American Rifleman October 1998
More .45 Bangs for the Buck 

WIDEBODY  M1911s
MORE .45 BANGS FOR THE BUCK
If you're limited to 10 rounds in the magazine anyway, why not make it 10 rounds of .45 ACP?.  A whole generation of high-capacity, .45 ACP M1911 pistols proves the point.

John Moses Browning wanted a rugged and serviceable automatic that was also shoot able in most troopers' hands. Ideally, that means a low bore axis and a straight-to-the-rear trigger system, The M1911 pistol has these characteristics and is a pretty easy auto pistol to use, particularly with informed training. The bore axis is relatively low and the trigger system on the new double wides is very similar to Browning's. Remember, however, that the original gun has a trigger with a stirrup that surrounds the magazine. When the butt grows wider to take a high-capacity magazine, the stirrup must also grow wider. The original pistol came with a slot in the rear of the receiver through which the trigger was inserted and so do the various pistols we're looking at here. But the trigger stirrup is wider and the slot has to be correspondingly wider in order to assemble the gun.
    While a double-wide .45 has some specific parts that differ from those in a single-stack M1911, most are interchangeable. Indeed, the pioneer maker of high-capacity .45s is Para Ordnance, which offered only receiver kits for several years. Eventually, it went into complete guns, but still had no problem selling the kits to shooters.
    The six pistols we examined and fired for this story were a Caspian/Craig, Entreprise Arms, Kimber, Para-Ordnance, Springfield and Infinity (Strayer-Voigt). All have 10-shot magazines and are essentially defense pistols. Before we get into a detailed shooting evaluation of each pistol, let's take them one at a time and look over their various features.

CASPIAN/CRAIG. Caspian Arms of Vermont was an early player in the high-capacity .45 pistol business. Its frames are the product of advanced casting methods, and the slides are milled from bar stock. Caspian usually sells them as a unit. This allows the two major components of the pistol to properly interface. Caspian leaves building the complete guns to thousands of individual pistol smithing firms around the country, such as Craig, Ltd., of Geneseo, Kansas, which built the sample pistol. This pistol, unlike the others covered here, is a full-custom gun with a number of advanced features. It sells for $1,595. Probably one of the more interesting is the Briley barrel and bushing. The barrel bushing is a semi-spherical unit that stabilizes the barrel in the front end of the slide. It rides in a matching seat and allows the barrel to pivot smoothly as the pistol unlocks and the rear of the barrel drops. The result is greatly enhanced accuracy.
    The Caspian/Craig is set up as a full-size combat pistol. It features fixed, high-visibility sights with a rear unit by Heinie. The gun also has an excellent trigger pull, which breaks clean at just more than 4 lbs. There's an ambidextrous thumb safety with large pads, a wide beavertail grip safety and an extended magazine catch. Unusually, the gun also sports an arched mainspring housing, instead of the more common flat one. Caspian receivers include a cast-in magazine well that really aids fast reloading. Unconventional as it may be, skateboard tape on the grip section and frontstrap works very well. It also obviates the need for expensive checkering. Craig Ltd. did an excellent job of putting together a high-end .45 pistol. It was easily the most accurate pistol of the six, shooting groups that averaged 1.64.

ENTREPRISE ARMS TACTICAL 500. Entreprise Arms is an aggressive California firm specializing in the fabrication of major firearms components. It got into the double-wide .45 business with a kit that buyers could purchase and fill in with parts. It now offers a series of complete pistols with high-end features at relatively low prices. The pistol shown here is a mid-level tactical gun that sells for $799. It is very well equipped and one of the better features is the genuine Novak rear sight. There's a wide-paddle thumb safety and beavertail grip safety, the latter unit having the so-called "insurance" pad at the bottom end. A flat, checkered mainspring housing and both fore and aft cocking serrations on the slide make the gun a bit more appropriate for the tactical handgunner.
    Entreprise pistols come with Mec-Gar magazines, which are some of the best in the world. The company's own literature, however, states that Para Ordnance and Strayer-Voigt magazines may be used. The receiver is all-steel and on the heavy side. It's apparent that the designers were deeply concerned about the girth and thickness of the butt section. The pistol has typical-looking black composite stocks, secured with screws on both sides of the frame. They are the thinnest made anywhere and add precious little to the thickness of the gun. Checkered in the familiar double- diamond pattern, the stocks are very desirable. This is not the highest-priced pistol available from Entreprise. Its custom shop can build high-end race guns with all sorts of gamey features. The Tactical 500 is an excellent pistol with sensible tactical features and an even more sensible price.

KIMBER POLYMER TARGET. Kimber of America makes many different automatic pistols based on the M1911A1 pattern. They come in a variety of single-column variations and sizes. The inherent quality and favorable price are endearing Kimber to increasing numbers of shooters. The company offers this double-wide pistol, set up for serious competition, for $957. That price includes Bo-Mar sights, wide-paddle thumb safety and stainless beavertail grip safety, as well as front and rear slide cocking serrations. Right out of the box, the trigger pull broke at a respectable 4 lbs. pounds of pressure.
     The Kimber's most intriguing feature, its special polymer receiver, helps keep he overall weight of the gun to just more than 34ozs. But polymer has other advantages, not the least of which is its ability to be molded into intricate shapes with consider able precision. All grasping surfaces on The Kimber are checkered polymer, even The mainspring housing and frontstrap. Polymer also allowed the receivers designers and producers in Israel to improve the gun's ergonomics. While mostly polymer, the receiver does have a steel insert that accepts the various parts of the lock work as well as the rails, which interface the receiver to the slide. It appears that the insert goes into the mold into which the polymer is injected, thereby bonding he two together. Possibly the best feature is the improved grip shape, which is remarkably like the Browning Hi-Power.

