On going test results with my Springfield M1911-A1 "Milspec"  

Complaints:
The sights were off by abut 3" at 25M out of the box.  A brass hammer and drift pin was all it took to move the rear sight enough to zero.  Once zeroed, the drift adjustable sights have maintained their zero.

The tang of the grip safety had pretty sharp edges. If I shot more than 100 rounds in a range session the tang would wear a blister on the web of my hand.  About 30 seconds with a dremmel tool and some cold blue solved that problem.

The Springfield ILS internal lock. It's nice that it meets the California requirements for a locking device, so you don't have to buy a trigger lock when you pick up the gun. However, I worry about an internal lock accidentally going into the "ON" position. Plus the ILS uses a modified shorter/stiffer mainspring, resulting in a stiffer trigger pull. I swapped out the ILS with a Smith & Alexander mainspring housing and Wilson Combat internals. The parts swap was easy to do and took at least a pound off the trigger pull weight.

The Springfield magazine is stamped steel with sharp feed lips and only holds 7 rounds. Good thing Shooting Star 8 rounders cost less than $10.00 and work great in this pistol.      



The Good:

Reliability: The gun has been more reliably than I expected from a new "budget" 1911.  I have only had 5 malfunctions in 672 rounds; One Failure to eject with Federal American Eagle ammo, 1 Failure to eject and 1 Failure to feed with Federal Hydrashocks, & 2 Failures to eject with 1995 military surplus 230Gn Match (from a very dirty gun). I'm not overly concerned. The slide to frame fit is very tight and the gun probably needed to "break in", as there have been no malfunctions in the last 364 rounds.

Accuracy: 25 yard offhand groups with Military Surplus 1995 national match ammunition are averaging 2.5".  That is offhand, I'm sure from a machine rest or even a bench rest those groups would be tighter.

Appearance: The military appearance of the pistol is a nice complement to my AR15's, M1 Garands, and M1A's.  

Magazine and Ammo compatibility: Blue and Stainless Chip McCormick "shooting star" mags, and Wilson Combat 8 rounders appear to work equally well. Even the cheap stamped steel 7 rounder that came with the gun works. Georgia Arms 230Gn JHP, Hornady 200Gn XTP-JHP, Remington Golden Saber 230Gn BJHP, and CCI Blazer 230Gn FMJ have all been 100% reliable.

I would definitely buy this pistol again and recommend it to anyone considering a 1911.

Nice report, thanks.
Mine is over 10 years old and still tighter than most new ones.
With all kinds of ammo, GI, all hollowpoints to lead reloads, I have yet to have ANY malfs.
And that's with any magazine too.
It will cut "cloverleafs" at 25 feet, dead center, all day long.
I did add the adjustable sight to capitalize on this ones accuracy long ago.
The finish looks as if it were parkerized last week, the only noticable wear is on the sides of the grip safety, from use.
Last weekend, I pulled it from the safe, smiled to myself and took it to the range, then proceeded to pump every round into the 10 ring, smiled again as I cleaned it and put it away.