Smith and Wesson E Series 1911 Full Size Review

Ask a bunch of handgunners what is the greatest fighting pistol of all time, and many volition tell you it's the Model 1911 chambered in .45 ACP. That's quite a testimonial for a handgun that has been around for over 100 years. Yep, there accept been some "improvements" from fourth dimension to time. Those 1911s congenital for bullseye shooting almost the heart of the 20th century have incredibly crisp and lightweight trigger pulls, highly visible and adjustable sights, tuned actions and lucifer-form barrels. In the 1980s, action shooters demanded absolute reliability, increased capacity, flared mag wells and anything else that contributed to greater speed. In the mod tactical world, even so, the demand is for simplicity, functionality and survivability. The result is today'south 1911s are the best-made pistols in the platform's history, with almost capable of fulfilling the requirements for target shooting, activity-pistol competition or self-defense.

At some point in the past (like when our cavern-dwelling ancestors began decorating their favorite social club or stick), our vanity surfaced in the choice of our firearms. In response, 1911 manufacturers are offering pistols with many of the beauty features previously provided only as an aftermarket service past custom pistolsmiths. Now, rather than wait several months until your gunsmith finishes, you tin can buy a 1911 and wear it to a barbecue that aforementioned night. One of Smith & Wesson's responses to our fashion desires is its "Eastward" Series, and while these pistols are definitely aesthetically enhanced, they are still fighting handguns.

I tested one of the company's 2, scandium-frame E-Serial models with a 4.25-inch butt. The weight savings compared to that of a stainless steel frame with a 5-inch barrel is more than 10 ounces (29.6 versus 39.8 ounces). For a conduct pistol, I consider this an splendid trade—the .75-inch loss in barrel length surrenders nothing in practical accuracy, while the weight loss does enhance the comfort gene. The scandium frame wears a black anodized end, and the slide is stainless steel. If you don't similar the two-tone look, the gun is available with a black anodized cease on the stainless steel slide, too.

This Eastward-Series pistol's most distinguishable feature is the frame'south round barrel, something I love on 1911s with the shorter barrels. On a full-size steel 1911, I'm not crazy almost it, but that'south strictly a thing of personal preference and how the gun balances in your hand. What Smith & Wesson has done, and something I haven't seen on other 1911s, is extend the checkering on the backstrap down and all the fashion effectually the bend of the butt. On other pistols, the checkering stops where the curve begins. Extending the checkering all the way enhances your grip and the ability to control recoil, something very desirable in a lightweight, full-power fightting handgun. I also like the look and feel of the laminated-wood grip panels with their diamond pattern cuts and big, centrally located diamond with the alphabetic character "E" nicely engraved in its center.

The E-Series is equipped with a beavertail grip rubber, which has an extended "bump" to ensure proper safety deactivation with ane'due south normal shooting grip. It sports ambidextrous safeties, and judging from the number of 1911s sold with the dual levers, it appears either the majority of buyers seem to hold with the "ii is one" philosophy, or more shooters are practicing their fighting skills using their back up hand. The pistol also has a precision-fit, long trigger with three weight-reducing holes in the side and a recessed stop screw to preclude overtravel. I seem to handle a curt trigger meliorate than a long one on a 1911, and I don't particularly similar the look of the three holes, but these are both pocket-size considerations.

Smith & Wesson didn't ignore the top half of the 1911. Both the Commander-manner hammer and rear face of the slide accept serrations—the slide to break up possible glare, and the hammer to facilitate cocking with the pollex. Instead of plain serrations on the front and rear of the slide, in that location are diamond-pattern cuts, which are slightly larger than those on the grips and resemble the scales on a ophidian. They are very cool, and they help in manually operating the slide, particularly if it's hot and your hands are sweaty. The ejection port is what the company calls a "gainsay ejection port." That'due south a practiced name, considering it correctly suggests the final place you lot demand ejection problems is during a gunfight.

This gainsay port lived up to its name during testing—I had no ejection problems at any fourth dimension. The externally mounted, oversize extractor probably contributed to the gun'southward smooth running. I grew upwardly with internally mounted extractors, just I doubtable the larger yous make the extractor, the easier (and less expensive) it is to mount information technology externally. As well interesting, and offering an enhanced caste of protection, was the chamfered and recessed cage. Information technology's not actually recessed into the slide, simply rather into the barrel bushing. If dropped, there is less chance of damage to the lands or grooves at the muzzle stop of the butt.

Since reports evidence a preponderance of defensive shootings occur in reduced-light conditions, take a hard look at the sights on whatsoever gun y'all anticipate using for cocky-defense. Sights that work well on daylight visits to the range may not serve your purposes as darkness descends, and the older nosotros get, the earlier darkness arrives. As well, don't forget those occasions where you might descend into darkness, like a subterranean garage or whatever dimly lit construction. Despite its qualifications as a barbecue gun, the E-Series pistol has excellent low-low-cal sights—specifically Trijicon, with their tritium vials surrounded by a white circle. Both front end and rear sights are dovetail mounted in the slide, and the rear sight has a setscrew that tin can be loosened to suit either right or left. As it turned out, the manufactory windage setting was perfect, but my 25-yard groups were consistently 2 to 4.v inches low.

