Handguns

When Smith & Wesson startled the handgun world with the introduction of its own rendering of the Government Model .45, it seemed almost a slam-dunk that the company's Performance Center would soon have a tricked-out version of the same gun. As a matter of fact, I was at the press conference where the SW1911 was announced, and one of my colleagues innocently asked if there would be such a gun. As I recall, the official answer was a cautious "Maybe." But when I glanced over at the Center's director, Tom Kelley, I knew different. He had one of those cat-that-ate-the-canary grins. It was then that I knew a Performance Center 1911 was coming.

And the PC 1911 is worth the wait. The original SW1911 is a fine .45; it came out of the starting gate strong and continues to run well with other 1911s.

But the Performance Center has taken the basic version and refined it to the level of true excellence. The "main plant" .45 was excellent; this one is outstanding.

BASIC ELEMENTS
The PC 1911 is an all-steel, 41-ounce (a little heavier than most 1911s) single-action auto. There's a 5-inch barrel, checkered grips, adjustable sights and a host of other features.

While there is a strong family resemblance between the SW1911 and the PC 1911, it's important to understand the significant differences between them. The PC 1911's main structures are the receiver and the slide, which start with the same forgings used in the SW1911. But the Performance Center gun goes to a completely different CNC program. The result is a slide and a receiver that don't fit together until a skilled craftsman hand-laps them into a precise relationship.

One of the things that 1911 match armorers were once taught to do was tighten the fit of GI slides and receivers. It's far better to manufacture them close and then fit them perfectly by hand. The result is a pistol in which the slide goes straight back and straight forward--no play in any other direction.

No 1911, however, can deliver blue-chip accuracy without a top-notch barrel that is fitted to perfection. Actually, the fit of the barrel to the slide at front and rear probably edges the quality of the bore and the rifling when it comes to producing tight groups. In the case of the PC 1911, the barrel is machined from stainless steel bar stock, cut-rifled and finished to oversize shape, ready to be fitted by hand. Then, in the process of hand-building a pistol, a Performance Center pistolsmith carefully fits the barrel to the barrel bushing at the front end of the slide. He also ensures that the rear end of the barrel (the barrel hood) is snug against the breechface in the slide. And he also fits the lower barrel lugs to the slide stop and barrel link. The result of all the handwork ensures that the barrel returns to the exact same relationship with the slide every time the slide slams forward into battery.

On my sample gun, the trigger pull is just over 3 1⁄4 pounds. It's clean and crisp in the extreme, so I will avoid gunwriter clichés like breaking icicles, glass rods or fresh-chilled celery. The trigger is of the usually preferred so-called "long" type, the length originally used on 1911s. It is skeletonized to reduce weight and has an adjustable trigger stop that most of us will be well advised to leave just as it comes from the factory.