Do you love the classic military style Model 1911 A1 pistols?
Are they usually priced too high for your budget?
Well the Tisas Model 1911 A1 Pistol is priced right and given a thorough review.
Now that I have given you a chance to drool over the looks of this 1911 A1 Pistol it is time to shoot it. Range day came with boxes of ammunition awaiting disposal it was time to see what the 1911 A1 Pistol could actually do.
Choosing ammunition I wanted to test the Tisas Model 1911 A1 Pistol for functioning to the best of my ability. Remember the originals in war time sometimes used steel cased ammunition. Well I had a supply of CCI Blazer 230 grain .45 ACP. full metal jacket cartridges complete with aluminum cases for the test. Traditional brass cased ammunition is far more forgiving for functioning over the harder aluminum cases I have found in previous tests. The first few magazine loads of cartridges were used getting familiar with the pistol. The next ones were for groups.
Firing at 15 yards this seven shot group was 2 7/8″ in overall size. This was from a standing unsupported two hand stance.
The next group I stepped back to 40 yards. As expected my group opened up quite a bit for the quicker 14 shots fired. On a human sized torso all would certainly have given the receiver a major problem. I attribute this to the cheaper ammunition and my first time firing this pistol.
Military 1911 style handguns were not originally meant to fire hollow point ammunition. Full metal jacket or “hard ball” ammunition was and still is the cartridge of use. Out of curiosity I happened to have a box of the old “flying ashtray” 200 grain jacketed hollow points made by CCI in the Blazer aluminum case. First I hand cycled this very flat nosed cartridges through the action looking for sluggish chambering or bullet profile damage. They passed the test and then I test fired with absolutely zero problems. This Model 1911 A1 Pistol eats hollow points with a vengeance and craves more. That certainly is a good thing for civilians and law enforcement officers who are not held to use full metal jacket ammunition due to the Hague Convention. Below are some of the fired projectiles that I found in the hard clay dirt of the backstop after the tests were complete. The hollow point projectiles are quite evident over the full metal jacket ones all present in this small collection.
For the rest of the testing I ran magazine full after magazine full to test for functioning while quick firing. The Tisas Model 1911 A1 Pistol ran great with no problems. Even when I topped off the chamber and had a loaded 7 round magazine inserted all 8 rounds went off with no issues. The last shot hold open feature worked perfectly also. This pistol runs like a well oiled machine to say the very least.
What can I say about this Model 1911 A1 Pistol? First off it is dead on as a reproduction of America’s favorite fighting handgun. Second is I really like the coloration of the military style finish and the pistol is tight with no rattle. Accuracy also is good and with more practice my groups would certainly improve over the test group sizes. Also how can you argue with the proven knock down power of a 1911 style pistol loaded with 7 of the big ole .45 ACP cartridges? It has been doing a booming business since the year of introduction in 1911.
Head on over to the SDS Imports website and check out their Model 1911 A1 Pistol. Best of all, at the time of this review they are selling it for under $400! Sure beats the overpriced worn out surplus pistols that we have used in the past for a true military style Model 1911 A1 Pistol. Well done SDS Imports!