Anyone who knows me knows that I have a soft spot for the 1911. And if it’s a good one, I really like it. Well, today we’re looking at the 1911 Range Officer Elite Compact 9mm from Springfield Armory, a great little EDC-ready 1911 with some impressive features.
The Range Officer Elite Compact in 9mm might just be the ideal EDC 1911.
The best way to look at this pistol is as a gun that offers the best of both worlds. It is small enough to carry, but big enough to shoot well. It’s light enough to pack away comfortably, but still built ruggedly enough to stand up to abuse.
The slide is topped off with an excellent set of sights with a fiber optic front unit.
The pistol features a short’ish slide housing a bushingless 4″ bull barrel made from stainless steel and sporting a fully supported ramp. The compact frame is made from lightweight forged alloy, and the entire pistol has a tough “Black-T” finish. Thin G-10 grips and an ambi safety ensure that the pistol is easy to handle and operate, and the slide is topped off with a fiber-optic front sight and a “tactical rack” rear sight with a racking ledge.
Capacity of the 9mm version (it is also offered in .45 ACP) is eight rounds in the two magazines shipped with the gun, and the empty weight of the gun is just under 30 ounces. Overall length is a hair over 7.5″, and height is 5″.
With a short 4″ barrel and lightweight, compact frame, the Range Office Elite Compact is ready for EDC.
I really enjoyed putting this pistol through its paces at the range, so be sure to check out my video above with my full review. To learn more about the pistol, check out the link below.
The US Optics Dynamic Reflex Sight (DRS) is yet another in an expanding list of optical offerings in the micro red dot category. Useable on low mount picatinny rails for systems like the MP5, Galil ACE, and any number of shotgun receivers, or mounted to a pistol with a Vortex mount pattern, the DRS is a versatile little item.
But does it hold its own in the expanding field?
Yes, depending on what you want it to do. That’s a critical distinction based upon how the DRS operates.
DRS Run Down
The Dynamic Reflex Sight is a CR2032 powered, 2MOA dot, open emitter micro red dot reflex sight. It’s not the first and not the last. The body and lens design are very ‘geometric’ and make me think of a lego block.
The battery houses below the sight and is changeable by removing the sight from its mount. The battery life is the typical tens of thousands of hours standard on high efficiency LEDs today. The formula for making a useable sight was studiously followed by USO.
Look guys! A Red Dot!
DRS Performance
I have here a 2 MOA red dot and… it ran like a 2 MOA red dot should run. It turned on, adjusted brightness, zeroed, and turned off all on my command.
The little screws require a little screw driver to move the elevation and windage and they don’t click so pay attention to the hash marks, those are accurate. Lens is coated to reflect the LED but clarity down range is excellent, no issue running this on targets.
But here’s the catch, it is the control scheme that will make or break whether the DRS is the red dot you are looking for. Sitting at $249 MSRP, the DRS is an easy way to get into a dot for a number of different platforms. It comes with a low height mount for rails and the screw pattern will put it on pistols without much issue. The Masada I’ve got the DRS on currently has a factory plate that required a touch of fitting, that was all.
Controls and Use
USO’s DRS runs very much like a miniature EOTech HWS. Up arrow and down arrow for brightness and up/down left/right screws for zero. It includes a 4 hour auto shut off to further conserve battery power. It’s this auto shut off that gives me pause. An auto shutoff is not conducive to a carry optic. The on button is only the up arrow, down wouldn’t activate the sight.
Competition? Absolutely, in an environment where you can do a quick check on your equipment before starting a stage it will do fine.
Training? Definitely, another environment where you can status check your equipment prior to an evolution the DRS will be right at home. I will go so far as to say that as a training dot it excels for dollars spent, especially on someone still trying and feeling dots out as an evaluation.
Home Defense? Yes, with caveat. On a carbine or shotgun set up in a ‘semi-ready’ configuration turning, the sight on as part of bringing the gun to full ready would be the same as with an EOTech. I would prefer the down button activate the sight too. But with the control placement you can easily hit both and then set your brightness.
