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[FROM HANDGUNS]
SPRINGFIELD'S BLACK BEAUTYElegance is redefined with this stylish rendition of the classic masterwork.By Richard Venola
 Ready for action yet stylishly elegant, the Black Stainless is a working 1911A1 with all the right touches. It is seen here in good company--an Inova T-3 light and Magellan Meridian Gold GPS.
This next one ought to get your attention," the presenter commented to a jaded group of lawmen and writers at San Diego's RFTC range complex. Heads were drooping as most of us were down to the grounds in the bottom of our Styrofoam coffee cups. The presenter held up a 1911A1. "This is the Black Stainless," he said, but the next sentence was drowned out by comments from the now-fully awake audience. "Wow." "Oooh!" "Damn! "Want one." "That one's mine, thank you." You get the picture. This elegant rendition of John M. Browning's holy grail is 100 percent 1911. It is stylish and yet customized without being overwrought. According to Springfield's Bill Dermody, the idea came from owner Dennis Reese, who just wanted to take a solidly put-together piece and then make it pretty. Really pretty.
So Springfield Armory simplified the design into a semitarget model for a lower price but kept some of the performance features and the distinctive looks. It is a non-custom-shop production piece. It's designed to shoot well and make you look good while you're doing it. My immediate thought was that it would be the perfect gift from a proud father to his son when the son receives his university degree.
Following a flawless functioning with five factory loads, the Black Stainless crunched handloads with equal aplomb. Here's a rapid-fire string from the 15-yard line (rested).
But does it shoot? There was only one way to find out. In this case, the trip to the range coincided perfectly with our club's monthly pistol match. The course of fire was NRA Speed Pistol, and the Black Stainless got a good deal of attention from other shooters on the line. Their comments were the same as those heard in San Diego. By happenstance, a guest had used up most of my name-brand ammo, so I had to stoop to groveling to fellow club members for donations. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise as I ended up with five different factory loads, including huge hollowpoints, lead semiwadcutters and FMJ.
The Teflon is baked on, then polished off the side surfaces, creating a non-glare slide top and artistic contrast. The three-dot Novaks are right at home.
Also, for sport (cops have the weirdest sense of humor), one member gave me some mixed reloads. Bullet weights for all ammo went from 180 to 230 grains. The Black Stainless ate everything without a hiccup. Even after the lovely stainless mags had been dropped in the dirt at each stage, they still fell free and performed flawlessly. The pistol shot to point of aim at 15 yards and a bit higher at 25 and 35 yards. Some of this may have had to do with the trigger. And while it would make a better story to say the pistol took the match, the best I could do was a close third. The trigger is adjustable, but I didn't want to experiment and then have it go spastic in the middle of the match. Pull out of the box was crisp but a stout 5 3/4 pounds. Much later I used the included Allen wrench to adjust trigger-pull length, but it was still lawyer-heavy. I wish I had done this before shooting as it would have helped accuracy. Club members were impressed that a pistol that was obviously designed for looks would be so effective out of the box and with such a wide diversity of ammo. Incidentally, the finish is simply baked-on Teflon, which is then cleaned off the sides for a super-clean, edgy look. It's durable and cuts down on glare from the curved slide top.
After lunch I returned to the line with a dozen rounds of Remington hollowpoints and fired for record at 15 yards. Resting the pistol changed point of aim slightly, and after getting that straightened out, I did a casual rapid-fire sequence. Five rounds into 2 1/2 inches in seven seconds and change. That's darned decent handling for a major-power, out-of-the-box handgun. OK, so if you like this but you want something a bit more tarted-up, you can still get the original high-zoot model that Springfield calls the Combat Black Stainless. It has micarta composite grips, ambi safety, belled mag well and Springfield's primo adjustable sights. The "Target" Model has low-profile Novak three-dot tritium sights placed in beefy dovetail slots, and the slide has an extra set of deeply cut grooves up front, a consequence of the spring guide rod. They're functional and very cool-looking, with stainless ridges standing out from the Teflon in the grooves. There is a loaded-chamber sight slot in the barrel hood. Two Allen wrenches come with the pistol, one for the grips and one for the trigger. Additionally, there are the keys for the lock located inconspicuously on the upper left portion of the mainspring housing. With the hammer down, turning this key 90 degrees to the right locks the hammer and thus the slide. While the mag well is not belled, it is heavily beveled, resulting in very fast changes of the stock seven-round mags. The Black Stainless is stylish enough that it looks like it should be kept in a presentation box or hung on the wall as fine art. But it's a working gun and darned well put together. It's certainly as capable a defensive weapon as any choice 1911, and, should you want to show off, you can take your "art" to the range and display it to your envious friends on the line. |
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