I picked up this Commander-length 1911 R1 at a local sporting goods store's Father's Day Sale. For $474 with a $75 rebate, I couldn't pass it up, even in the face of the poor reputation that Remington has lately built for itself.
The pistol is finished in black oxide, with the exception of the trigger, which appears to be aluminum; the barrel and barrel bushing, which are stainless. The bushing is polished and the barrel is matte, which is a bit odd in appearance but functionally not an issue. Sights are high, fixed and equipped with dots. More about the dots in a minute.
Two magazines were enclosed with the pistol; they appear to be ACT-mags or some very similar make. The mag bodies are finished in black oxide and the followers appear to be stainless. Magazine capacity is 7 rounds.
Grips are sharply checkered walnut in a double-diamond pattern. Grip screws are Allen head button screws, and on my pistol, were not torqued in place when I received the pistol.
The grip safety and thumb safety are milspec-appearing parts. The hammer is a Government-pattern part. All are finished in black oxide.
The first thing I did with the pistol is test fire it, utilizing the indoor bullet trap at my place of employment. Ammo was Winchester bulk 230 gr. FMJ. I don't normally use factory mags included with inexpensive pistols as they are usually of questionable quality; for this test fire I used an 8-round KimPro TacMag which has functioned perfectly in every 1911 pattern pistol I've used it in... which is quite a few over the past few years. The very first round nosedived into the frame's feed ramp and jammed. Once I cleared the jam, the remaining rounds in the magazine, and all rounds from a second magazine full fed, fired, extracted and ejected without issue.
After reassuring myself that the pistol was functional and had no major issues, I fitted a SIG-Sauer 1911 ambidextrous thumb safety. Being left-handed, an ambi safety is a necessity on 1911 pistols; I prefer the SIG pattern part as the levers are unobtrusive but large enough for easy operation. The safety was very easy to fit to the 1911 R1 - it almost fit correctly right out of the package and required only a little stoning on the lug. Safety function is crisp and positive, more a testament to the quality of the part than my gunsmithing skills.
Today, I took the R1 to my local range and set up a target at the 10-yard line. This time, I brought the factory magazines given the feeding issue demonstrated by the KimPro magazine. I started with Winchester White Box 230 gr. FMJ; point of impact was about 2-3" high and about 2" right of point of aim. Before we blame the pistol, though, I have to say that I haven't fired a 1911 regularly for quite some time. Running about 40 rounds of this ammunition through the pistol, I had one malfunction; upon firing round #6, both the empty case of round #6 and the last loaded round in the magazine were both ejected. I would have to say that I've never seen a 1911 do this trick although I have observed it in other platforms. I examined the magazine, especially the feed lips, for damage but observed none. I continued to fire the WWB ammo until I used up all 40 rounds on hand with no other malfunctions. POI remained high and right of POA as noted.
Next, I tried some Remington 185 gr. JHP... with some trepidation as I did not expect the hollowpoint ammo to feed at all. Surprise! Each round fed smoothly. POI with this ammo was about 2" above POA and right on in windage. A 5 round group came in at about 4", using a two-hand hold.
Moving on, I tried some Remington 230 gr. JHP, a box of ammo I've had in the ammo locker for several years. Again, no feeding issues at all, same POA/POI. This was starting to look like the R1 was a winner!
Next up was PMC 230 gr. JHP, same results; smooth cycling and POI about 2" above POA.
Finally, I finished up with some CCI Lawman 230 gr. FMJ, firing about 100 rounds. I had no further malfunctions with this ammunition and POI remained at 2" above POA. I fired 10 rounds offhand with a two-hand hold for group with the following results:
[IMG]10 yd group small.jpg[/IMG]
The two flyers, top and bottom, were called. As I said earlier, I haven't fired a 1911 in some time and the trigger on this one is much better (and lighter) than I expected on a budget 1911. Additionally, I had problems with the dots (see, I told you I'd get to that) as they did not appear aligned when the top of the front and rear sights were aligned. I kept hunting between aligning the dots and aligning the top of the front and rear sights. I may black out the dots.
Not a bad group for a $400 pistol!
All in all, I have to say with a certain amount of caution that this is the best handgun purchase I've made in quite some time. Durability is now the only question, and only time will tell.
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