While I do like the full-size 1911s as much as the next guy (or gal) here, I have an unsatisfied love affair with the shorter ones, especially the Commander-length, 4.25" barreled pistols, but also the smaller, 3.5" Officers-size ones. Unfortunately, the Greek laws do not allow us to own any pistol with a barrel smaller than 4", so the small pistols are totally out of my reach.
A while back, when discussing airsoft with my new friend Mike (the owner of one of the few shops in Europe which import Western Arms pistols and parts, Elite Shooting Center), I mentioned to him a Western Arms Colt Officers model I've found in a Hong Kong site. Unfortunately, that particular model is one of the cheaper ones that Western Arms offers, and according to Mike it wouldn't satisfy me, although it is an SCW3 pistol. Then, one day, I discovered a frame/slide kit that was made for this exact pistol. Mike agreed that with that kit, the Officers might be a worthwhile gun, so I asked him to get me the Officers and the kit.
The pistol and the frame/slide kit arrived in the same package as my M4A1 rifle (a review of that airsoft rifle will be posted here soon) so I don't have the box the pistol comes in. Somehow I believe it will be the late, brownish cardboard box that WA is using for its recent offerings.
When I first touched the Officers, I was pleasantly surprised. It felt quite nice in my hand. It's nowhere near being the heavy-weight champion of the airsoft 1911s (at 760 gr according to my el-cheapo kitchen scale, 790 gr according to Den Trinity) but still being small, the limited weight doesn't seem to be as prominent a disadvantage as on full-size 1911s weighting the same) but still it didn't felt awkward. Another interesting thing I noticed about the pistol, as soon as I fired a couple of BBs through it, was that it had a noticeably heavier trigger, than the other WA 1911s I've tried (whose triggers are .... hairy, to say the least, so I liked the somewhat heavier trigger pull of this one).
Some remarks (based on the looks of the pistol):
+ : I liked its blue finish.
- : I hated the silverish hammer used on it. Why on earth did they installed a silver hammer on such a nice, traditional looking blue pistol??
+ : I liked the high-profile, 3-dot sights the pistol comes with. Elegant and functional simplicity.
+ : I liked the grip safety used, the Commander, scalloped spur safety.
+ : I liked the tear-drop thumb safety.
+ : I liked the traditional looks of the pistol. Vertical rear cocking serrations, no front ones, round Commander hammer instead of the more modern oval ones.
- : I wish the pistol had a checkered magazine release instead of the serrated one.
+ : the grips are some of the best wood repro I've seen on an airsoft pistol. Add the golden Colt medallions they come with and you have some excellent grips.
Some more issues:
- This is the second pistol I see, which comes with a weird slide stop. Typically, all the slide stops I've seen on the WA pistols had a slot, just like the real ones, which allows the slide stop notch wall to go in it when locking the slide. Well, not this one. This one does not have that slot. I've first seen such a slide stop, on another WA pistol I have here, the Novak Next model (more on another review shortly), which had some curious features, one of which is the non-locking slide stop. According to WA, that's the way Mr. Novak build this gun (I am not sure Wayne Novak would build a pistol with a non-locking slide stop and a thumb safety which does not lock the slide, but hey, that's what WA says). On the Officers, the slide stop does lock the slide but only because the slide stop notch on the slide is machined throughout, without any material left on the inside. So even though the slide stop does not have the slot for the slide's wall to go into it, it still moves up and it still locks the slide. Why they did it this way, differently from their other pistols, is anyone's guess. I haven't the foggiest idea!
This is how the slide is machined to allow the slide stop to move up, even though it has no slot cut into it.
And here is the weird slide stop, with no slot.
- Another issue is that the front sight is secured in the slide by a tiny cylindrical tenon, which seems to be staked a little. Nothing like you would expect on a real pistol, no widened part of the tenon shows inside the slide, so I have to assume that this is going to be a problem area I need to address.
OK, since the decision has been made to have this pistol customized with a metallic frame/slide kit, I didn't bother taking any pictures of the original pistol and proceeded directly to disassembling it. When I had all the parts out, I checked the frame/slide kit that I got with it.
This is a Prime frame/slide kit and it came with grip screw bushings, new plungers and a separate plunger tube, which mounts on the frame with two tabs, which are inserted in corresponding openings. Then the plunger tube is pushed forward and locks in place. I added a drop of crazy glue to each of the two tabs, just to be safe. I also added some blue Loctite on the grip screw bushings, to make sure they'll not become loose. Finally and in order to rectify the mushy feeling of the thumb safety, I replaced the flimsy plungers spring that came with the gun, with a real one.