For a variety of reasons, my go-to .45 ACP load is something with a 230-grain bullet. There are exceptions—I don't consider it a alienation of faith to switch when a fixed-sight handgun shoots to betoken of aim with 185-grain loads. My testing of the scandium pistol focused on 230-grain loads because I wanted to encounter what issue the heavier bullets had on felt recoil. In a nutshell, recoil in the lighter weight E-Series was noticeably stouter than with a steel gun. The heavier loads combined with the lightweight frame made me shoot slower, but since I've never been fast, I tend to concentrate on precision. In this arena, the pistol was remarkably consistent. At 25 yards with my fore- arms resting on a shooting bag, every 230-grain load produced 5-shot groups ranging from three to 4 inches. The solution for me is quite simple: I demand a taller rear sight. Every bit it turns out, the rear sight on the E-Series 1911 is noticeably shorter than on some of my other pistols. A simple rear sight replacement would convert information technology into a perfect carry gun, both for up-close-and-personal encounters and those at more extended ranges.

For a sanity check, I moved to the 10-yard line and engaged some silhouette targets from the holster. I loaded two magazines with a mixture of different 230-grain loads, and went to piece of work offhand with a speed reload between magazines. All 16 rounds stayed in the vital zone. I so loaded three magazines with a mixture of the 230-grain loads and some lighter-weight offerings borrowed from friends. Running the aforementioned drill dorsum at the 10-one thousand line and speed loading the extra two magazines resulted in 1 circular straying about .5 inch below the vital zone. Since this hiccup occurred near the finish of the last magazine, there'southward every reason to believe it was pilot fault. There were no malfunctions of any kind throughout these tests.

Allow's talk a bit about reliability. When you buy a new gun, the instructions tell you to make clean it before use. I never do that with a handgun considering I want to come across how the pistol does when it'due south not clean. If at that place are whatsoever difficulties during this menstruum, I practice not flunk it. If those difficulties continue afterwards cleaning, the class point boilerplate plummets. When first loading the E-Series 1911, in that location were a couple of failures to feed, simply only when manually operating the slide—there were no malfunctions when the slide was cycled past firing a round. Later in the 24-hour interval, when the gun was muddied, one round failed to chamber, with the slide stopping about 1/8 inch brusk of fully closing. A push on the rear of the slide put the gun into battery and the round fired. At that point, I partially disassembled the pistol and roughly cleaned it. The pistol has demonstrated 100 percent reliability e'er since.

Some folks would consider 25 yards every bit a rather long-range requirement for a defensive pistol. For a pocket pistol wearing rudimentary sights, I might concur. For a properly equipped 1911, however, that is  not the case. A man with a knife may non exist an immediate threat at 25 yards, but he could be in a thing of seconds. It's all-time if you tin cease him earlier he gets within arm's reach, and even with a .45 ACP, that might require multiple hits. A man with a gun is definitely an immediate threat at 25 yards, and since I'm at the age where I probably can't outrun anyone, I insist on beingness able to make hits at 25 yards and fifty-fifty beyond.

Make no mistake about the Smith & Wesson East-Series 1911; it'southward not only cute enough to wear to the barbecue, it will ensure you get at that place safely.

Specifications
Manufacturer: Smith & Wesson; (800) 331-0852
Activeness Blazon: Recoil-operated, semi-automatic
Caliber: .45 ACP
Capacity: eight+i rounds
Frame: Scandium
Slide: Stainless steel
Barrel Length: 4.25 inches
Rifling: 6 grooves; 1:xv-inch RH twist
Sights: Trijicon tritium front and rear; rear sight adjustable for windage
Trigger Pull Weight: 4 pounds, iv ounces
Length: vii.95 inches
Width: 1.4 inches
Superlative: v.4 inches
Weight: 29.7 ounces
Accessories: lock, manual, spare mag,  difficult example
MSRP: $1,369

Shooting Results

Load	Velocity	Boilerplate Group Size
Black Hills 230-grain JHP	809	3
DoubleTap 230-grain Expander	943	3
Remington 230-grain JHP	831	3.75
Remington 230-grain MC	792	3.5
Winchester 230-grain PDX1 Defender	912	3.25
Winchester The states 230-grain JHP	859	4

Velocity measured in fps x anxiety from the muzzle for 10 consecutive shots with a Shooting Chrony chronograph. Temperature: 71 degrees Fahrenheit. Accurateness measured in inches for five consecutive, v-shot groups at 25 yards from a shooting bag.

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Source: https://www.shootingillustrated.com/content/smith-wesson-e-series-1911s/

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