The year 2008 was an elections year for US of America, which of course represents the largest firearms market in the world. The results of these elections lead to an unprecedent increase of firearms and ammo sales.

People were rushing out buying everything they could lay their hands on, afraid that the new administration would make procurement of guns and gun-related items, more difficult. The months between the elections day and the inauguration of President Obama must have been the most successful years in the firearms industry.

This rush in sales however is not a happy sign. It is an indication of how much gun owners are afraid of the new administration, and not without some very good reasons. President Obama is not a fan of guns like his predecessor, and the majority of his cabinet consists of declared gun opponents. Hence the rush to buy and hence the uncertainty among gun owners and shooters for the future of their sport.

We certainly hope that the new administration will seriously consider every new firearms-related law they plan to introduce, very, very carefully. It is a well-known and proven fact, that laws affect only law-abiding citizens, the outlaws and law-breakers are not affected because by definition, they live outside the judiciary environment, outside the law.

Under these uncertain conditions, we at M1911.ORG are closing our Volume 3 (2008) with very good results. During 2008, we brought you twelve reviews of new 1911 pistols. All these 1911 models were reviewed by M1911.ORG, before any other publication, so we maintain our envious position of being the first to bring you all the latest news on the 1911 world. Under these same uncertain conditions, we also bring you the first issue of our 4th Volume. This issue represents the beginning of our 4th year as an electronic publication and we would like to thank you, our visitors for using our sites as your information resource for the 1911 pistol.

In January '09, M1911.ORG visited the 2009 SHOT Show in Orlando FL, in order to get some first-hand experience on what's new in the market. For the first time, three of our staff spend four days visiting and talking with every 1911 manufacturer. Our feelings from the Show floor were that everyone, from the manufacturers to the visiting public are significantly worried about what 2009 will bring. That, of course, didn't stop the manufacturers from presenting some new 1911 models. If you are interested to read what we have seen in Orlando, please follow this link.

As we move along, we have planned some very interesting things for you. For example, those of you who visit our E-zine often, will notice that we moved to a new server and a new platform. The new server is much faster than the old one, while the new platform not only will make our publishing times even shorter, but will also allow you to access those reviews from other platforms, like mobile phones etc. We also plan to start another site, but more on this later. In this issue, you can already read a review of the Volkmann Custom Combatant and the new Firestorm DLX. We already have in our hands a Para Ordnance GI Expert and we are awaiting (among others) for the new Wilson Combat "Bill Wilson Carry Pistol", a pistol similar to what Bill Wilson carroes on a daily basis (or so we are told). So stay tuned and keep coming back to these pages.

For the time being, I would like to wish to everyone a very Happy 2009. May all our fears for the new administration be proven unfounded (somehow I seriously doubt that, but that's what I wish you anyway) and may the 2009 bring us several interesting 1911 models.


Happy shooting everyone.