A few weeks ago, at the Valparaiso gun show, I found one of these.
End of the show and I knew the dealer so we exchanged some ever depreciating FRN’s for the firearm. The next table over was selling the identical gun, only marked GSG, for $25.00 more, so we made a deal and he went home having sold out and my wallet was a bit lighter….
I’d been looking at some way to make my practice be less expensive, and I was leaning towards a Ruger 22/45 as every other 1911-22 I had handled or shot had a trigger which felt as if the mating surfaces were made of broken rock paved with gravel…… Creep, stacking and grit.Not so this one.
No one had any 22/45’s for comparison, and any way the balance on those wasn’t perfect nor was the weight or the trigger the same. The Rugers really only share grip angle.
This firearm shares grip angle, exact ergonomics and weight. (empty). Nice sharp, clean single action trigger. Magazine drops free like a magazine should. Trigger that is really decent out of the box. I’ll see how it wears and if need be, I can take a stone to it. This is a full size 1911 replica, not a half or 3/4 size one like some of the .22’s out there. Ergonomics almost exactly match my full size 1911’s. Balance and weight is almost exactly the same as well.
The sights are standard 1911, although made of plastic… Adjustable for windage only.. They come with painted dots which are, frankly, a waste of time. The rear sight had to be adjusted to nearly it’s full left position.
The magazine disconnect is an irritation, one I can live with, but I may see how hard it is to remove. The trigger breaks cleanly at 5.2 lbs.
The pistol seems to like nearly any kind of .22LR. I shot Federal bulk, my go-to at the range (when it is available), and CCI Standard (the other go-to in our household). To be honest, I couldn’t find any other .22 that I was willing to pay for. Both the Federal and the CCI fed and functioned flawlessly through 480 rounds (combined).
Accuracy at 50 feet with 10 shots was about 4.5″ to 4.75″ group size. The Federal bulk prints slightly high and the CCI Standard prints a bit low for the sight elevation. Below is one of the better targets:
Every target had a flyer…Dunno if it was me or the pistol. Probably me.
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Gonna have to adjust the sights a bit more, but it’ll do for now.
This is a decent substitute for training with a full size 1911. Even at the current cost of .22LR.
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