Doug M.
Member
A few weeks ago "tt66" advertised a compact 945-1. I am not sure why, but it fascinated me and eventually I bought it. The transaction went as well as could expected with mailing and shipping between Alabama and Washington.
Factory mags for this platform are ... rare. I got two (6 round) with it, but I do prefer to have more mags for most of my autoloaders. Some helpful folks here steered me to a way to make up some 7 rounds 945 mags using parts from Numeric. I screwed up the ordering a bit, but eventually had 4 more mags.
I grabbed some ammo (BH ball and Gold Dot 230 grain JHP, my last duty ammo) and drove the the range. This was first time I had shot a major caliber since my bypass, and between the damage they had to do (filet of chest, etc.) and the atrophy afterward, it was a bit challenging. I did not watch carefully when I had malfunctions. I also had a hell of a time seeing the sights; old eyes and precise sights are not a good mix.
I went back again last week, with the same ammo types, and did some more work. As far as I can tell, the 7 round mags are just not quite right. This is not a surprise; true 1911s work best in GM size format and the compacts are hard to tune. It did seem to work fine with the 6 round mags. I did try harder to see/align the sights, which was a slow and not perfect process, but I did see good accuracy when I did my part.
I plan to go back to the range tomorrow with some other ammo. I am pretty sure I have some BH with the 185 grain Barnes loaded, and plan to give that a try. I am also pretty sure I need to replace the sights, as I simply cannot see them well enough/fast enough for serious use. I have had XS big dot sights on several pistols and found them very useful for my needs. I suspect I will get a set of them (DXT2 Tritium Big Dot and Standard Dot Night Sights | XS Gun Sights), and have them put on. I may even just send the slide to XS; I did that once before and they did well. I'll keep the OEM sights in case of future sale.
So far, so good.
Factory mags for this platform are ... rare. I got two (6 round) with it, but I do prefer to have more mags for most of my autoloaders. Some helpful folks here steered me to a way to make up some 7 rounds 945 mags using parts from Numeric. I screwed up the ordering a bit, but eventually had 4 more mags.
I grabbed some ammo (BH ball and Gold Dot 230 grain JHP, my last duty ammo) and drove the the range. This was first time I had shot a major caliber since my bypass, and between the damage they had to do (filet of chest, etc.) and the atrophy afterward, it was a bit challenging. I did not watch carefully when I had malfunctions. I also had a hell of a time seeing the sights; old eyes and precise sights are not a good mix.
I went back again last week, with the same ammo types, and did some more work. As far as I can tell, the 7 round mags are just not quite right. This is not a surprise; true 1911s work best in GM size format and the compacts are hard to tune. It did seem to work fine with the 6 round mags. I did try harder to see/align the sights, which was a slow and not perfect process, but I did see good accuracy when I did my part.
I plan to go back to the range tomorrow with some other ammo. I am pretty sure I have some BH with the 185 grain Barnes loaded, and plan to give that a try. I am also pretty sure I need to replace the sights, as I simply cannot see them well enough/fast enough for serious use. I have had XS big dot sights on several pistols and found them very useful for my needs. I suspect I will get a set of them (DXT2 Tritium Big Dot and Standard Dot Night Sights | XS Gun Sights), and have them put on. I may even just send the slide to XS; I did that once before and they did well. I'll keep the OEM sights in case of future sale.
So far, so good.