Gun Tests Grade: B Best Buy

$449

The Tisas Duty is an upgraded version of the GI pistol offered by the Turkish maker, Tisas, and it’s brought into this country by SDS Imports of Knoxville, Tennessee. We looked it over and found an impressive array of features. The barrel was hammer forged and hard-chrome plated. Both the frame and slide are forged, not cast. A black Cerakote finish was evenly applied. It was similar to the Kimber’s finish in appearance and seems durable. The pistol featured Novak-style sights with three-dot inserts, the only pistol tested without a fiber-optic front sight. The ejection port was lowered in the same manner as the other three pistols. The beavertail safety was well designed and rates higher than the Kimber in that area, we thought. The pistol featured an ambidextrous slide-lock safety. The magazine well was beveled. The trigger and hammer are modern types and seem well fitted and finished.

Tisas 1911 Duty B45 45 ACP

There are a couple of things that got our attention. The pistol featured a cut-out in the frame to lower the bore axis. This was originally found on the Colt Enhanced pistols and was a nice touch. The second was the chamfered slide-lock pin. We have not seen this feature on a pistol for less than $1500, that we recall. This was a very nicely appointed pistol.

The barrel seems well fitted, and when the slide was racked and the locking lugs engaged, the pistol was smooth enough. There was no firing-pin block. The barrel and barrel bushing are tight but easily field stripped. The grips are the cheapest possible plastic, the same as the GI model from the same maker. Just the same, they served the purpose and did not adversely affect handling or accuracy. A single Mec-Gar magazine was provided.

We found the pistol to be nicely turned out for the price. The complaint with this pistol was trigger-compression weight. The trigger press broke at 7.25 pounds. This trigger action limited accuracy potential, in the opinion of the raters.

The pistol was lubricated on the long bearing surfaces and test fired on the combat course with the same loads used in the other pistols. All of the magazines locked in place without complaint. The three-dot sights were well suited to fast combat shooting and accuracy, but they were not as effective as the fiber-optic front sights, we thought. The pistol came on target and provided good results on paper and steel. In rapid fire the pistol fired slightly low in comparison to the other pistols, despite the dished-out grip frame. We suffered a single last-round malfunction, with a spent case laying in the ejection port instead of kicked out of the gun completely. A rater pointed out that if the magazine had been dropped, the spent case would simply have fallen away before the new magazine was loaded. This malfunction did not repeat itself. After many years of testing 1911 types, it does seem that some need a break-in period.

In accuracy testing off a solid bench rest, the pistol was fired with the same three loads as the other handguns. While accuracy was consistent, the groups were larger than the other handguns, ranging from 2.5 to more than 3.0 inches. The pistol seemed tight, with little play in the barrel-to-frame fit.

Our Team Said: We felt that with a smoother or lighter trigger action, the pistol may have demonstrated better accuracy results. Combat shooting results were behind the others, but it wasn’t bad. In common with the Kimber, the pistol fired low. One of the raters remarked that considering the features of the Tisas Duty, it would be worthwhile to address the trigger action. In the end we rated the Tisas Duty down a half grade each on the heavy trigger action and sub-par accuracy. Even so, we thought it was the Best Buy of the test.

45 ACP Range Data

Value Guide 45 ACP 1911 Handgun Rankings