The New Division 77 Performer

My wife asked me why I was smiling. I told her I was signed up for a multi-gun competition at Rio Salado Sportsman’s Club in Mesa, Arizona. Even better, I would be using the new Wilson Combat Division 77 Project 1. My wife is not a gun person. She asked if it was special. I thought a minute and then told her it would be like a country boy showing up at the local ¼ mile drag strip with a Lamborghini.

The Wilson Combat Division 77 Project 1

When I first got the assignment to review the Project 1, it was so new I hadn’t even heard of it. A quick Google search later, and I was drooling. Life as a gun writer is usually a lot of fun. But it’s more fun when you are testing guns that perform at the highest levels.

I’ve shot quite a few Wilson Combat pistols over the years, and they have all been extraordinary. Getting to shoot one that is made for competition at a time when I am getting into two and three-gun competitions is icing on the cake.

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Bill Wilson was a powerhouse in the early days of IPSC and later helped to found IDPA. If there is someone I trust to put out a true race gun, it’s him.

At its heart, the Project 1 is a 2011 style double-stack 9mm with a double top and side ported barrel. However, the Achilles heel of the 2011 has always been the magazines. Wilson Combat uses a completely different style magazine. So, they call it a “double stack 1911” to differentiate it.

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The Project 1 is based on WC’s X9 pistol, which was first introduced in 2016 and reintroduced as the X9 2.0 in 2024. It is part of WC’s Division 77 gun series from their Research & Development division.

In 1977, Bill Wilson started his company, taking stock 1911s and adding all kinds of aftermarket modifications to improve reliability, accuracy, and ergonomics. Today, he is turning a few of his trusted employees loose to do the same thing at Division 77.

In a nutshell, Division 77 will be all about innovation. Their first product is Project 1.

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Precision Engineering

A number of features set the Project 1 apart. It has an innovative cover plate that allows the user to put in a set of pins to match their red dot, then direct mount it to the slide. Direct mount means one less part to get loose, and it sits lower. It also allows you to put the iron sight back on and not have to re-zero.

The fiber optic front sight is removable with a Torx nut that you access from inside the slide. I come from a law enforcement background, which emphasizes always having back-up iron sights. However, the trend in competitive guns is to go with either irons or a red dot—you don’t need both.

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Another innovation is the “RPG” stainless steel, one-piece, guide rod (it is named RPG because it kind of looks like an RPG). The pistol disassembles initially like a 1911 by removing the slide stop. However, the RPG guide rod works like one in a polymer gun.

The guide rod can be pushed in slightly against the recoil spring, then lifted up and removed. No more two-piece guide rods or needing a bushing wrench for disassembly. A guide rod housing that sits below the barrel must then be slid out the rear before the barrel can be slid out the front.

Every part of the gun, from the slide to the frame, and the barrel to the slide, fits perfectly. The tolerances are simply astounding. I’m used to guns that rattle and have a little play in them. This is on a whole different level.

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Designed for Accuracy

Like a number of Wilson Combat’s double-stack pistols, this one foregoes any grip safety. John Moses Browning didn’t think the gun needed it, and most competitors will simply disengage or pin the thing. The flat trigger is adjustable (spoiler alert: you don’t need to adjust it). It also features an ambidextrous thumb safety, angled forward and rear cocking serrations, and proven Trak pattern grips.

Now let’s talk about the elephant in the room: that ported barrel. The R&D team used a new tool called the Dynamic Recoil Analysis System (DRAS) to measure thousands of data points as the gun fires. Those ports weren’t a one-and-done.

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Bill was putting comps on race guns 40 years ago. However, the DRAS allowed his R&D team to fine-tune the barrel until they achieved a 42% reduction in recoil over the WC X9. This is amazing considering how softly the X9 shoots.

Running the Project 1

The gun I got to test was still not released when they sent it to me. The original Project 1 came in copper and black, as seen at the 2025 Athlon Outdoors Rendezvous. However, my test model was green and black. Each color iteration only has 500 guns produced, and when they are gone, they’re gone. The first 100 ship with a custom metal box and challenge coin.

Despite being embargoed, I got permission to take it to some competitions, as long as it wasn’t photographed and didn’t appear on social media.

