Over at Metal Banto they’ve got some of the first shots of the new Western Arms Ultra Compact 1911-A1 V10. I get the feeling from reading their article that they borrowed this for the purposes of taking the photos. The V10 is a limited edition pistol (a run of 500 units is rumored), so sadly (if you like this specific SCW variant) you’ll have to move quick to grab one, plus spares such as slides will be few and far between.
The rear of the grip has the fairly standard checkering that you’d expect, plus the standard .45 grip safety mechanism. Strangely the grip safety lacks a step towards the bottom so at best guess looks to be a copy of an early V10 design. The slide has “MODEL 1911-A1, CAL .45” written down the left side and absolutely nothing down the right side, but what’s weird is that there’s no “Springfield Armoury” markings to be seen anywhere not even on the chamber where you’d think you’d find “S.A. 45 AUTO” stamped.
The current real pistol (V10 “Loaded” UC PX9510L) features the Springfield crest on the slide at the front, the Springfield name down the RHS, “V10 ULTRA COMPACT CAL .45” on the LHS of the slide, the “Springfield Geneseop, IL USA” markings on the frame, and if fitted with the Hogue grips you’d tend to find the Hogue logo in the center of the grip side panels. Most current V10s have nine serrations cut into the rear of the slide below the rear sight, whereas the WA version has twelve (hard to count the buggers, but there sure looks to be too many). The hammer on the WA V10 also looks to be the wrong shape being more enclosed, rather than a rounded triangular shape found on current V10s. This all points (again) towards a copy of an early (circa 2000) V10.
This makes the V10 Ultra Compact release from Western Arms a very curious one, the choice to lack original markings means you have to wonder about the licensing of the release, plus the replication and attention to detail that you normally see from WA seems to be lacking. Some parts point towards a copy of an older V10, and some point towards a newer design (such as the Wilson Combat sights) making this a rather odd concoction of parts. Curiouser and curiouser… thoughts on a postcard (or an email).
