I like big butts and I cannot lie. OK, well, rounded ones. On a 1911. For concealed carry. Which I’m not gonna do ’cause I get all hinky about that frame-mounted safety thing. And the  3.5 to 4lbs. (in this case) single-action trigger. It’s not that I don’t trust myself to maintain trigger finger control in a defensive gun use. It’s just that I don’t trust myself to maintain trigger finger control during a defensive gun use. If you know what I mean. For those of you paying attention (thanks!), this new gun is virtually same Smith & Wesson Performance Center 1911 as the one we featured Wednesday, only with a shorter barrel (4.25″ vs. 5″), a less catchy grip and a Rolex and class ring in the gun porn glamor shot. Speaking of which, it has to be said: SW1911 Performance Center Enhanced Action Bobtail Frame sounds dirty. In a good way. Your choice, $1539.

7 COMMENTS

  1. Why the heck would anyone get a ported pistol for concealed carry? A preference for shooting blind on a dark night?

      • Friend of mine (a CO) has a ported glock which he has fired in low light at the range he said he had no issues like everything ymmv

    • I don’t know if the barrel is ported or only the slide is mangled.

      As for ports/comps on CCW guns:

      There’s a general perception among inexperienced guy owners/buyers that porting and muzzle brakes are “cool,” “tacti-cool,” and useful. The number of instances where porting and brakes are useful on firearms is very small, and on pistols it’s even smaller yet. I say this as a guy who used to shoot IPSC in the 90’s and two of my pistols were comp’ed.

      In the case of a 1911, you have to really work at your loads to get something useful out of a comp or ports – like 185gr pills being shoved downrange at very high speeds with a big load of powder. My other racegun was a boutique caliber that allowed the effective equivalent of a 9mm++P – and it had to be loaded with light pills and a lot of powder to make the comp do what it was supposed to.

      Today, thanks to hearing damage, I rarely shoot either pistol, and then only with doubled hearing protection (plugs and muffs). My preference for handguns now is: no comp, no ports, low-pressure loads. If you ever are in a DGU situation, you’re not going to have time to don ear/eye protection, so your handgun better not be injuring you and your senses as well as it’s injuring whomever is in front of your muzzle. The .45 ACP is a low[er] pressure round, but the porting on the barrel completely eliminates any advantage the .45 ACP might have had over a .357 in DGU for hearing damage.

      Sadly, too many people are drawn in by marketing hucksterism and they don’t think about whether some modification to a firearm is a feature or just marketing drivel.

      As for muzzle bloom in the dark – it’s easy. Just load your rounds with slower burning powder… and you’ll be able to light up the surrounding area quite nicely.

  2. That is one seriously ugly 1911. The “lightening cuts” on the slide simply server to let in debris. The grips are far more aggressive than I would ever want for a carry gun, but at least those can easily be swapped out to something that won’t rub your side raw.

    • I guess you would never own or purchase a Beretta 92FS… were the barrel is completely open to the elements to let in debris. Its called “Cleaning your weapon”! Duhhhh …

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