The first thing I did was reach out to Bob King at Red Hill Tactical to get a holster for it. I have a number of pistols I have used for competition over the years. I started out using the same Safariland ALS holsters that I used on duty. Safariland makes excellent stuff, and they worked well. However, eventually, I tried a bunch of holsters that were made specifically for competition.

In the end, I found Red Hill Tactical makes the best ones I have found. Plus, I love the unbelievably huge selection of patterns. Bob sent me one that I thought looked like topo lines on a map in shades of green and tan. I believe it is called Relv Moab. It looked very sharp with the green and black Project 1.

Mounting an Optic

Next, I wanted to mount a red dot on it. I recently got the opportunity to try out EOTech’s EFLX and was very impressed. Admittedly, I am an EOTech fan.

I first put an EOTech on my duty rifle in 2002 and later trusted my life to them every day in Afghanistan. When we started wearing out battery compartments on the early AA battery models, EOTech stepped up and provided upgrade kits for free. I trust the company to do the right thing.

I get to test a lot of red dot sights, and I still run EOTech on quite a few of my ARs. The EFLX is different from what I was used to because instead of being a holographic sight, it is a reflex sight. It uses the DeltaPoint Pro footprint, a CR2032 battery, and has the on/off/brightness switch on the side.

Like its big brothers, it has a large viewing window, which is important to me. For this T&E, I got an EFLX with a 6 MOA dot, but a 3 MOA dot is also available.

I used to get the smaller dots and said I would simply make it brighter to make it appear bigger. However, after many side-by-side comparisons, I have found that with pistol red dots, I am faster with a larger dot. A lot of the competitive shooters I talk to say the same thing.

Besides being pretty reasonably priced, one of my favorite features is that when you sight it in, it has very tactile clicks of adjustment. Many of the competitors’ sights have free-wheeling wheels where you guess how far you have adjusted.

Lessons Learned with the Project 1

I got to shoot the Project 1 quite a few times. This included at the range for slow accuracy testing, practicing a number of drills, and finally in competition. I’d love to tell you I won because of the gun, but even the Project 1 can’t perform miracles. However, I did learn several things.

The follow-up shots are just as fast and easy as the ones you see on the YouTube videos of people shooting this pistol. I don’t think I have ever shot a pistol where I had faster, more accurate follow-up shots. It’ll blow your mind.

Ergonomics are impeccable, but you already knew that if you ever shot one of the WC X9s.

Feeding the Beast

My one and only complaint was that there were two types of ammunition that the gun did not like.

The first was very cheap, and it simply patterned poorly. Everything else I shot in it was like a laser. The second ammo was a flat-nosed, 147-grain Full Metal Jacket. No, I have no idea why you would make a FMJ with a flat nose. But it simply would not feed reliably for me that day.

I mentioned my issue in an email to Cameron Ankele, the COO at Wilson. Shortly afterwards, I was on the phone, then sending the gun and ammo back to Arkansas for testing by him and one of his engineers. The phrase “good enough” is not one you hear at their camp.

In the end, it ran fine there. So, maybe it was me, or the feed ramp was caked with gunk (I am notorious for never cleaning). Or maybe the Gun Gods didn’t like me that day. I do appreciate the fact that if there is a problem with a WC gun, whether you are a gun writer or a first-time buyer, they are going to make it right.

The Wilson Combat Division 77 Project 1: Laser Accurate

I would love to end this review by telling about how I used the Project 1 to win a competition. But I can’t. I will say the skill level of the average Rio Salado competitor is nothing to sneeze at.

Apart from the hiccup with the flat-nose ammo, the gun was laser accurate and simply a joy to shoot. I felt very comfortable pushing my speed and not worrying if I was hitting. My scores were great, even if I wasn’t as fast as some of the other guys out there.

I will also say that a gun like this spoils you very quickly. Be very careful if you get the chance to try one out. Going back to your old gun is more than a little disappointing.

Wilson Combat Division 77 Project 1 Specs

Performance

Bullet weight measured in grains, velocity in feet per second, 15 feet from the muzzle by a Doppler radar, and accuracy in inches for 3, five-shot groups at 25 yards.