History

In 2005 Kimber was awarded a contract to urgently provide some special 1911 pistols to the Marine Detachement, assigned to U.S. Special Operations Command. Those pistols known as either Kimber MCSOCOM or DET-1, were build on Series 1 frames and slides, using:

- short recoil guide rods
- Novak Low Mount tritium sights
- Kimber's own ambi safeties
- Ed Brown beavertails
- Dawson precision M1913 Picatinny rails
- Wilson Combat magazines

Here is an article on the MCSOCOM pistol (courtesy of AR15.COM).



This is the MCSOCOM (or DET-1) pistol, as the USMC guys got it from Kimber, who of course grabbed the opportunity to come up with a similar pistol for the civilian market. The civilian pistol was called Warrior, which differs from the DET-1 pistol in some parts, but is basically a very close immitation of the USMC gun.





The above pictures are of the Kimber Warrior model, the civilian version of the USMC pistol.

Western Arms came up with an Airsoft version of the DET-1 pistol, in summer 2005, and it is this pistol that we present you here.


Introduction

A lot of people accuse WA for producing too many 1911 variances. As far as I am concerned (and most probably the same is true for most of you), I am happy they do, after all, it would be next to impossible to get a real MCSOCOM pistol, unless one was willing to join the USMC. Also, I would sincerely doubt if my budget would ever allow me to own three different Wilson Combat custom pistols, so WA offerings allow me the pleasure of having some real nice replicas of those hard-to-get guns.

WA calls their MCSOCOM pistol MARSOC, which is a term not used by USMC, but which we will use from now on to denote the replica. The MARSOC arrived to me in the usual WA uninspiring dark grey box, with the usual contents. The pistol and its magazine, a small bag with BBs, an allen wrench, a bushing wrench, and the usual documentation in Japanese.

The pistol was send to me, by our sponsor Airsoft Extreme and was not customized in anyway, so I assume that's how you will get it too, if you call Airsoft Extreme and order one.



As it came out of the box, the pistol is a very authentic reproduction of the real USMC MCSOCOM DET-1 gun.



It features Kimber logo on the slide,



Kimber's address on the frame, a DET-1 prefixed serial number and US MILITARY PROPERTY USMC inscriptions.



An aluminum trigger and "stainless" hammer are the shiny parts.



The grips supplied with the gun, fail to immitate the real grips provided with the pistol, as far as their color is concerned. Their color is too light to match the original grips. They are mounted on the pistol with authentic looking hex head screws. The mag release button is fully checkered (I like it that way) and an Ed Brown look-alike beavertail safety is nicely blended with the rear of the frame.



The mainspring housing is fully checkered as well, with a lanyard loop attached at the bottom. The lanyard loop is OK with the supplied Wilson 47D immitation magazine, but if you use a magazine not equipped with a magazine pad, make sure you do not slap it hard, in the mag well or your hand will hurt.



The Kimber ambi safety (very similar to the King's one found on the MEU(SOC) pistols), is accurately reproduced. The rear sight is a two-dot Novak Low Mount (I wasn't expecting to see and tritiums here).



The barrel's chamber and the barrel are stainless steel in appearance and the chamber has a cut, which in the real pistol would allow the operator to visually check if there is a chambered round or not. However, the inscriptions on the chamber are somewhat strange saying "cal. 45 NDT P" whatever that means. Chamber and barrel are made of metal of course.



The front sight is a dovetailed single white dot thing (Novak, I assume), which matches the curvature of the slide (nice touch!). The slide comes with wide and slanted, front and rear cocking serrations.



What is also strange is that the recoil spring plug is not checkered, but absolutely flat. That's the way the real pistols were made, so a thumbs-up for authenticity to WA.



On the bottom of the dust cover, you can find a light rail, which closely immitates the Dawson Precision rail, found on the DET-1 pistols. Typically a special adaptor is included with the pistol, which allow you to mount any standard Weaver rail accessory. This adaptor however was not included in the package I received, so I have to find alternatives, if I want to use a light with this pistol.

The pistol I got had a faulty thumb safety. Even though the safety would move up and down properly, it was evident that whoever fit it in the pistol had no idea of what he was doing. The safety was not relieved enough to allow it to move, the only reason it was moving was because the frame of the pistol, being plastic, allowed the movement by bending. A few strokes with a file, solved this issue, and allowed the safety to move without problems, to the safe position, where it blocks the sear, the way it should.

The trigger of the pistol is of course excellent, like all triggers of the WA pistols I've tried, and which contributes greatly in the accurate shooting of the gun.



A nice touch, is that WA has included some weights below the grips, to make the feeling of the pistol more authentic.



However, the finish of this particular pistol, was not up to WA standards, I've seen in other models. The paint used on the plastic was peeling of, in some spots on the front strap, and as you may have noticed, it was easily removed when I rub the front of the slide with some Nitro solvent. Now, I haven't tried the solvent on other pistols until now, but none of the pistols I've tried had peeling marks on them.

Finally, the gun was delivered with a Wilson Combat 47D immitation magazine, which holds 23 rounds.

Overall, the pistol is very nice. A very accurate reproduction of the pistol offered to the USMC, with realistic feeling and features. The quality of my particular speciment was a little far from the typical WA standards, but maybe my gun was from the initial production run. The issues with the peeling paint and the badly fitted safety haven't been noticed in any other WA pistol.

My plans for this gun, is to keep it as it is, if I manage to find the 20 mm rail adapter, and change only the plastic-looking grips with a set of real ones (if I can find a set at a rational price). Otherwise, I plan to remove the rail all together, and change the grips with a set of lightweight Alumagrips, which have enough space on their back to accept the weights used now. I'll keep you posted on that.

Please continue to Page 2 of this review.