Handguns

A bill that would decriminalize gun and ammunition possession charges for some legal firearms owners from outside the city caught traveling through the District with their weapons goes before a D.C. Council committee Monday, according to the Washington Times.

Recently, I was approached by a young soldier who wished to upgrade his 1911 pistol. The pistol in question is a Springfield Stainless 1911A1. The pistol was in good shape and had proven reliable and accurate in thousands of rounds of ammunition, but the owner felt limited by the small sights—and he’s among the few shooters genuinely good enough to feel limited by a pistol. I checked the pistol and found it to be a good solid piece well worth an upgrade. Trigger compression was a crisp and clean 4 pounds, overall an above average factory trigger. The pistol fed hollowpoints and exhibited no glaring faults, despite the embryonic sights of the 1911 GI pistol. These sights simply don’t make the grade in a modern-combat/general-purpose pistol.

Colt’s first double-action revolver was their model of 1877, a six-shot, rod-ejector pistol capable of both double- and singe-action operation. The revolver was designed in 1876 by a well known Colt employee, William Mason. The 1877 pistols were built on a medium frame, and used a small birds-head-shaped grip. They were initially chambered only in the .38 Long Colt caliber, though the .41 Colt caliber was added later. Small numbers were also manufactured in .32 Colt caliber. “Lightning” was the nickname given to the .38-caliber versions, while .41-caliber revolvers came to be known as the “Thunderer.” These revolvers were made both with and without an ejector and in barrel lengths that ranged from 2 to 7 inches.

In today's market there seems to be a glut of 1911-type pistols. They run the gamut from inexpensive foreign imports with cast frames and parts to the most inexpensive examples of the gunmaker's art. John Browning's masterpiece has been widely cloned and copied — and arguably never equaled by any other design for pure fighting efficiency. The combination of a low bore axis that limits the recoil arc, a short, straight-to-the-rear trigger compression, well-placed controls, and a comfortable grip add up to unequaled human engineering. Coupled with a design that allows cocked-and-locked carry and unsurpassed speed to a rapid first-shot hit, the 45 ACP cartridge and good heft, the 1911 is a deadly efficient fighting tool.

A generation or so ago we cut up and modified GI 45s into what we thought were superior fighting pistols. Today, we have ready-made factory pistols that incorporate many of the features once found only on custom handguns. But the original GI type remains popular. The simplicity and utter reliability of the design cannot be faulted. The more bells and whistles, the more we have to go wrong with a pistol. Low-profile sights, simple controls, and uncluttered design are among the strong points of the GI-type pistol. In this report we tested two modern renditions of the GI 45, the Auto Ordnance and Regent, respectively. As a counterpoint, we located and tested an original GI 45, by Remington Rand. Finally, we tested a modern pistol that is basically a GI gun with slight upgrades as a comparison. The results were interesting and made for a valid comparison of the GI-type pistols.

I pulled up to the range, and my comrade had his guns out while he organized his ammo. He already put some holes in a paper target, which sat in the middle of the three-sided berm. His Colt Python had some steam coming off the barrel. When I asked about why he carried a little 9mm instead of that intimidating Colt, he said he felt that it was simply obsolete.

Austin Miller, contributing editor for Gun Tests magazine and a contributor to GunReports.com, and video producer J.T. Woodard travel to Tactical Firearms in Katy, Texas, to begin testing a unusual trio of handguns for an upcoming issue of Gun Tests.

If you’re looking for a good Cowboy Action “Wild Bunch” pistol or just a durable 45 ACP, Springfield Armory’s Model 1911 GI is worth a look. These are made to look and feel exactly like the classic WWII G.I. Colt 1911s.

University of Colorado Chancellor Phil DiStefano recently notified the Boulder campus faculty members -- in particular Professor Jerry Peterson, chairman of the Boulder Faculty Assembly -- that professors 'do not have the right to shut down a class or refuse to teach' should they learn that one of their students is lawfully carrying a gun under a concealed-carry permit.

Washington, D.C., Council Chairman Phil Mendelson has introduced legislation that would allow prosecutors to offer 'administrative dispositions' to nonresidents accused of possessing unregistered firearms or ammunition, allowing them to avoid criminal convictions.

