Price of Thompson 1911 45 Cal Pistol Make America Great Again
Sureshootin' 1911s – at present from the folks at Kahr Arms!
On Target, April 2005, Page 32-34
By Bob & Sandy Rodgers
In 1999, Kahr Artillery purchased Thompson/Auto-Ordnance. Along with any physical assets included in the buyout were sure intangibles, among these, name recognition and reputation. In the case of Machine-Ordnance, it would be all-time to consider these as liabilities. The passing of ownership was, as they say, noted by many and mourned by few. You lot see, Motorcar-Ordnance, which once had a keen reputation along with a colorful history, had managed to learn a less than sterling repute in the manufacture of 1911 pistols. We're unaware of any collector groups for these dogs, but there may well exist support groups for the unlucky owners – y'all know, like for parents of troubled children. The point of all this is that Kahr Arms not only had to marshal their considerable expertise and ultra modern equipment to produce quality 1911 pistols, but they have besides had to fight to overcome the stigma associated with the proper noun of the company they now own.
Due to the spiraling popularity of the 1911 pistol, it seems that near every manufacturer of handguns has decided to become a player in the 1911 marketplace. This is a win-win situation for buyers. At that place has never been a time where you've had so many choices, not just of manufacturers, but also in options and pricing. Add-ons, like extended safeties, highly-visibility, low-profile sights, and beavertail grip safeties were, upward until just a few years agone, just available at considerable added expense from the benches of working pistolsmiths.
The "new" Auto-Ordnance Corp. starting time tested the marketplace with a basic mil-spec 1911, and we reported on that pistol in a by event of On Target. It was a huge improvement over the "sometime" Auto-Ordnance offerings, only the tarnished image associated with A/O continued to plague them, and the conclusion was fabricated to focus attention on the Thompson brand.
The Thompson Custom is the company'southward latest offering. Built on a cast frame, and with a slide machined from bar stock, this stainless 1911, chambered in .45 ACP, has the features almost seasoned shooters are enervating on their guns. The slide features cocking serrations fore and aft. Front serrations were outset added by custom smiths to help hand cycling a pistol with optical sights attached, simply they are at present de rigueur for many shooters, aiding in printing checks to verify a loaded sleeping room. The low-profile blackness sights are dovetailed into the slide top. Both front and rear are serrated, and provide a crisp sight movie. The ejection port has been lowered and flared, and a full-length guide rod is installed. The barrel, throated for hollowpoints, exhibited the all-time upper end fit we've seen in a product pistol. Happy blow or not, the hood fit into the slide recesses was most low-cal tight on the sides and the rear. This assures that the barrel will return to exactly the same position in the slide, shot after shot – 1 of the key ingredients in accurateness. The underside of the slide has a cutout for a firing pin block rubber plunger that will be instantly recognized by owners of Filly Series 80 1911s; it's a dead ringer. More on the Serial 80 rubber system will follow.
The frame has twenty LPI checkering on the front strap in three-quarters coverage. Instead of edge to edge, only the front gripping surfaces are checkered. A nicely-made polymer mainspring housing has molded checkering to complement the front strap. The Thompson had a narrowed, lightened hammer to both reduce lock time and to forbid frame interference as it falls. The beavertail grip safety has the tail narrowed; though strictly corrective, it's still a overnice impact. The insurance pad, on the other mitt, is totally functional; it helps ensure total low of the grip safety. A clean bevel on the radius of the mag release makes the gun a little more than mitt friendly. Razor sharp edges in this area are common, and a pet peeve of ours. An extended mag release is installed but beneath a slotted, lightened, brusque trigger with overtravel adjustment.
The frame feed ramp was polished to assist reliable feeding. A slightly extended ejector makes certain the empty brass clears out; the moderate length is beneficial when ejecting a live round. The edges of the magwell were beveled to assistance positive insertion of fresh magazines. The 7-circular magazine supplied with the Thompson Custom is manufactured past the same company that makes magazines for the unabridged Kahr line-up of pistols. It features a rounded steel follower, a welded-on baseplate predrilled for a slam pad (not included), and witness holes for verifying circular count.
Nigh shooters insist on an extended pollex rubber, finding the abbreviated manner used on mil-spec style pistols too short and besides narrow for positive manipulation at speed. The Thompson addresses this business with a safety that is extended non only in length, just also in width. This is certain to go approval from those who utilise a "thumb-over-safety" grip. Night brown laminated grip panels with a centered medallion bearing the Thompson proper name and logo set off the matte stainless of the pistol, and are fastened with Torx head grip screws.
The trigger pull measured 5.5 pounds and was gritty when we start received the gun. A thorough cleaning of the burn down control and firing pivot condom components went a long way toward smoothing the pull. When fully cleaned and lubed, the trigger settled at five pounds even, with a small amount of creep and no overtravel. The job of the safe parts in this pistol is to prevent the firing pin from striking the primer unless the trigger is pulled. This system-cloned from the Series 80 Filly pistols-is street proven and has been in employ for years. Proper timing of the parts is absolutely critical for reliable function. The firing pivot block, activated by the safety levers, must articulate the mode for the firing pivot to have an unimpeded strike on the cartridge primer by the time all of the slack or pre-travel is taken upwards, at the get-go of the trigger pull. Mistimed pistols will exhibit impairment to the blocking plunger and firing pin, and misfires can occur from lite primer strikes. Uninformed adjustment of the trigger overtravel screw in some pistols adds to the problem, since this inhibits trigger travel and the amount the blocking plunger tin be moved past the actuating levers. In our test pistol the overtravel terminate could be tightened to the point that the hammer wouldn't quite fall, but the firing pin was completely clear to move. That's exactly how it should be when the system is working as designed. Oh, and reverse to popular opinion, excellent trigger pulls can be achieved in Series 80-fashion pistols.
The Thompson Custom proved a reliable performer during test firing. The simply trouble noted was one failure of the slide to lock back on an empty mag, an bibelot we couldn't indistinguishable again during our session. Accuracy was beyond practiced. The Thompson exhibited stunningly modest group sizes, no matter what loads were run through her. There were no articulate-cut winners in the armament used, although a grouping of 5 at only under an inch, from 25 yards with Remington UMC 230-grain FMJ, is certainly noteworthy. With the new ownership and their commitment to quality, this nice-looking, accurate, reliable pistol should become a long manner toward redeeming the name and helping restore the Auto-Ordnance/ Thompson company dorsum to its rightful place in history. See the Thompson Custom 1911 at your local gun shop.
| Thompson Custom 1911 .45 ACP Ammunition | Velocity f.p.south. | Energy ft. -lbs. | Smallest Group | Largest Group | Average Grouping |
| Black Hills 230-gr. FMJ | 798 | 325 | 1.15″ | 1.72″ | 1.39″ |
| Winchester 185-gr. ST HP | 976 | 391 | i.18″ | 2.06″ | one.54″ |
| Federal 230-gr. TMJ | 733 | 305 | i.25″ | 1.99″ | 1.61″ |
| Remington-UMC 230-gr. FMJ | 787 | 316 | .96″ | 1.93″ | 1.42″ |
| Velocity is the average of four five-shot groups, measured with a Beta Chrony Chronograph, set 10 feet in forepart of the cage. Groups were fired from a sandbag balance at a range of 25 yards. Abbreviations: HP (hollow indicate); FMJ (full metal jacket); ST (silvertip); TMJ (total metal jacket). | |||||
Source: https://www.auto-ordnance.com/thompson-custom-1911/
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