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Patron Early Access: Primer 213: US 1911A1

🕑 Added 2025-10-21 16:59:38 +0000 UTC

Comments

Matthew Stanchfield

I like the 1911A1- I'm not sure my hand is as big as yours, but it takes a XXL glove- and that is why I like the shorter trigger- more room for a glove.

Bruce Brodnax

What were they supposed to do, infringe on Browning's own patent for the GP35? The same reason Browning had to work around his trigger design for the Colt 1911 led to the craptastic trigger issues found in the GP35 [in relative terms: you're not going to get match-tuned 1911 trigger feel out of a HiPower, no matter what you do short of replacing its entire approach to fire control. But you *can* vastly improve the "as issued" trigger in a GP35.]

Garden Variety Serpent

Would it have killed them to redesign it with an external extractor?

Erik

I would call the all the "A1" spec modifications true improvements, with the "sexiest" being the 1943 Colts, which still retained all the old niceties like checkering on the small parts, the last of the milled triggers, beavertail hammers, and serial numbers under the firing pin stops, while integrating the new improved sights, Parkerizing, and spot heat treating of the slide. All that said, it's pretty hard to top the production quality of the WWI era Colts, where Hartford had to be told on three occasions there guns were STILL too pretty and to rough them up.