If Gun Tests' reader mail is any indication, the 9mm vs. 45 ACP debate is still a hot topic. Twenty years ago, the discussion might have been limited to arguing more rounds versus more effective ammunition. Whereas unexpanded 45 ACP slugs have an initial mechanical advantage — they measure about 0.451 inches across — the controlled expansion and fragmentation of modern 9mm ammunition has closed the gap in terms of terminal effectiveness. Still, questions about which round stops a fight the best will rage on, but for the purposes of this test of concealable handguns, our ballistic judgments will be limited to computing and comparing muzzle energies.

Instead, what we attempt to do here is resolve, in an admittedly small way, the classic gun-counter conundrum that readers constantly ask us about: When you're ready to plunk down hundreds or even thousands of dollars for a carry pistol, should you buy a simple-to-use polymer 9mm or a solid metal-frame 1911-style 45? This is such a personal decision that we know we cannot factor in all the variables that might come to bear, but in the broadest sense, the topic is worth tackling.

To represent the two calibers, we chose two lightweight 1911 45s. The $1076 Springfield Armory Lightweight Champion fires from a 4.0-inch barrel and offers an accessory rail. The $1662 Dan Wesson ECO also features an alloy frame but is smaller than the Champion. Barrel length was 3.5 inches. Standard magazine capacity for both pistols was seven rounds. To represent current 9mm technology, we acquired two high-capacity Caracal polymer pistols that are new to the scene. Imported by Steyr Arms from the United Arab Emirates, the Caracal F pistol was the larger of the two with a barrel length of 3.96 inches and magazine capacity of 18 rounds. The Model C, for Compact, operated with a 3.5-inch barrel and came with two 15-round magazines. Base suggested retail price for each model was $499, but our pistols had a $25 upgrade. Whereas both 1911s offered night sights, both of the Caracal pistols featured the Quick Sight system, wherein the rear sight was integral with the slide and its notch was located directly in front of the ejection port. There was a telltale cap on each Caracal where a traditional rear sight would be mounted.

Of course, the basic question the buyer has to resolve is whether he or she wants fewer big bullets or more smaller bullets. There are advantages to both strategies. But before you consider how the fight might end, we believe you should consider several other practical issues first, such as how a pistol carries and conceals, how well you shoot a particular handgun, and can you deliver an effective and fast first shot.

Before we get into the details, we wanted to note two points in particular. In terms of just plain old weight, everyone knows an empty polymer pistol like the Caracal is lighter than an empty 1911. But once loaded, it can end up being as heavy as a steel-framed 1911 45. Also, surprisingly, although the widths of high-capacity 9mm pistols have been shrinking, the 1911 still has the advantage of being narrower and easier to conceal.

In addition to evaluating our four main test guns, we wanted to further investigate the 9mm vs. 45 ACP question. Separately, we also shot two custom guns, the First 500 1911 45 from Cylinder & Slide and a custom-built Commander-sized 1911 chambered for 357 SIG. The Cylinder & Slide pistol was a replica of the first 500 Browning 1911 45 ACP pistols delivered to the military in the year 1911. Its basic feature package provided a backdrop illustrating the advances in sights, operational features, and weight reduction offered by our two test guns from Springfield Armory and Dan Wesson. The 357 SIG Custom Commander built by Ross Carter demonstrated the kind of power that can ultimately be produced driving a 9mm-sized bullet and showed how much weight could be saved by filling the magazine with 124-grain bullets rather than 230-grain slugs. Our impressions of those two firearms are included in an accompanying sidebar.

Galco Gunleather’s KingTuk IWB holster now accepts Glock pistols with Viridian C Series lasers attached. This new KingTuk variant also includes built-in, patent-pending ECR technology which automatically activates the light/laser as the pistol is drawn.

NSSF reports that overall U.S. imports (in units) in six sporting arms and ammunition categories increased 41.0 percent in June 2012 compared to June 2011. June 2012 imported units in tracked categories totaled 203.2 million, up from 144.2 million reported in June 2011.