I admit it. I’m incurable. I like 1911s. There, I said it. I really like .45ACP 1911s, and the 9mm double-stacks are growing on me, but the old slabsides started this love affair. It started with me in the late 1970s when I acquired my first 1911.
That was before there was such a plethora of makes and models on the market. I own, or have owned, several 1911s and enjoy shooting them. With its modern iteration the 2011, I enjoy shooting them even more. Just today I shot this Savage, and also a 9mm MAC 9 2011. Both were nice … look for the MAC9 review soon. But this Savage … very nice! Let’s look at it.
Before we go into detail, here’s a comparison shot of this Savage Arms 1911 with another of my 1911s. This is a 1911A1 tribute by Tisas. That company makes some very nice 1911s, from forged parts. These guns are solid and are pretty inexpensive. I’ve reviewed them before on TTAG… both this .45ACP and their double-stack 9mm.
Two-Tone Beauty
The Savage we have before is, obviously, a two-tone model. A matte-finished stainless frame sits under a naturally-finished stainless slide. I have always appreciated two-tone 1911s.
Back in “the day”, the only way you could get a two-tone was to have a gunsmith put one together from separate guns. Nowadays, we are spoiled… any flavor of 1911 in any combination of finishes, in several calibers, is ours for the asking. We also have total control over which end of the quality/craftsmanship pool we wish to dive into… You can buy 1911s for under $400, or go to the other end and jump off a $4000+ diving board. The choice is yours.
As for the one here, it has an MSRP of $1569. Not exactly cheap, but not deep-end expensive. Its feature set is pretty impressive… let’s take a look at it.
FEATURES
- Forged stainless steel frame and slide
- 5” Stainless Steel Barrel machined from billet with 11° target crown
- Dual recoil spring system with GI-style guide rod and barrel bushing (45 Auto ONLY)
- The ejection port is lowered, flared, and cut for live round ejection
- Nitride-coated titanium firing pin
- Fully machined, tool steel sear and disconnector, and stainless steel hammer.
- Novak® Lo-Mount adjustable tritium bar rear sight and tritium Mega Dot Glow Dome Yellow front sight
- Ambidextrous slide lock safety
- VZ G10 Grips
- And, to continue, the specifications…
- Barrel Color Black
- Barrel Finish Nitride
- Barrel Length 5″ (12.7 cm)
- Barrel Material Stainless Steel
- Rate of Twist 1:16″
- Barrel Threaded No
- Length 8.45″ (21.46 cm)
- Weight 2.54 lbs (1.15 kg)
- Frame Finish Natural
- Frame Material Stainless Steel
- Grip Color Black/Gray
- Grip Material G10
- Interchangeable Grip Panel Yes
- Interchangeable Grip Model VZ Grips, Operator
- Magazine Capacity 8
- Magazine Quantity Included 2
- Magazine Release Yes
- Magazine Style Single Stack
- Receiver Color Natural
- Receiver Finish Matte
- Receiver Material Stainless Steel
- Feed Type Detachable Box Magazine
- Guide Rod GI Pattern
- Integral Rail Picatinny
- Sight Cut Novak
- Sights – Front Novak Tritium Mega Dot
- Sights – Rear Novak, Tritium Bar Adjustable
- Slide Ported No
- Slide Finish Black Nitride
- Slide Material Stainless Steel
- Slide Stop Right Hand
- AccuTrigger No
- Trigger Action Single
- Trigger Pull Force – Min. 4 lbs (this is remarkably close to the 4 pounds, 2 ounces I measured it at)
- MSRP: $1569 (base versions start at $1409)
Where To Buy
What I Like About This 1911
As I said up top, I’ve owned (or currently own) 1911s and appreciate the platform. Here are a couple of things I really liked about this pistol…
Trigger. The trigger, as I explain below, was crisp with no take-up or creep, and it broke cleanly at just over 4 pounds. It was very nice.
Safety. The ambidextrous safety was positive in operation. My left-handedness appreciated the safety lever on the right side of the frame.
Rail. The dust cover rail is unobtrusive. To my eye, it doesn’t distract from the guns’ looks. Plus, it adds functionality as you can add a light, laser, or combo to the gun easily.
Sights. Even though the gun shot low and a bit right, that could be addressed. The sight picture from the Novak front and rear was excellent. Add in the night-sight front, and the sights were just what was needed.
Beavertail. I have had issues with some beavertails, either beating up my hand or eating up my hand… some just needed attention, out of the box. This one’s beavertail played nicely. I had no issues with it, and it worked very well.
Grips. The G10 grips allowed a firm hold without shredding my palm.
Photos
Here are a few photos I took. This is one nice-looking 1911. I’m typically not a fan of dust cover rails, but this one doesn’t distract me like some do. It makes it easy to mount a light/laser, if desired.
You get two eight-round – not seven-round – magazines with it. Also, it comes with real Novak sights.
Range Time
I grabbed the gun and three types of ammo… Black Hills supplies ammo for my reviews, so I took along a box of 230-grain FMJ and their 135-grain HoneyBadger load.
This stuff is vicious… that “Phillips-screwdriver-nose” cuts through ballistics gel like crazy. If you are looking for a really good defense load for your pet .45 (or 9mm, or .380, or several other caliber), you might want to check HoneyBadger (no typo – that’s how they spell it) out. But… be aware that some .45s, especially those built on the plain-jane 1911A1 platform, may not feed the first round reliably. I’ve had to hand-feed the first round into the chamber with two other pistols – the remaining rounds all fed properly. Not all .45s exhibit this – you just need to check. Once the first shot was fired, subsequent rounds were fed from the magazine.
Anyway, I shot those two loads and got average group sizes. I then raided an ammo drawer and pulled out some S&B 230-grain FMJ, and got a few targets similar to this one:
This was at 25 yards. I always seem to have one “flyer”, if you can call it that. All ammo shot low and right for me, but one of our sons shot it, and it did better. I always say I’m not the best shot in the room, and this proves it! I do believe that, given enough time, you would be able to come up with a load that this gun really likes. I only tried three, but of the gazillion .45 loads out there, you’d have to find at least one that grouped well, closer to the point of aim.
The gun handled well, and its 4-pound trigger behaved very nicely. There was no take-up or creep… it just broke, at four pounds, every time. That was refreshing!
Summing Up
As I said at the beginning, you can spend just about any amount your budget will stand on a 1911.
If you are looking for a true 1911, not a 2011 9mm, you might want to take a look at this Savage, or another one in the series. The guns use a forged slide and frame, a machined sear, disconnector, and hammer, and have some nice Novak sights mounted. Other goodies include an ambidextrous safety and G10 grip panels.
I could see this gun becoming the basis for a 1911 build or other use. You could certainly do worse!
Links To Items Used In This Review
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