2011 SHOT Show

[John]

Just like every year, in January M1911.ORG is currently in Las Vegas to watch the 2011 SHOT Show and report back to you all the new things in the 1911 world.

Day 1: Media Day

This year, for the first time, we went to the Media Day, at Bolder Rifle and Pistol Range. It was also the first year that I was not alone. Spyros and his lovely wife, Evi, were with me and helped me out on this assignment. Actually, Evi was the photographer who shot most of the pictures you will see below on the Media Day.

The following 1911 manufacturers were present there:

Colt, Para-USA and RIA.

Colt had all their new guns, including their DA 1911s. We'll report more about these pistols to you tomorrow, from the SHOT Show floor. All I can say that the 5" DA pistol had a very sweet trigger.

Para-USA also had a variety of their models. Again, more details will follow tomorrow.

RIA was the big surprise of the day. Not only we were shown their light-rail equipped 1911, in .45 ACP,


Yours truly, firing RIA's rail-equipped 1911.

but we also had the chance to see and fire two brand new guns, which will be added in RIA's catalog in April.

The first one was a .22 LR 1911. It is an all-steel gun, with a machined slide which looks very much like the Beretta 92 slide, in that it provides almost no cover whatsoever to the barrel, which is fixed to the frame. Shooting it was as expected, a very sweet experience. No recoil whatsoever, and the pistol functioned 100%. An aluminum magazine was shown with the pistol.



The second pistol, though, was a revelation.



The pistol is called .22 TCM and it fires a special cartridge developed by Armscor, whose specifications speak about a peak velocity of 2100 fps.



It's a bottle-neck cartridge, which will be manufactured and distributed by RIA in US and which was a real joy to shoot.



The pistol has a high-capacity double-column frame and it is made of steel, just like any other RIA pistol.



I shot several magazines of the prototype that was on RIA's table, and I was amazed with how sweet this pistol was.

The cartridge is produced using a .223 Rem. case, which has the same rim diameter as the 9mm Para one. RIA is planning to offer the pistol together with a 9mm barrel, so customers can use either round in their pistols.

You may discuss our 2011 SHOT Show presentation in this thread in our Forums Site.

[John]

We have seen several interesting 1911s during the day, and of course there were some new manufacturers in the Show. Let's start with one of them, Christensen.


Christensen

This company had four models on display, all of them in stainless steel.


This is their standard 5" model.


This is their light-rail 5" pistol.


This is their Officers-size pistol.


And this is their Commander-size one.

All pistols featured fish-scale-like serrations. If you omit the extended slide stop and you like the strange cocking serrations, these pistols looked quite promising.


Ithaca

Ithaca's model which we reviewed in here some time ago, is no longer available. Instead the company is offering the following three models for 2011.


A GI-style one.


A model oriented more towards concealed carrying.


And a model oriented more towards target shooting.

All new pistols have a forged slide and a cast frame, and they are US-made.


Heirloom Precision

As expected the gunsmiths at Heirloom Precision had some very interesting pistols to show.


This one is made by Steve Bailey.


This one was made by Jason Burton.


I didn't get the name of the gunsmith who build this one, but it had an interesting beavertail safety.


Stan Chen

Stan Chen Custom quite proudly displayed his new frames.


First frame I see which was totally devoid of any machine marks. It also features a very grippy checkering on the front strap.


This was a customer gun built on a Colt frame.


Cylinder & Slide

Bill Laughridge proudly displayed his 100th Anniversary models in his booth. There were three of them, a US Army one, a US Navy one and a US Marines one. The pistols were real works of art.




This is a similar pistol left in the white, so that people can see the details before the bluing is applied.


Para Ordnance

Several new models in Para Ordnance booth.


This is one of their 100th Anniversary pistols.


This is their Wild Bunch model.


This is their 6" barrel pistol, called 14.45 LS Ltd.


Their Tactical model.


Here is their set of 100th Anniversary pistols.


This is the Companion II.


Umarex Colt

The collaboration between Umarex and Colt is bringing us some very nice 1911s. Here are some of them we saw at Umarex booth.


A .22LR pistol with a light rail.


Another view of the same pistol.


This is their standard 5" Government pistol, also in .22LR.


The other side of this pistol.


Detail of the ejection post and the writings on the pistol.


Browning

Here is Browning's reduced size pistol.




Finally, in STI's booth, one could see the second prototype of the "El Comandante".





The pistol is very close to its final form, with the only difference from the original specifications being that it had a 4" barrel and slide, instead of the specified 4.25" one.

