating of the 1911 and .45 ACP was perfect. The big nose of the .45-caliber bullet slides forgivingly when feeding from a wide-mouthed chamber set in a narrow frame and slide. Fully loaded, the heavy bullets counterbalance the mass of the big steel pistol and the slide. Also, not being asked by this lower-pressure round to move terribly fast, the slide is able to cycle with glove-like precision.

We think Ruger's $453 "K" gun takes the P-series pistol another step forward, but HK's $699 USP and Springfield Armory's new $489 XD pistol offer more successful combinations of features.

Smith & Wesson's 629 Classic DX has the edge over Ruger's New Model Super Blackhawk Hunter and Taurus's latest Raging Bull, but with the right ammo, each can be a winner.

If surplus guns make you antsy, three proven .357 Magnum revolvers from Smith & Wesson, Ruger, and Colt offer power and accuracy on any budget.

The Browning 1911 single-action pistol and big 0.450- to 0.452-inch bullets are synonymous. So is a level of power that demands respect, not to mention the recoil that goes with it. But it doesn't have to be that way. You can enjoy the benefits of the 1911 design with what we found to be a pleasing flash and satisfying jolt simply by rolling back the clock almost a hundred years ago.

In the January 2002 issue, we presented an evaluation of seven-shot .357 Magnum revolvers from Taurus and Smith & Wesson. Based on the trend toward lower-capacity pistols chambered for larger cartridges, our conclusion was that seven-shot revolvers such as the Taurus 617 and the S&W 686+ might be too heavy for carry.

Surplus pistols occupy a niche in the marketplace that is surprisingly large and varied. Buyers who want a low-priced plinking gun will often consider buying $200 to $300 sidearms because they (a) might not have much money to spend, or (b), they might be interested in some historical aspect of a particular gun, which they nonetheless still want to shoot for fun. But there are pitfalls in finding one that works well enough to keep and further, to enjoy shooting.

In our search for the least expensive, but still functional, .45-caliber semi-automatics, it was inevitable we would finally bottom out with guns in the $200 to $350 price range. If you'll recollect, we tested two guns in that dollar span in the September 2001 issue, the Llama MAX-1, $298, and the Firestorm 45, $329, two of the lowest cost 1911s we could find. They were so badly flawed we said "Don't Buy" to both of them.

In 1908 Smith & Wesson came out with a new cartridge and a new handgun, the combination of which was to set a new standard for finely built, high-performance handguns for at least the next half-century. The gun was officially called the New Century Hand Ejector, but was commonly referred to as the "Triple Lock," because of a third lockup at the swing-out crane which augmented two other latches, one at the front of the ejector rod and the other at the rear of the cylinder.

Updated, Taurus's Model 617 and Smith & Wesson's latest 686 Plus are revolvers that come up big when buyers are deciding whether to carry a pistol or a wheelgun.

We recently queried a number of custom gunsmiths to learn what they recommend as a reliable, easy to pack, powerful carry gun. A popular answer was an Officer's frame with a Commander length slide, a combination which marries a longer slide (to make the pistol more reliable) with a shorter grip frame (to make it easier to conceal). Perhaps it was this reasoning that prompted Springfield Armory to introduce its new Compact pistol, which for all intents and purposes has replaced the Champion Lightweight (a true Commander-sized pistol).

Taurus's $422 CIA successfully copies Smith & Wesson's Centennial series, but the S&W $745 Scandium 360S Airlite SC is the lightest .357 Magnum snubby we've evaluated.