Haven't owned a PI built 1911 in a while but I treated myself to a new gun on New Year's eve. MY LGS of choice, Patrick's in Savannah, had just got in a new Commander size 1911 built by Metroarms and sold as the American Classic. What really set this one apart for me is that it was actually blued rather than parkerized as most PI built guns are. It comes with extended slide stop & safety, nice visible 3 dot sights, and decent looking checkered wood grips. Another positive point IMHO is that it is a true Commander size gun with a 4.25 bushed barrel. Most of the common model 4 inch 1911s available today use a bull barrel and I like the fact that this one stuck to the original design and used a standard bushing and short rod & plug for the recoil system.
The price OTD was $535 including tax which is reasonable for a gun that looks this good and has the standard features this one does. Fit & finish are great. The slide to frame fit is extremely good with no slop at all yet it is still very smooth. The true test is if it shoots well, so I took it out to the Ft Stewart range yesterday for a smoke test. I brought my usual collection of mags from well worn Chip McCormicks to Wilsons, Tripps, and Kimber Tac-Pros. For ammo, I used Blazer aluminum as I find if a gun shoots these well, you'll have no problems with any brass cased stuff. I setup the target at 10 yards and proceeded to blast away. The gun performed perfectly using any mag and shot to POA right out of the box (I did clean & lube it before the test). I could core the x-ring at will from 10 yards and I had zero malfunctions. Once I finished up both boxes of Blazer, I loaded up 3 mags from my grab bag of mixed JHP rounds which contains some Gold Dots, Golden Sabres, and various other SD ammo. The gun digested this mix of defensive ammo perfectly even though it was already dirty from the 100 rounds of Blazer.
I have some higher priced 4 inch 1911s, like a series 1 Kimber Pro Carry and an Eclipse Pro; however, this economy model performed just as good as the more expensive guns - yup, I'm happy...
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The price OTD was $535 including tax which is reasonable for a gun that looks this good and has the standard features this one does. Fit & finish are great. The slide to frame fit is extremely good with no slop at all yet it is still very smooth. The true test is if it shoots well, so I took it out to the Ft Stewart range yesterday for a smoke test. I brought my usual collection of mags from well worn Chip McCormicks to Wilsons, Tripps, and Kimber Tac-Pros. For ammo, I used Blazer aluminum as I find if a gun shoots these well, you'll have no problems with any brass cased stuff. I setup the target at 10 yards and proceeded to blast away. The gun performed perfectly using any mag and shot to POA right out of the box (I did clean & lube it before the test). I could core the x-ring at will from 10 yards and I had zero malfunctions. Once I finished up both boxes of Blazer, I loaded up 3 mags from my grab bag of mixed JHP rounds which contains some Gold Dots, Golden Sabres, and various other SD ammo. The gun digested this mix of defensive ammo perfectly even though it was already dirty from the 100 rounds of Blazer.
I have some higher priced 4 inch 1911s, like a series 1 Kimber Pro Carry and an Eclipse Pro; however, this economy model performed just as good as the more expensive guns - yup, I'm happy...
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