I then turned my attention to the slide. As I imagined, the front sight could not be secured on the new slide, so a drop of crazy glue was used to take care of that matter. The rear sight went in without a problem (it is secured on the slide with a couple of screws from the inside) and the blow-back unit was transfered from the old slide to the new one without an incident.
Then I tried the slide on the frame.
Well, it didn't even go on. Actually it did go on for about 1 cm only and got stuck. The frame needs to be fitted to the slide, so out came the files and I started working on the rails. After about 4 hours of work, the slide could move through the entire length of its travel without any binding. Now I know why custom gunsmiths charge you the money they do.
Here is the end result.
No, that scratch inside the cocking serrations was NOT done by me!
As you can see, this is a sweet little pistol. The silverish hammer has been replaced with a blue one from the Novak pistol (I think I am going to use that Novak pistol, as a spare parts depot, I do not think I'll ever get used to its crazy features), as well as the short trigger with the long one from the same donnor (eventually I went back to the short one, it felt better in my hand on this pistol). If only I could find a black chamber for the barrel, I would be a very happy camper. The pistol looks very "stealthy" as it is, with only that barrel chamber being silverish.
Check the very nice-looking grips with the Colt medallion. They are plastic of course (and filled with heavy material on the inside) but they look so much like cocobolo that you could fool an expert.
The Novak pistol donated the checkered mag release as well.
Also, the magwell is slightly bevelled which makes mag insertion easier.
Sights are the taller, high-profile ones used on contemporary Colt pistols.
The front of the muzzle is very much like the one of the real pistol, showing a large-opening barrel bushing and a slotted recoil spring plug. Interestingly enough, the plug has a colar at its rear edge, thus you could call it a "reverse plug". Something Colt should have done in the original pistol, instead of relying on a small protrusion to hold it in place.
The pistol comes with a flat-based magazine, holding 19 rounds. WA is to be commented for creating a special magazine for this pistol, they could have used the Wilson one they use on the Wilson SDS (http://forum.m1911.org/showthread.php?t=8173), which has a bumper pad at the bottom, but instead they opted to create a new magazine with no bumper pad which fits perfectly the ... concealment duty this pistol is mainly used for.
The pistol strips to its basic components very easily, just like a real 1911.
In the picture above, you can see how the rails had to be filed in order to fit the slide on the frame.
As you can see, WA seems to like shock buffs, they include a red one in this pistol.
Overall, I like this little pistol very much. It conceals easily (what am I saying here???? this is not a real 1911, right? Well, for those who like to practice airsoft in their back yard, it is important) and it works like a champ.
The frame/slide kit didn't add any significant weight to the pistol, however with their dull finish they added a lot in the looks department. The pistol now looks even more realistic than before.
Accuracy-wise, the Officers showed the typical accuracy of Western Arms pistols, or to be exact it is a little less accurate than I expected. Groups in the 3-4 inches are normal if the shooter does his part. I guess the short barrel has something to do with the slightly worst accuracy (when compared to other WA pistols I've tested). I do all my testing at 10 meters so this is a typical group I've obtained with the little pistol.
Power-wise, again nothing extraordinary. The BB punched a clean hole on the side of the Coke can and dented the opposite side, but didn't penetrate it. I think I would invest in some extra power magazine valve on this one, and some heavier springs. I would like to see this pistol getting a little more powerful and now that it has a metal slide and frame, I do not have to worry much about damaging it.
Overall, I do not know if it is because of the fact that I never owned a real, small 1911, but I do like this pistol a lot. Compact, and relatively light, it is perfect for those occasions I carry concealed in my .... garden.
Accuracy: 4
Upgradeability: 4
Training Capability: 5
Realism: 5
Quality: 5
Power: 2
Overall: 25
Note on Gas
With all Western Arms pistols, you are supposed to use the HFC 134A gas. Using Green gas in them, will cause problems, premature wear etc. HFC 134A is giving slightly less performance (lower BB speed), when compared to Green Gas. Green Gas should not be used in unaltered pistols made in Japan, like the WA ones.
With the above warning noted, I have to admit that I am testing all pistols using ... propane. Green Gas is in reality propane, with a little silicone oil added, to lubricate the pistols. So instead of paying for Green Gas, I bought a canister of propane, like the ones sold in US for the camping stoves, or flame torches, and a special valve adaptor, which allows me to use the much cheaper propane instead of Green Gas. In this site, you can read more on this issue:
http://www.airsoft-innovations.com
The reason I am ignoring the manufacturer's recommendation, as far as gas is concerned, is two-fold. First, I want to have consistent environment for all the tests (some of the pistols we'll test here use HFC 134A, some use Green Gas), and second it's plain difficult to find HFC 134A in Greece. Also, I plan to upgrade all the standard pistols (like this one) so that it is safe to use Green Gas (and thus propane) with them.
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Originally Posted by MacEntyre
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