Issue link: https://let.epubxp.com/i/342119
33 www.officer.com July 2014 Law Enforcement Technology FIREARMS TACTICS over 40 years old. What's the bottom line on flat springs? Well, Wolff Gunsprings, per- haps the greatest authority on spring design and reliability, doesn't make them—a statement in itself. Regardless, the recoil spring setup in the 1911 XO works well, and that's that. Many custom guns with guide rods are designed around a particular ammu- nition performance. Anything that isn't similar to this performance will be unre- liable. This is not to say that guns with full length guide rods aren't reliable, they are. However, as far as I can tell, there isn't a single round manufactured that this gun can't swallow and spit the bullet out the business end. The 1911 XO does not have front rails. SIG SAUER does have a model with rails—the SIG SAUER 1911 Nitron Rail—which is a similar con- figuration and sports enough room for any railed accessories. Many shoot- ers, including me, prefer the 1911 XO design. It is simple and fits all of my 1911 holsters. I have an old Alessi PCH holster that can make this gun disappear on my waistband. IWB carry is the answer to the ques- tion, "Why a 45?" Although many poly- mer guns are thinner overall, the 1911 slide is usually thinner. SIG SAUER has capitalized on this by their distinctive detail of the sides of the slide. Not only does it look good, it improves the com- fort of concealed carry. Probably one of the most strik- ing features is the abbreviated safety, a design faithful to John Moses Browning's original. I flipped it around a little. It was crisp and consistent. The 45s I have shot lately have competition- like ambidextrous safeties, which include exaggerated shelves for the shooting thumb. This one is easy to use, but resistant to accidental activation because of its low profile. The safety design corresponds with the rest of the gun. It has a natural feel and stays well indexed in the hand. Since the 1911 XO is "Series 80" style, it also has a hammer intercept notch and a firing pin safety. The beavertail grip safety has a speed bump, which is the raised por- tion that contacts the center of the palm. I was around during the evolu- tion of the grip safety and remember when the speed bump design was first used. Competition shooters found that the bump in the palm would have a certain feel when the gun was cor- rectly indexed in the hand. The raised portion would ensure that the safety was depressed consistently throughout the shooting sequence. The 1911 single action trigger has served in law enforcement since the beginning of the Twentieth Century. There is an advantage to having a con- sistent trigger pull, rather than a DA/SA pull, for police work. The 1911 XO has three separate safeties, two of which are external. A properly trained user behind this gun is actually safer than many other polymer users. The 1911 XO's trigger had a little take up, but broke cleanly. It was heavier than some of the competition triggers I've used over the years, but very appro- priate for a law enforcement firearm. It Top Left: We used SIG SAUER's Elite Performance Ammunition in the SIG SAUER 1911 XO across an Oehler 35 Proof chronograph. The results were promising, but we'll save this for our cartridge test coming up in a future issue. Below: The low profile sights proved to be pretty snag free and easy to put on target. Fixed sights like these are the way to go on a duty gun. Above: We fired the 1911 XO from a Caldwell rest for accuracy. The trigger was definitely not a target trigger, but it did well in our tests. Probably one of the most striking features is the abbreviated safety, a design faithful to John Moses Browning's original. LET_32-35_FirearmsTactics0714.indd 33 6/25/14 12:01 PM