Classic Army 1911

[renegadecow]

Introduction:

I finally got myself a CA 1911 after months of on-again-off-again struggling desires to pick one up and see what I can do with it. I was surprised to see that the newer ones CA has been churning out has trades, well, not really surprised. They’re just laser engraved and none too pretty.

I didn’t receive mine in a box however I’ve seen what it looks like and its not much: just a plain brown corrugated cardboard box. Inside is the pistol, one mag, a small box of bbs with the impression that it holds real .45ACP, a cleaning rod and a plastic bushing wrench.

 

First Impression:

Finish is none too shabby, better than the first ones CA released and heck of a lot better than the ones Bell has. But the paint gets thick in some areas like near the deeper CA engravings on the receiver and you can see a lot of casting lines everywhere like on the barrel and some parts of the frame.

Stripping it to user level revealed that this is NOT a 100% Tokyo Marui clone. They cloned just about everything except the following parts:

- The slide rail does not have that extra part where the rails narrow down and help prevent the slide lock notch from wearing down.

 

- The forward-left side rail on the frame is extended in width so that it engages the slide rail in the absence of the extra part they omitted.

 

- The recoil spring guide does not have a hole at the base.

- The hop chamber does not have the protrusion where the recoil spring guide would go on.

 

- They did not include a recoil buffer for the recoil spring guide.

 

- Sights, both front and rear are cast unto the slide which means you have to machine them off and dovetail them accordingly to fit aftermarket sights.

 

- Ejection port is lowered.

 

Shooting:

Loading it up with gas left the magazine hissing at me as if aware of the horrors I would do to it soon. Just a minor leak, that, some silicon sealant fixed it quick at the base of the mag where the big o-ring sits. Firing it was ok, a bit “clangy” because there was no recoil buffer so I put one on. Shoots a little low according to the poor-mans chrono which suggests its going around 290~300fps as it couldn’t penetrate both sides of the can (one side penetrated, the other severely dented). One horrible thing I noticed was that the trigger is gritty and stiff like over 8lbs. I tore it open down to the sears and tried polishing them for a start. They got smooth but the engagement was long so I decided to file down the hammer engagement. Opening it again revealed that the surface that I just previously polished were all dented and malformed. Still working, yes, but it affected the smoothness in that after about a mag worth of shooting it got back to its mushy gritty state. I filed it down some more and put everything back together and the same thing happened. The metal on the main sear was just too soft that little can be done to improve its performance. Of course I was frustrated at that point and didn’t have the patience and insight as I do now, sitting in front of the PC, so I ground that sear down until I could see myself in its reflection. Lo and behold I got it to break clean at about 2lbs, maybe 1.5lbs… until I actually tried firing it with gas and bbs. My one mistake is that I wasn’t content with a mediocre 5lbs or exceptional 3.5lbs trigger. I wanted something so light you could set it off just by thinking about it, and it did. Full-auto too. Not only that, but my efforts effectively brought the hammer engagement high enough to get stuck in the action when the slide is backwards. I had to grind down everything I did and then some just to get the gun working at all. Lesson learned: buy new sears, don’t mess with the stock ones. I haven’t done any paper trials yet as I want to break the gun in some more so get some realistic results (as if I hadn’t broken it enough already).

 

Conclusion:

All in all it’s a pretty decent skirmishing piece. It needs some work and a better barrel to get it anywhere near Marui performace. Its hell cheaper than a Bell 1911 and shoots a little better than it too, at least for now. What it does seem to be really good for is being a great challenge to build a 1911 from the ground up.

 

[Utty]

Finally a CA pistol review! Thanks for that.

 

Sounds like what one might expect: not too bad for the price.

[Mike_West]

Cheaper than Bell? Now that's a miracle of economy, Bells here fetch for $70-$80 posted...

[Praying Mantis]

In my country, some retailer sell the CA 1911 for $35-40, but I later knew that they are non QC version(no engrave on

 

slide) and its quality is cheap like its price, some work well but some are not.

 

A regular price for (QC passed)CA 1911 in my country is $80, interesting price but I still stick to my trusted Bell 1911

 

anyway.

[Utty]

Interesting, and what country is that?

[Praying Mantis]

Thailand

[renegadecow]

Its 24°C in humid Manila, I'm slightly feverish from the flu (again!) and my green gas is about to run out. The nearest store was depleted of their stocks of gas so I decided to do some paper tests. Firstly, the only modifications I've done to the gun so far is clean the internals, polish the outer barrel, and install a recoil buffer as it didn't come with one. Tests were made shooting in the sitting position with a two handed soft arm rest.

 

Makeshift BB catcher: hinged a-frame for storage and a 150W halogen spot light

 

What it looks like 10m out, the paper measures 8 1/2" x 13".

 

10m, 5 shots, 3" circle

 

5m, 5 shots, 3" circle

 

The 10m test fell within groups of 5". I did several and the tightest I got was 3". Although all of the tests done this way had horizontal groupings of 2" or less with the height being the erratic one. I was firing slowly, about 1 shot every 5 sec but even then cool down effect may be to blame. I did notice the placement of each and every shot to come lower and lower as I progress finishing the 5-shot string. The 5m test (done once) gave me a 2" group and I assume that because it was done so close, fps variance didn't matter much.

Admittedly I'm very well pleased with the accuracy of this pistol despite the relatively lower fps. I was thinking that making a solid circle for the target would increase my accuracy as it would be more visible that the outlined ones I've been shooting at but I'm happy enough with the results not to even bother with it, even with my currently wonky eyes (being sick).

 

edit: test was done after 300 round break-in period.

Edited December 2, 2008 by renegadecow

[Frakk2k]

Wonder how it would compare to the Bell? I know mine has more than 280-300 fps at least?

[renegadecow]

Thats pretty strong considering how cold it is where you are. I can't make a definitive test on the Bell but I have a buddy who attested that his plastic version Bell 1911 (on green gas) shot just about the same size groupings at 10m as my Marui Detonics (on 134a) which was about 7~10".

[Praying Mantis]

more accurate than my Bell 1911

[Nikgor]

A nice thing. I got one myself.

 

On of the main bugs, and most frequent, is that that output valve is letting out too much gas (((

Thus, one gas charge is enough only for 14-15 shots. As I was told this is cured by installing TM High Output Valve for M1911.

 

And I am going to buy a TM M1911 mag to have two mags. Perhaps, two more mags ))) And only TM, not CA mags.

[Mike_West]

Well, after comparing the photos to my pair of Bells (one 720 with Bell MBK and one 723), I'll keep my Bells. No matter what, they actually look BETTER. And I can't say a bad thing about performance either.