Introduction

One of the customized pistols that Airsoft Extreme send us for testing, was the Western Arms Wilson Combat (WC) Professional model. Like the other two customized pistols, the MEU Early model and the SVI Infinity Expert, this one was upgraded by Airsoft Extreme with metallic slide and enhanced recoil and hammer springs.

Here is what Wilson Combat's web site says about this pistol:




At Wilson Combat we pride ourselves on listening to our customers. You asked and we are ready to deliver, for the first time Wilson Combat will produce a custom handgun with a full size frame and compact barrel/slide assembly.

The Professional Model has all the features that make Wilson Combat handguns highly desirable defensive weapons in a popular frame/slide size configuration. Like all Wilson Combat custom firearms, the Professional Model comes standard with features that many firearms makers consider ‘custom’. Tactical Combat Sights with tritium inserts, fully CNC machined internal parts and hand fitted match barrel to name a few. These high quality components are all hand fitted to the frame and slide by a skilled pistolsmith.

Features that are exclusive to the Professional Model include a shortened sight radius for faster sight acquisition. And many shooters find the full size frame more comfortable to hold. It is finished with our attractive Armor-Tuff finish® and is available in your choice of 3 colors OD green, grey or black.

In the following paragraphs, we present you the Western Arms (WA) Wilson Combat (WC) Professional replica, of this WC pistol.

Description



The typical WA SCW grey box, contained the usual things, the pistol, a small bag with BBs, the bushing wrench, a couple of hex wrenches, and the normal WA documentation, in Japanese, of course. The box and the rest of the contents were quite boring, but what a surprise this pistol was!



At first, I thought that my friends at Airsoft Extreme had made a mistake and send me an Officers size gun. Why? Because this Wilson Combat features a 3.9" barrel, which is shorter from what I expected to see in a Commander-size pistol. So this one, looks like either a short Commander, or a long Officers (with a full-size frame). The gun is attractive in this configuration, it's just that I was expecting a longer one and I got surprised.

I start examining the pistol, and I was very impressed by the details I saw.



The pistol features all the normal Wilson Combat characteristics. The word "Professional" is engraved with large letters on the right side of the slide, while the WC name is clearly shown on the left side.



The WC address is also shown on the right side of the frame.



The sights are the WC Pyramid Combat Sights, of the three dot variation, which provided a very nice sight picture, and do wonders for my tired, aging eyes. The hammer is the typical WC oval hammer, in black color. In the picture above, you see a trade-off between the after-market metallic slide installed by Airsoft Extreme on this pistol.



The slide that originally comes with the WC Professional, has the rear surface serrated, as in the picture above (taken from Just Pistols, an excellent Airsoft reviews site). The metallic one is not serrated. A small trade-off, but I would love to have it serrated.



The rear of the pistol is adorned by a very nicely fitted beavertail with memory pad, and a fully checkered MSH.



Other areas with checkering include the front strap of the frame, the lower side of the trigger guard and -surprise- the magazine release button (just the way I like it). The grips are one of the finest immitations of wood I've seen, and have a WC medallion in the middle of the double-diamonds pattern. Of course, the ugly WC slide stop, is used on this pistol. Finally the upper part of the front strap, is releaved, just like it is in the latest Colt hi-end models, allowing a little higher grip. The cut here however, is not very functional as it is very shallow, so it is not as useful, as that of a real pistol.



The barrel of this pistol, is a bushing-less design, bull barrel and the pistol features a full length guide rod, a much more preferable setup, than the stupid hole that the real pistol has there (check this picture).



Finally, the front sight is not contoured to match the curvature of the slide, something I hate, but which is easy to correct. The magazine which came with the pistol, is an immitation of the WC 8 round magazines (47D), only it is the older version of WA magazine, which holds only 15 BBs. Newer versions hold 23 BBs. Of course, the pistol can use any other WA 1911 magazine, so no problems there.

With the heavy, metallic slide, the very realistic details and the excellent wood-immitation grips, this Wilson Combat pistol is a real beauty. Holding it into your hand, gives you the impression of a real gun, although I would prefer if it had a metallic frame as well, the sound of your ring on the frame gives away its construction material (ABS plastic). The solution? Don't wear any rings! LoL.

In the next page, you can read how to disassemble the pistol and our shooting tests results.