Springfield 1911 Range Officer Lightweight 45acp 4-inch Reviews
Apr 05, 2018
For a long time the 1911 universe was pretty easy: You bought or built a full-featured, full-size pistol for competition. So yous bought a manifestly-Jane beater for daily carry. The competition gun was tricked out with all the features. It was brilliantly accurate, all-steel and won matches for you. The behave 1911 was worn, gray, a lightweight aluminum frame and it was ofttimes rattly loose. If it was better than "minute of felon" accurate, we were happy. Oh, and they were both chambered in .45 ACP.
Springfield Armory changed that a few years agone with the Range Officer. It is a plain 1911 built to competition specs in fitting and delivers like a lucifer gun. No extras, no cosmetics, merely all the functioning of a competition gun without the large price tag and the long lead times for custom work.
Now Springfield has unveiled its new Range Officer Elite lines, four guns available in both 9mm Luger and .45 ACP. The two full-size ones are made with steel frames, and the two smaller ones are made with aluminum frames. The Elite Target has an adjustable rear sight, while the rest have fixed sights.
The sample I received was the 1911 Range Officer Aristocracy Compact in 9mm. The Elite Compact comes with a four-inch barrel and a slide to match. The barrel is stainless steel, lucifer course, with an integral feed ramp for better example back up. If you lot are in the habit of using +P or +P+ ammunition, the supported chamber of the Elite Compact will serve you well. For the rest of u.s., it simply means the brass is better supported and thus less hammered in use. Resizing information technology for reloading will be easier.
The Elite Compact does not use a butt bushing. Instead, the front end of the butt is turned to a large-plenty diameter that it will lock onto the front of the slide without a bushing. Behind the lockup area, the barrel is sculpted on the top surface to provide clearance for slide movement.
While this pattern eliminates the need to machine and fit a bushing, it does crave the recoil spring retainer be of the "reverse" design- installing from the breech stop, not the muzzle end. The servant rides on a full-length guide rod, which is itself surrounded by the recoil jump. On the Elite Meaty the recoil spring is a flat-wire captive blueprint for longer service life and also because a flat spring takes up less room. That allowed the Springfield designers get more than spring in the aforementioned infinite, which is good for both service life and reliability.
The rear has the forepart face machined to provide a shine simply vertical surface, so if you have to clear a malfunction one-handed (the sign of a really bad 24-hour interval) yous can do so past hooking it on the edge of something and pushing forrard. The rear sight has a pair of white dots flanking the notch, while the fixed front is a steel bract with a cobweb optic tube inserted through it.
The base of operations of the front sight is neatly finished to match the curve of the top of the slide, and it blends in then well you might non discover information technology at first. Should you not find the sights to your liking, they are in standard dovetails, and there is no end to the aftermarket sight makers who would be happy to provide you with replacements.
The rest of the slide is pure Springfield- with a lowered and sculpted ejection port, the Springfield name and logo on the right, and "compact cal 9mm" on the left. Just in instance you had any doubts, the right side, behind the standard Springfield serrations, is where the slide is light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation-etched "RO Elite."
The frame is aluminum, with the area under the chamber machined for clearance of the integral ramp. It has a shine frontstrap and a checkered mainspring housing. What is interesting nearly the Compact is the bottom of the grip has been shortened by half an inch. This requires a shorter magazine in order for the magazine to exist flush, which costs y'all a round of chapters. But information technology does not preclude the use of full-length magazines. They'll just stick out.
I found the shorter grip to be the "Goldilocks" length. Information technology was shorter than the usual Regime or Commander, length, but it'southward not then brusk my pinkie was just flapping around in the air. I could become all fingers on the grip, and this helps greatly in recoil control.
The trigger- the new Springfield Gen ii- is aluminum, lightened even more with sections cut out, and it provides a clean trigger pull when combined with the Springfield Commander hammer.
I often notice that the right side paddle on ambidextrous safeties interferes with my grip, just this ane did not. The grip rubber is upswept and provides a clearance cradle for the Commander hammer'south loop. It also has a speed or memory bump on the lesser. That extra role of the grip safety ensures your paw depresses the grip condom when you desire it to.
The G10 grips are flatter than the usual 1911 grips, something I particularly like. They are also machined with an aggressive pattern that keeps your hands locked to the grips when shooting. The light and dark alternating layers of the G10, when machined for the non-slip grip, provides an interesting and understated pattern that contrasts with the apartment matte greyness/black of the metal's Blackness T finish.
The combination of all these features made for a pistol that was both practiced looking and a pleasure to shoot. The aluminum frame brings the bare weight of the pistol downward to 29.five ounces, which will not exist a drag on your chugalug. And yet felt recoil was no big deal. Even with the hottest defensive loadings, the Elite Compact was well-behaved.
Information technology was also accurate without a fault. Usually, when I test a handgun with up to a dozen dissimilar loadings, in that location volition be something the gun doesn't like. Not then with this little gem. It fired tight groups of ho-hum consistency.
The only complexity is in disassembly. Y'all'll need a bent paperclip to hook into the hole in the recoil spring guide rod. When the slide is back, place the end of the prune in the hole. Ease the slide frontward until it stops. You lot tin can now disassemble normally, and extract the captured spring and guide from the rear of the slide.
The soft recoil of the Aristocracy Compact got me to thinking: What about the other models? The Elite Champion is two ounces heavier and has a full-size frame. The Aristocracy Operator and Elite Target both have steel frames, and the Elite Operator adds an accessory track. They weigh 41 ounces, and at that weight, there is no 9mm loading in beingness that will crusade you lot any discomfort. The longer sight radius would likewise make you lot a more accurate shooter. Merely, for me, the Elite Compact is the 1 to have, the i that fits the most shooting needs.
As a training tool, the RO Aristocracy Compact is comfortable to hold, soft in recoil, accurate, and has a nifty trigger. If you have a new shooter, start them with a .22 LR, then transfer them to this. If you feed the Elite Compact some actually soft 9mm reloads- or the lightest-recoiling 9mm factory you lot can find- they volition take fun. They will not be beaten-up by recoil, the cage blast won't exist a large bargain, and best of all, they'll striking what they are aiming at. You'll reap the same benefits.
As a competition pistol, it conforms to the equipment rules of USPSA Limited, Limited x and Single Stack. While yous may be giving up some advantage to someone using a full-size, all-steel pistol, information technology won't be much, and yous'll be far the better shooter for using your actual carry gun in a match.
For those who shoot IDPA, it would seem the Elite Compact was made for the Meaty Carry Pistol division. I t has what y'all need for shooting in a match, although I'd be tempted to install a magazine funnel on the Compact for contest. The magazine well is beveled as information technology comes from the factory, but for match use, you want something actually large. Depending on the way of funnel, it might not even have to come off for everyday conduct.
Is it an everyday carry gun? It is lite, and then it won't weigh you down. It is compact, so it won't be wearing on your hip, back, arm or other body parts because information technology won't be rubbing. Since it is a 1911, pretty much anyone who makes a holster volition be making a model for this one. Ditto spare magazine holders. So, yes, the Elite Meaty certainly qualifies for everyday acquit.
In short, the Range Officeholder Elite Compact fits every need you might take- except maybe stopping a charging behave. And with a price tag right at a thou (street toll will be less), I don't see how you could go incorrect.
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Source: https://www.handgunsmag.com/editorial/review-springfield-armory-range-officer-elite-compact/137660
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