Just got my new Performance Center SW1911 Round Butt 4.25". Can't wait to try it out. Feels good and tight. Slide cannot be wobbled at all, no play, but not so tight I can't work it to chamber a round. Slide is numbered to the gun. Nicely made, no blemishes anywhere. Trigger just as good as my Les Baer, but this one will be more reliable feeding. Hope to get a chance to shoot it this w/e. Grips are kind of loud and kray zEE - may replace with something in smooth mahogany from Ahrends.

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Nice gun...like the Round Butts. Let us know how it shoots.

Thanks for the pic and info. Will make you a great 45. Be sure to post a range report. Best of luck.

This is a great semi-custom Commander-style 1911. No harder to shoot than my full-sized all-steel Les Baer but 12 ounces lighter, very easy to carry concealed. The action is tight and smooth, the trigger as good as it could be. I got the gun to the range but I'm afraid I did not do it justice. I promise I will try to do some better testing. The target is 50 rounds, 15 Winchester white box and 35 200 gr LSWC on 3.8 grains Bullseye, all at 50 feet. I'm sure in better hands this gun will hold the X ring no problem. It always hit where I called it. It tried using my F-Class rest, but it just got in the way. I would be interested in hearing from anyone who's fired from a ransom rest or someone who's a good enough shot to find out what the gun will do.

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Thanks for the info and pic.

This PC1911 Round Butt 4.25 SKU 170344 is my new favorite .45. The best words to describe it are "dead accurate" and "totally reliable" and "easy carry" - or how about just calling it the "perfected Commander".

As promised above, I will do some more disciplined, slower shooting and put the pistol down between shots. But I am confident that it will hold the x-ring at 50 feet and probably at 25 yards. Every time I did my part, the gun was right on. When I had it just right at let off, the bullet went in the x-ring, even ball.

I know the gun is reliable because it fed over-length 200 gr plated SWC's that my more finicky Colt and LB do not. S&W manufactures for police use, so they are not letting anything out of the factory unless cycles and goes bang. They must be doing some good pistol smithing with the feed ramp, the lowered ejection port and that big external extractor because the gun seems to work no matter what. Most guns will not feed over-length SWC's - this one does.

This is a lightweight carry gun. I measure it on my postal scale as twelve ounces lighter than my other two .45's. It makes a big difference carrying comfortably because I can leave my belt a notch looser and the holster is much less prone to shifting. No more stopping to fidget and pull up my pants. I am using a Galco Combat Master pancake and a Galco Summer Comfort IWB. Both are fine for carrying on the waist at three o'clock. I may want to try a small of the back holster too. Only my Airweight in a pocket holster is easier for me to carry.

Fit and finish are terrific, no flaws. The PC1911 comes with a hand-fitted slide. It is super tight on the frame, but did not require 500 rounds of breaking in like the LB. I imagine that kind of tight, where you have to cock the hammer before you can work the slide, is not something a manufacturer can do with an alloy frame. I also think that S&W wants out-of-the-box reliability because it's selling to the public and law enforcement who are not interested in breaking in target pistols.

These guns represent S&W's big investment in the burgeoning 1911 market. S&W bought new computer numeric controlled milling machines. The guns are fitted at the Performance Center, but lots of fine otherwise custom work is done robotically. This allows production-line manufacture of costly features like the Briley spherical busing (so tight it takes a light touch to reassemble), the tight slide-to-frame fit that only requires final-stage hand polishing, the checkering on the front strap, the beveled magazine well, the dulled slide edges needed for a CCW and so on.

The new methods mean a high-grade pistol at an attainable price. Most of us have other responsibilities and will not drop $4,000.00 on a custom pistol even if we could afford to do it, whatever your definition of affordable is. These PC1911's represent the logical alternative. I would be interested in knowing whether anyone with a Ransom machine rest has tested these guns against true customs from Wilson, Strayer Voight and like high-dollar manufacturers. I bet they would be close in accuracy with the nod to the Smith for being more reliable.

Nice write up. Look forward to seeing more.

Beautiful pistol - it's on my short list - congratulations!

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Lou

Thumbs up. Pleased with accuracy and wear.

There is not all that much difference in accuracy between this gun and my full size LB Premier II when using a two-handed grip. Of course the light weight frame makes one-handed accuracy harder to maintain. Here are two targets, each with 10 rounds of 200 Berry's plated SWC's, over 4.0 grains of Bulls Eye on CCI 350's in Federal cases, 1.200" over all length. The left is a good day w/ the S&W and the right is an average one, both indoors, run out to 50 feet using the standard two-handed special forces-style grip technique (whatever its called holding the thumbs parallel and gripping the left hand firmly over the right).

The Scandium-alloy frame is wearing lightly and smoothly with not a hint of scratching or roughness.

Reliability has been outstanding. Most of the 1,200 rounds fired have been my above powder puff loads, then four boxes of Winchester 230-grain ball and a box each of 185 and 230 grain commercial hollow-point loads and a nine Remington Golden Sabre +P 185's (remainder kept for carry).

The slide remains tight on the frame with no wobble, magazine removed, hammer back. If I hold the bottom of the grip in my right hand and the slide by the muzzle and twist hard, there's a hint of some movement, maybe a hundredth.

In my opinion, this 1911 is well worth the $1,325.00 I paid.

PS, the magazines that come with these guns are turning out to be the best I have, very stiff springs and well-shaped feed lips.

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My Sc will hit where it's pointed every time...it all depends on me. This gun makes excuses hard to come by.

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I know I want one! I've yet to see one in an LGS around here...the Academy store near me had a Square Butt, but I want that 170344!

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Lounge Lizard Extraordinaire

Yes, my LGS, tiny store, had three new ones a couple of months ago. The round but is great, very easy on the hand and doesn't hang up under clothing. There should be a lot of them out there. S&W probably makes them in batches.

Love mine too. Trying to find night sights for it now.

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