Da Vincis Mona Lisa with her remarkably seductive smile is universally acclaimed as powerful art.
Michelangelos David makes a comparably primal artistic statement.
Jackson Pollocks work could be mistaken for his drop cloth yet he commands a reliably robust following nonetheless.
Springfield Armory Custom Professional 1911 pistols come in 9mm and .45 ACP, both with and without railed dustcovers.
The common thread to all true art is you know it when you see it.
Whether its Van Goghs Starry Night or George Lucas Star Wars, art moves you viscerally.
So it was when I first hefted the Springfield Armory Custom Professional pistol.
The Springfield Armory Custom Professional 1911 9mm is the easiest-shooting combat pistol Will’s ever hefted.
Morphological Details
Springfield Armory makes undeniably great guns.
Their gunsmiths enjoy a collective 200 years of experience in that very shop.
Every piece of the Custom Professional guns is hand-fitted.
The precision fit between the barrel bushing and the match-grade barrel itself produces superlative accuracy. These are hand-fitted, hand-built custom pistols.
The National Match frame is custom-fitted to the slide.
you’ve got the option to feel this as you rack the gun.
Its hard to quantify, but its just different.
The railed model allows the pistol to accept accessories like thisStreamlight TLR-8.
The interface no longer feels like steel on steel.
Its more like glass or Teflon.
Of course the ejection port is lowered and flared.
Theres a fully throated National Match barrel and bushing as well as a polished feed ramp.
The fitted speed trigger breaks at precisely 4.5 lbs., every time.
The extractor is tuned and polished, and the ambidextrous thumb and grip safeties are both custom fitted.
How many magazines should you have to keep a combat handgun of this pedigree fed? Springfield figures that would be six, and sends them along with the gun.
The low-mount Novak rear sight complements a dovetailed front counterpart.
The sights come equipped with Trijicon tritium inserts and the front blade is also nicely serrated.
These guns come with checkered Cocobolo grips feeling nice and looking pretty too.
Pretty works, even for a 1911.
These pistols can be had in either 9mm or .45 ACP, either with or without a railed dustcover.
Everything about these guns is tuned for total reliability.
These Springfield Custom Professional guns are as mechanically perfect as humans can make them and required no break-in period.
How many magazines are appropriate for a truly high-end combat pistol?
Springfield Armory thinks that would be six, and theyre the finest 1911 mags available.
The bodies are stainless steel, and they include slam pad bumpers on the bottom.
The .45 ACP versions pack seven rounds, while the 9mm sort carries 10.
At first glance the guns look vaguely blurry.
The Springfield Custom Professional 1911 is crafted to carry but born to fight.
Range Impressions
The Professional is an ultimate combat machine.
The gun drops into your paw like an old friend and the aggressive checkering keeps it there.
The controls perfectly interface with the human hand.
The safety offers just enough resistance to remain useful, while avoiding inadvertent manipulation.
Particularly with the 9mm version, the slide cycles effortlessly.
Everything is just tight enough to feel awesome without being so congested as to bind.
TheStreamlight TLR-8is an unnaturally compact combination white light and red laser module.
The TLR-8 is not much larger than my thumb and weighs a mere 2.6 oz.
It burns a single CR123A Lithium battery producing 500 lumens of blinding white light for 1.5 hours of use.
This remarkably capable compact illuminator fits onto the Light Rail version of this pistol like it was born there.
The TLR-8 also costs less than half of what its high-end competition might.
Shooting these guns is a sublime experience.
The .45 ACP Light Rail offers ephemeral muzzle rise and instantaneous follow-up shots.
The trigger is the chemical formula for precision and the sights are among the finest the industry can produce.
While everything about the .45 ACP gun is superb the 9mm version is better.
The gun shoots unnaturally straight, and the heaviest 9mm loads remain most thoroughly recreational.
This tuned 9mm 1911 pistol represents the most refined handgun shooting of my not inconsiderable experience.
At our 15-meter range, the .45 outshot the 9mm, but barely.
Accuracy is not an issue for either model.
These guns allow you to enjoy extended range sessions without undue suffering.
The Springfield Armory Custom Professional pistols are not for everyone.
If you have the means, however, running one of these superlative combat tools is a genuine joy.
However, regardless of its genesis, the astute eye recognizes art when it is encountered.
When first you heft one of these Springfield Armory Custom Professional handguns you could tell this is something special.
John Moses Browning birthed the thing more than a century ago, and Springfield Armory put it through school.
The finest counterterrorist unit in the country runs these guns.
All that practical cred conspires to make the Springfield Armory Custom Professional pistols the tools of truly discriminating gunmen.