PARA-ORDNANCE SIGNATURE. As the original developer of the high-capacity .45 concept, Para-Ordnance is ahead of the curve when it comes to building these guns. During the past decade, the Canadian firm has built a solid fund of knowledge as to making the guns work. The Signature pistol is all-steel with the features that Para Ordnance knows most shooters will add for IDPA or IPSC Limited competition. In other words, it is a factory-upgraded version of the firm's P14. The upgrading includes an ambidextrous safety lock, beavertail grip safety and fore and aft cocking serrations. Since the gun is competition-oriented, it came with a set of top-notch Bo-Mar sights.
    The receiver has vertical serrations on he frontstrap and the mainspring housing is the flat type with checkering. Stock plates are exceedingly thin to keep the gun's thickness to a minimum. Inside the pistol, there are a couple of features that make it unique. For one thing, Para-Ordnance triggers are commonly excellent and this one was no exception. A firearm is far easier to shoot, even under the stress of time constraints, when it has a decent trigger pull. Also, the general reliability seems to improve nicely with a so-called "supported" barrel. It simply means that the barrel's lower cam surface is extended back to form a ramp for the feeding of cartridges from the magazine. Properly fitted up, his means somewhat greater reliability. Para Ordnance shooters prize the guns for reli ability and triggers. Suggested retail is in the neighborhood of $895.

SPRINGFIELD HIGH CAPACITY .45. Springfield, Inc.. of Geneseo, Illinois, makes m1911-A1 pistols in more variations than almost anyone else. Its guns have earned wide respect among ser vice and competition handgunners. The gun at hand is new to Springfield, but works pretty much like all the other pistols under review a receiver extended laterally to take a wide magazine holding two rows of .45 rounds. Springfield states that Para-Ordnance magazines will fit the gun. Those magazines, including some of the original 'legal" high-capacity types, are commonly found at gun shows nation wide. In contour and design, the Springfield receiver is similar to the Para Ordnance and Enterprise designs.
    As delivered for test and evaluation, the sample gun was the only one in our test that was entirely crafted from forged, stainless steel. It came as a "no frills" pistol with plain furniture. A thumb safety with a wide paddle is the only special feature. Vertical serrations on both frontstrap, and mainspring housing assist in maintaining the shooter's grip, as do the checkered, composite grip plates. Sights are plain, high-visibility type with three dots. Clearly, this is a basic pistol intended to be fitted with the buyer's choice of features. All possible modifications can be performed by the Springfield Custom Shop. In view of the basic pistol's accuracy averaging under 2 1/2" at 25yds. for 10-shot groups the Springfield High-Cap Stainless is an excellent buy at $709.

INFINITY (STRAYER-VOIGT) COMBAT. Exotic is the word for this particular pistol, which is intended to be a personal defense or combat competition gun. Strayer-Voigt is a Texas firm hat produces not only complete pistols like this one, but also a diverse assortment of parts, accessories and major assemblies for gunsmiths in building up custom pistols. The heart of the Infinity system is the receiver. It is a two-part unit in which the lower portion (where the shooter grasps he gun) is molded polymer. By means of a clever system of interlocking surfaces, the lower and upper frame fit together and are held in place with three screws. The frame's upper element is steel and provides the necessary slide rails and cam surfaces to mate with the slide and barrel. There's an undeniable high-tech look to the gun.
    Many of the traditional surfaces have been subtly altered for greater utility and appearance. The cocking serrations, for example, have moved back and left a plain recessed panel to their forward edge. For the second time. we have a double-wide fitted with a Novak rear sight. We also have a gun with a unique trigger contour. By means of precise metal injection molding, the Infinity trigger uses an interchangeable finger pad. I could quickly convert this gun from a long trigger to short, curved to straight, etc. Still, it is the receiver that is the standout feature of the gun. Checkering on all sides anchors the pistol in your hand. A flashy-looking skeletonized hammer, ambidextrous thumb safety and grooved beavertail grip safety are all custom features of the gun's rather pricey $1,700 tariff.

    Aside from appraising the appearance and design features of the new breed of .45 pistols, I also Look hem to the range for an extended shooting evaluation. Firing each from a Ransom Rest at 25yds., I used a selection of the best .45 ACP ammunition I could muster. There were 10 different loads and we fired 10 rounds of each in all six guns. The results are tabulated nearby and they are impressive. As previously stated, the full-custom Craig Caspian pistol was the most accurate, averaging 1.64". The remaining five averaged exactly an inch larger  2.64", with the best average coming from the Entreprise. This is an excellent level of accuracy for any kind of .45 ACP pistol. For defensive use, it's entirely adequate.
    Unfortunately, I have to report a level of malfunctions that ran higher than I am accustomed to with other automatic pistols. In both Ransom Rest and handheld shooting, we encountered some feeding problems. I believe that most of it stemmed from the magazines, which are critical to the success of the various gun systems. All six guns were extremely picky about their ammunition and wouldn't reliably feed either Federal 185-gr. semi-wadcutters or Speer's 200-gr. jacketed hollow-points. Both have unusual bullet profiles and I can't heavily criticize a gun that doesn't like either one. I would sure be happy with a little more functioning reliability across the board, however, because all six choked once in a while with other loads.
    The original question that started this exercise was why would anyone want a widebody blocked at 10 rounds? Well. if you are shooting full-power ammunition, you may find the broader receiver to be a help. Also, a little gun show prowling may turn up an original and completely legal pre-ban. high-capacity magazine. Finally, you just have to accept the fact that a 10-round .45 ACP pistol is better than a seven-rounder or even an eight rounder and the only way to get it is to go double-wide

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