This week’s gun is the Ed Brown Special Forces 1911. Price-wise this gun is on the opposite end of the spectrum of the inexpensive .45′s I have posted about previously. Its MSRP is $1995 ($2195 for those still stuck in the Republic of California). So the first question to ask, is it worth all those extra George Washingtons?

From the Guns & Ammo review:

One thing that sets the new Ed Brown Special Forces M1911 apart is Ed Brown himself. Brown, a longtime competitive shooter, machinist, tool and die maker/designer and gunsmith, has been working on 1911s seriously since the 1970s, when his fellow competitor shooters began bringing him their guns for trigger jobs. In 1988 he quit his full-time job at a die-casting company to become a custom gun-maker and parts manufacturer. All this experience has taught him a thing or two about pistols and the people who make them.

Some of the gun’s features include Gen III coating, ChainLink pattern on the forestrap and mainspring housing for a sure grip, lowered ejection port, polished feedramp, match grade barrel, memory groove beavertail safety, Novak 3-dot night sights installed using a slip-fit method, beveled magazine well and much more that can be found on the Special Forces product page.

This sounds like a really nice gun, well built by a well regarded craftsman. But I’d have to shoot one before you could convince me that its worth $1200 more than my Kimber. I am intrigued by the slip-fit sight system — that’s been a problem I’ve had with the Pro Carry II, my sights seem to be slightly off and adjusting them at the range isn’t an option.

[tags] .45 of the Week, 1911, Ed Brown, Special Forces, .45, LibertyNews [/tags]

From the National Firearms Association of Canada:

Sarcastically referred to as the “Woolworth Gun”, the Liberator Pistol’s actual name was the “Flare Projector” Caliber .45 (FP-45). A single-shot pistol, the Liberator was designed to be scattered about occupied Europe to be used by Resistance groups as disposable assassination weapons or to enable resisters to kill a German soldier and then take his weapon.

According to the Wikipedia entry the guns were never actually used in combat and most were destroyed at the end of the war. It was probably the only pistol made that took longer to make than to load (6 second to make, 10 to load).

[tags]Liberator, Guns, .45 of the Week[/tags]

The June 2006 issue of Guns & Ammo has a review of the new Para .45 GAP Carry micro 1911 gun. Its a good review, and you should go read it. This gun looks like a .45 GAP version of their PXT LDA Single Stack Carry .45 ACP, which is fine. Except that I don’t see any but minor difference between the guns.

According to the G&A review the GAP version will weigh 29oz. compared to the .45 ACP version’s 30oz. And it will be 6.4″ long instead of 6.5″ for the .45 ACP. Both will hold 6+1 rounds, have 3 dot sights, etc. Minor differences like these don’t make me want to run out any buy one. If can can have the gool old .45 ACP in the same sized gun I’m going to pick it every time.

And on a technical note, I would have had a pretty picture of it over ther on your left, except that Para is playing pixel games and is blocking download of images of their guns. You would have thought they would have liked some free publicity.

[tags].45 of the Week, guns, firearms, .45, 2nd Amendment, LibertyNews[/tags]

The cover gun for the August 2006 issue of American Rifleman is the Taurus PT1911. At first it looks like just another customized black M1911 clone. But this one is a little different — It is from Taurus, that prodigious Brazilian gun maker, and it has a price tag of $600.

For 6 bills you would expect a basic military-style 1911. The PT1911 exceeds these expectations, with more features than a Kimber. A beaver tail grip safty, lightened hammer and trigger, frontstrap checkering, a slightly beveled magazine well and Heinie sights are just a short list of the features packed into this 1911. And these features add up to a well performing gun. In the AR bench tests its best group was 1.28″ and worst was 2.75″ (5 shot groups at 25 yards from a Ransom Rest). That’s darn nice shooting!

[tags]guns,2nd amendment,reviews,firearms,.45 of the Week[/tags]

This week marks the return of the ‘.45 of the Week’. This time we are going to look at the Para Warthog, this compact little pistol manages to cram 10+1 rounds of .45 into a pistol that is 6.5″ long and 4.5″ tall!

The Kimber Pro Carry II is 7.7″ x 5.25″ and carries 8+1 using Chip McCormick Shooting Star magazines.

Its beaver-tail grip safety and extended magazine should make it a nice handling gun, even for its size and the price tag of around $650 makes it an affordable addition to everyone’s .45 collection. You do have a .45 collection don’t you?