I want to thank Evi, Spyros wife, who took a lot of the pictures shown in this article. We couldn't have made it without her.

More news will follow tomorrow night.

You may discuss our 2011 SHOT Show presentation in this thread in our Forums Site.

[John]

Today, we started our SHOT Show visit at around 10.00 am. Here is what we saw:

Remington

Remington had three new models in their booth, in addition to their well-known by now, R1. Here they are:




This is their Enhanced model.




This is their Centennial model






And this is their Centennial Limited model. The blueing job on this pistol was amazing!


Taylor's 1911s

A new manufacturer with a very basic, no-bells-or-wistles 1911.






Lew Horton

A Lew Horton Commander with a Magna-ported barrel.






Desert Eagle

Desert Eagle had two 1911s, one in Government size and one in Commander size.






Les Baer

Several models in Les Baer booth.


Prowler II


USA Shooting Team pistol.


Boss .45 ACP


Les Baer Centennial


Dan Wesson

Several models in Dan Wesson booth.


Titan Elite


CCO, an Officers size, aluminum alloy frame with a Commander slide


Dan Wesson Havoc


Dan Wesson Mayhem


Nighthawk Custom

Several interesting models in Nighthawk's booth.




NHC Centennial model.


Their 6" model.








Nighthawk Falcon




The compensated T3






The NHC .22LR pistol.


Springfield Armory

This is their new Range Officer Parkerized pistol.




Para-USA

A model we missed in our first visit, is this reincarnation of the classic P14-45 pistol. Traditional vertical cocking serrations, plain high-profile rear sight with a Fiber Optic front one are setting this pistol apart from the newer Para models.




Kimber

Two small 1911s were the new items in Kimber's booth.





Very nice looking guns!


Sigarms

This is their .22LR 1911.





The pistol appears to be a copy of the GSG .22LR pistol, but I can't be sure about this.


American Tactical Imports

This is the Fatboy we found, at the American Tactical Imports booth. It is made by SAM in Philippines.





It's a high capacity 3" pistol. We have shot this one during the Media Day and it was a nice, reliable little gun.


Checkmate

Here is the new Checkmate 10-round magazine.






Here you can see my partner-in-crime Spyros and his wife (and our photographer for this year SHOT Show) Evi.



The bad thing was that Evi was using a Canon camera, but I forgive her. Both have been a great help so I want to thank them here.

More news will follow tomorrow night.

You may discuss our 2011 SHOT Show presentation in this thread in our Forums Site.

[John]

Another day at the SHOT Show, some more 1911s for your viewing pleasure.

As a general remark, it appears that this year, it is the .22 LR year. Almost every company in the 1911 business had a .22 LR pistol in its line.

Here are the companies we visited today.

Metro Arms

This company had a wall full of 1911 pistols, unfortunately there was nobody in their booth to talk with. Here are their models.

























The American Arms line includes also an Officers size pistol, which however was not displayed in the company's booth. Also, their .22LR pistol appears to be a copy of the Chiappa pistol.

Cimarron Firearms

A couple of amazingly beautiful 1911s in Cimarron's booth, produced by Armscor but finished in USA.










Hogue

Well, this is a pistol that has been shown in Hogue's booth for several years now. The inventor, Peter Spielberger, an old friend of mine, has developed a top end for the 1911, which has almost no recoil what's so ever. However, it is a very expensive slide we are talking about, which requires difficult machining to produce. So far, the pistol has not been in production, but Peter's hopes are high.






Iver Johnson

Here are the pistols shown in IVer Johnson booth.
















Nighthawk Custom

This is the limited production NHC Centennial.








Para-USA

This is the new Para GI-LTC.






STI

This is the STI Apeiron (the Greek word which means Infinity).





And these are the two Centennial models of STI.











This is the Spartan 9mm.




Colt

Colt didn't have any new models in their booth. The DA pistols were there, of course, but these were presented last year, so I do not consider them new.





There were of course the Commemorative pistols, a sample of which you see above.



What's interesting is that the Government models we saw had the "100 Years of Service" engraving at the right side of the slide.


Finally, a couple of pictures of our very own Walt J. Kuleck pistol which was shown in Cerakote's booth.





Great work there Walt!

Well folks, that's it from the 2011 SHOT Show. I hope you enjoy the pictures and you liked the models you saw.

One thing is certain: the 1911 is alive and well, contrary to what some say, that a 100 years design is dead or out-dated.

Until next year!

You may discuss our 2011 SHOT Show presentation in this thread in our Forums Site.