Definitive Guide to Springfield 1911

The Springfield 1911 air pistol comes in an all-metal frame and slide coated in an attractive black finish. The grips are faux wood but feel well made and provide good grip in the hand. If you had a real 1911 sitting next to this replica, you'd be hard-pressed to tell the difference at first glance.

This replica has all the essential 1911 features, such as the rocking at the rear of the left side of the pistol, the grip safety that had to be depressed to fire, and the slide release lever. True to form, the slide release can be removed to field strip the pistol as well. Inside the slide, you'll find the spring and spring guide, barrel assembly, complete with a rotating cap to hold the barrel in place. When Springfield claimed Mil-Spec in the product description, they were not kidding.

Unlike some other 1911 models from competing manufacturers, Springfield's focus was to stay true to form. As a result, unless you look very closely at the markings on the slide and the frame, it's very hard to tell that this is a CO2 BB replica pistol and not the real thing.

The one place Springfield 1911 air pistol is not like a real 1911 is the weight. It's a bit on the light side. Using our stainless Para-Ordnance for comparison, the Springfield weighed in at 1 pound 10.7 ounces without the magazine. Our Para-Ordnance weighed in at 2 pounds 3.3 ounces without the mag.

As mentioned above, all the key 1911 safety features are here and functional. It also features front and rear fixed sights, complete with white dots to help with aiming. The metal slide provides snappy blowback as you fire and locks open after you fire your last BB. As with the real 1911, the slide cocks the hammer for your next shot. The trigger is a traditional 1911 single-action only trigger that breaks at around 2 to 3 pounds. Many of the 1911 replica models feature great triggers. The Springfield can certainly be added to the list. It's a pleasure to shoot.

The Springfield 1911 BB pistol operates from a single 12-gram CO2 cartridge stored in the 18-shot drop-out magazine. The CO2 is seated with the included Allen wrench. We suggest that you use a drop of Pellgun oil or pure silicone oil on the tip of each CO2 cartridge to keep the seals properly lubricated. Do not store your pistol with a live CO2 cartridge.

Loading the magazine can be a bit tricky as the manual does not provide any help, other than to say insert the BBs into the magazine. Let's see if we can help. There's a spring that holds tension on the BBs and pushes them upward to the top of the magazine. You want to pull this guide down until it clips open. That part is in the manual; this next part isn't. Next, press your pointer finger on the backside of the BB retention lips and insert the first BB through the front. It will just sit there. Now, press another one against the first. Doing this will push the first one backward against your other finger and guide it to the hole, allowing it to drop into the mag. It sounds more complicated than it is, but you'll be happy we shared this little tip with you. Repeat the process until you have 18 BBs in the magazine. When you are done, release the retention spring, and it will press the BBs towards the top of the magazine. Now insert the magazine into the pistol.

The 1911 is single action only, so if you are starting from an empty gun and the slide is closed, you'll need to rack the slide to cock the hammer. This is exactly how you would operate a real 1911. If you're simply swapping mags having shot through the first mag and the slide is locked back, then drop in your mag, hit the slide release, and you are ready to roll.

Performance and Accuracy

Let's look at shot count first. We typically got 5 to 6 magazines from a single co2, which puts us at about 90 to 108 shots on average. That's a lot of shots from a blowback pistol with such a heavy slide. The way they got that high of a shot count was to back off the power a bit. With a full CO2, we saw a consistent 280 to 300 FPS. As long as we took a significant pause between shots, the velocity would remain stable through 3 or 4 mags. However, if we went rapid-fire, not only did we drop shot count, but also velocity. Keep in mind that CO2 is temperature-dependent and will freeze if shot too rapidly.

We shot the Umarex Precision Ground Steel BBs for our shooting tests. These BBs continue to be very consistent and accurate across all the BB guns we've shot. However, our test model shot a little to the left of center at 21 feet. At first glance, it looks like you may be able to tap it over to adjust for windage. But, after carefully going through the manual and referring to the description on AirgunDepot.com, we found that they are fixed sites, and trying to tap the rear sight over would most likely end up just damaging the pistol.

This first ten shot group was shot aiming dead center, left to right, with the full black bullseye sitting atop the sight picture.

For this 2nd ten-shot group, we applied a little Kentucky windage to try and bring the group to the center.

We shot several more groups throughout the day, and we saw the same results each time. We could keep all our shots in a relatively tight combat grouping at 21 feet. It would be nice if the sights lined up more perfectly.

Summing Up

This is yet another excellent Springfield 1911 BB pistol. Anyone that loves the 1911 platform is going to enjoy owning and shooting this pistol. With good shot count, consistent accuracy, and flawless operation, the Springfield 1911 is great. Add in the realism factor of the working safeties, removable slide, snappy blowback, and the list of positives just keep piling up. It's a little light, both in weight and velocity, but those are not critical factors.

If you would like to know more about the Springfield Armory 1911 or any of the other replica line of airguns, please visit the Springfield Armory manufacturer link on our site. And if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to give us a call.