Maritza’s Birthday 1911
Mari enjoyed shooting one of my .45 ACP 1911 pistols and
wanted one of her own. I decided to get her
one for her birthday. Unfortunately, we
are coming out of a firearms shortage caused by fear mongering, profiteering,
and hoarding. Pistols of the 1911 design
from most of the major manufacturers were difficult to find and generally overpriced.
The Philippine manufactured 1911s were both inexpensive and
widely available. In the past, I have
been less than impressed with the firearms coming from the Philippines; quality
control and metallurgy tended to be poor.
Before I bought one, I did considerable research and handled a number of
the currently available pistols. The
Philippine manufacturers have modernized their manufacturing methods and
tightened their quality control considerably.
As a matter of fact, they are turning out pistols and parts for a number
of other well-known brand names. The
examples I handled showed quite good fit and finish. The reviews I found online indicated a few
minor problems (primarily with spring longevity) but nothing I couldn’t repair
or replace myself.
I decided to take a chance and ordered a Citadel 1911A1
imported by Legacy Sports. I ordered
through Davidson’s Guns as they offer a lifetime warranty on firearms purchased
from them.
Per Mari’s stated preference, I ordered a full-sized pistol
with a 5” barrel and checkered wooden stocks.
The finish is a black phosphate similar to Parkerizing. The pistol came with a lockable hard case and
two eight-round magazines.
Mari’s Citadel is quite similar to the Loaded model offered
by Springfield Armory with a number of modifications added to the original
1911A1 platform. It has a beavertail
grip safety with a memory bump (which I like), a skeletonized hammer and medium
length trigger, chamfered magazine well, flat plastic checkered mainspring
housing (which I don’t like), front slide serrations, and an ambidextrous
safety (which I also don’t like). I’m
perfectly willing and able to change out any parts that Mari doesn’t like for
something that suits her better.
The sights are a nice copy of the Novak low profile fixed
sights. They offer an excellent sight
picture but they are black on black. I
personally prefer a three dot system.
Whatever Mari decides to go with is easily accomplished with a bit of
paint. The sights aren’t true Novaks and
the dovetails will require some modification to fit another set of sights, if
necessary.
I detail stripped the pistol and cleaned off all the
preservative shipping oil. That oil is
designed for rust prevention and not lubrication and often acts more like
glue. I think much of the talk of
“breaking in” these Philippine 1911s is simply the new owners failing to
lubricate them properly.
I inspected all the parts and everything seemed to be in
spec and well made. I understand there
is some concern over the metal injection molded (MIM) parts, but if they’re
well executed, they should serve. I can
easily replace any small parts or springs that don’t seem to be holding up. I lubricated everything with Ballistol and
hit the high-wear points with some moly grease.
I then reassembled the pistol and worked the action to smooth out some
of the finish. I function checked it but
did not test fire it as I felt that Maritza should be the first one to fire her
new pistol.
Maritza was quite pleased with her birthday gift but we didn’t
get a chance to go out and shoot it for several days. We went out early Sunday morning to try and
beat the worsening winds. My regular
target holders are buried in storage so I used a large cardboard box. A chunk of wood in the bottom served to keep
our impromptu target holder from heading for the New Mexico border.
I had Mari load one magazine with a single round and her second
magazine with three rounds. With a new
semi-auto it assures that, if the disconnector is not working correctly, you
won’t empty a magazine on uncontrolled full-auto. The first round was on the paper at about 15
yards. The pistol cycled flawlessly with
the 230 grain FMJ round nose we were able to find. Empties were being ejected very consistently about
five feet out and in the same area.
Maritza had me fire a few rounds and I was able to keep all
the shots within a couple of inches at 15 yards; which isn’t bad for offhand in
high winds. It’s hitting a little low
for Mari but the sights are spot on for me.
Overall we’re both well pleased with the pistol.
Maritza’s gunhandling and accuracy is improving with each
training session. Her loading and
unloading of the pistol is getting smoother and smoother and her recoil control
is excellent for someone who hasn’t fired more than three full boxes of ammo
through a .45 yet. Much of the
gunhandling and accuracy skills can be developed without firing the pistol so
Mari will be able to improve her skills even if we can’t get to the range
frequently.
Unfortunately Mari found out that shooting, while fun to the
point of addiction, can be expensive.
The one box of factory ammo she bought didn’t last long. Reloading and airsoft will allow more
shooting with less expense.
I wrote the following as part of a birthday letter I
included with her present:
“Now comes the fun part.
Guns are a lot like children- they end up costing you a lot of
money. You’ll want to buy ammunition,
cleaning supplies, safety equipment, different parts, holster and magazine
pouch, spare magazines, targets. . . the list is endless. I haven’t given you a pistol. I’ve given you a money pit. But still, I hope you enjoy it.”
