Ruger SR 1911 CMD
Howdy folks, and welcome back. Last week, we looked at my 1911 racer, the STI Lawman 5.0. It's a phenomenal pistol, but it's also a 5", and the checkering on it is aggressive. The sights are tall, and don't fit many holsters. As great as it is, it isn't actually perfect for carrying around all the time
.
I decided I needed more of a daily driver, if you will. As I mentioned in the last post, I'd been through a fair number of 1911s. I'd definitely developed a list of wants in a gun. I knew I wanted the modern reliability mods, like the lowered and flared ejection port, throated barrel, and the like. I knew I wanted an ambi safety. I do most of my shooting left handed, after all. I wanted a Commander length. (Government Models are nice to shoot, but carried IWB they tend to pinch the cheek like a maiden aunt. Shorter than 4" is asking for reliability issues, from everything I've heard.) I knew I wanted modern sights. I wanted an aluminum frame. Of the many things a 1911 is famous for, light weight isn't one of them.
I also knew what I didn't want. I didn't want Colt's Series 80 trigger system. That was a significant part of my disappointment in both Colts I'd had. 85% of the appeal of a 1911 is in the excellence of the trigger, and a Series 80 especially from the factory, is a huge step down. For five pounds of mush, you might as well go with the Austrians. I didn't want front cocking serrations. I don't use them, I don't love the look, and they tend to grab and hang in a leather holster. I also didn’t want sharp machining. I know that a Colt can be dehorned, but one really shouldn't have to put a brand new gun on a belt sander. Although I have seen some gorgeous guns that were, like this Clark Custom Meltdown
.
It was fairly easy to find a gun with all the stuff I wanted. Custom and semi-custom 1911s have been a thing for a long time. It was easy enough to find guns without the stuff I didn't. GI and Mil-Spec guns are plentiful, too. Finding everything I wanted but nothing I didn't proved to be nearly impossible.
In fact, I only found one that nearly fit the bill. The then-new Ruger SR1911. Modern sights and conveniences, but it still had a Series 70 style trigger. They got around the drop safe issue with a titanium firing pin. It doesn't have the mass to carry forward and set off a primer, should you manage to drop your pistol directly muzzle down. The only thing it didn't have was an aluminum frame. Ruger said they weren't going to make a lightweight model.
I hemmed and hawwed, and finally decided that half a pound really wasn't that big a deal, was it
?
So I bought the all-stainless model. Two weeks later, Ruger announced the lightweight.
After I stopped howling, I decided to stick with what I had
.
Between Ruger's casting and the bead blast finish, it's very well dehorned. The trigger out of the box was very nearly scary-light. I'd guess it at 2.75-3.0 lbs. It passes all the safety checks, though. I did go looking for a pair of smooth grips. After all, I apply 90% of gripping force from front to back, so having checkering on the sides is less important to me than not having checkering on my love-handles. I was looking at a nice pair of buffalo horn panels, when my daughter peeked over my shoulder. She pointed at the pearls. "Gosh, Daddy, the white ones are pretty. Can you get those?" As you can see, I'm a softy. Even if it does draw occasional comparisons to a "New Orleans pimp gun.
"
The factory sights were simple three dot. I decided to experiment with TruGlo TFO, or tritium and fiber optic. Usually, you pick one or the other. Fiber is great on a range gun, as it'll pick up all the bright sunlight and pipe it into your eye, as a brightly glowing dot. The little glowing vials of radioactive tritium can't really compete against the much larger radioactive ball in the sky, so they are mostly of use at night. The TFO aimed to combine the two. The tritium vials are mounted in front of fiber optic light pipes. Unfortunately, they work about as well as compromises usually do.
The other change I made was a poor man's checkering job. Since Ruger didn't checker the front strap, and I didn't want to pay the usual gunsmith rate to cut them in by hand with a file, I opted for the Wilson checkered "frontstrap." Basically a thin bit of bent sheet metal with checkering punched in, it slips under and is retained by the grip panels. Not necessarily a thing of beauty, but that train already left the station. (Probably on its way to New Orleans.)
Aside from those tweaks, it's been a dandy little pistol. I run a flush fit 8 round Kimber mag in the gun, and a 10 round Chip McCormick Power Mag for a spare. I don't have the round count through this one that I do in the STI, but in 1,500 rounds or so, I don't recall a malfunction that wasn't traceable to ammunition. (Two primers that took a second hit to light off.)
It could be lighter, and I keep meaning to put more normal sights back on it, but otherwise this is the best budget 1911 I've played with. Although I'd caveat that to say that Ruger isn't as budget friendly as they once were, and I haven't shot any of the Tisas or Girsan guns yet. I don't know how those stack up.
Next week, we'll turn back to revolvers with a big bore that is much lighter: a Charter Arms Bulldog, the legendary .44 Special snub-nosed budget blaster.
Dang, Jesse. I saw that Clark Custom, and I had to wipe the drool off the keyboard. 🤤
Anyway, thanks for sharing. Educational, and darn entertaining, posts like this will have me coming back each week. 🫡