Photo of the Day: Student M45A1

It is now officially Day Two of the 10-8 Consulting 1911 Armorer’s Course. One of our intrepid students brought their fairly rare MARSOC M45A1 to class to work on. It has already been through a high round count pistol course, and belongs to an educated end user who knows how to keep his 1911s running. It was no surprise it passed all our function tests with flying colors.

Colt M45 CQBP: Shooting the Gun (Does it work?)

The Colt M45 is fitted with a National Match Barrel which yields very good accuracy. I shot this group at 20 yards, standing, freestyle. I was fighting a nasty flinch from all the function testing earlier.

Earlier this week, Hilton published a series of articles that gave us a detailed look at the Marine Corps’ new M45. This begs the question, how does it shoot? Those of us who’ve been around the 1911 platform know it is a finicky gun that requires a dedicated end user and strict maintenance schedule if it is to be relied upon. Many 1911 style guns on the market won’t even work well out of the box. So how does the Marines’ new 45-caliber pistol fare? Continue reading

Colt M45: A Closer Look at the Dual Recoil Spring System

The geometry of the M45 guide rod head is quite similar to the GI version. The protrusions are the same diameter according to my digital calipers.

Recently, there has been a bit of interest regarding the dual recoil spring system included with the Colt M45 CQBP. The spring system is designed to improve the service life between replacement cycles, though the Marine Corps still specifies that the springs be replaced at 5000 rounds. This spring setup is not completely new, as a similar setup is used in the Delta Elite, albeit the guide rod in that system is polymer. So the question remains, can we expect the system to work if put into a standard 1911? Continue reading