On a pistol? I’m not going to use the DRS as a home defense optic, you may but I believe there are better options. Most carry a higher price tag though.
Carry? No.
Carry optics need to stay on. Period. “Shake awake” optics also hit the constant on category for carry, but DRS does not.
The DRS Overall
It serves best in the roll of carbine or shotgun optic if you’re looking for home defense. Pistol, great for training and competition. My favorite guns to run it on were the MP5 and Galil ACE like a little micro XPS. In that roll the Dynamic Reflex Sight excels.
EDIT: UPDATE
After a call with USO it sounds like a DRS without the auto-off feature is in the pipeline too. So this review stands for the auto-off variant only.
Extraordinarily comfortable and genuinely elegant, advancing both efficiency and ergonomics for self-defense handguns in ways never thought possible before. The PPQ is the ultimate definition of effectiveness.
Now available in full Coyote Tan finish. Both slide and frame are Cerakote™ Coyote Tan while the trigger, mag release, slide release barrel, and backstrap remain black. The new PPQ M2 Coyote Tan is available in limited quantities.
The interchangeable backstraps allow you to tune your grip, giving you a perfect, straight-back trigger pull. This adjustability also provides access to the magazine and slide releases without shifting your hand. Designed for right and left-handed shooters, the PPQ M2 features an ambidextrous slide stop and reversible button-style magazine release.
Out of the box, the PPQ is one of the most versatile pistols on the market! The size and capacity make it an excellent option for concealed carry, home defense, duty use, recreational, or competition shooting. Feel the excellence of Walther suited to your needs with the PPQ, a handgun that defines both efficiency and performance.
Walther is the performance leader in the firearms industry. Renowned throughout the world for its innovation since Carl Walther and his son, Fritz, created the first blow-back semi-automatic pistol in 1908. Today, the innovative spirit builds off the invention of the concealed carry gun with the PPK series by creating the PPQ, PPS and Q5 Match Steel Frame series. Military, Police, and other government security groups in every country of the world have relied on the high-quality craftsmanship and rugged durability of Walther products. Excellent service and superior quality will continue to be benchmarks of Walther’s success. In the future, Walther will continue its long tradition of technical expertise and innovation in the design and production of firearms.
For a limited time, the Burris Eliminator III 4-16x50mm smart riflescope is available for $999, an instant $500 savings. This deal is available at participating Burris retailers, and directly from Burris. There is no paperwork and no rebate form: just instant savings. The deal is available on model #200116, the 4-16x50mm scope, the most popular model of Eliminator.
This limited time deal is available until December 31st.
And a little nostalgia on a rifle. We all have one. Take it away InRange.
The 1994 Assault Weapon Ban, part of the larger Clinton Crime bill package, has been expired for 15 years. The Assault Weapon Ban and its provisions were in effect for a decade and their social influences are felt strongly to this day. Our societal interest in the weapons upswung drastically the moment we were told we could no longer have them.
Technology has advanced by magnitudes both in and outside the firearm space. Information gets from one side of the nation to the other near instantly. The popularity of these rifles drove a response to various partial and total prohibitions. Tech to comply with the law and improve function was developed in spades.
We were told we couldn’t have it anymore, Assault Weapons “Banned” (except all the grandfathered ones), so of course we wanted them and wanted to know everything about them. The ban spurred more interest. No other event could or would match the ban’s generated drive.
Today we, the gun owners of the Information Age, the so called ‘Gun Culture 2.0’, we sit hearing serious talk about assault weapon bans, magazine bans, and extreme risk protection orders.
Four-hooved Locusts. Rats with Antlers. Damnbi. Brown Traffic Cones. Insert your favorite derogatory term. One man’s trophy game is another man’s nuisance pest. Whitetail Deer fit all of these descriptions, depending upon your location.
This summer they were no better than rats in my yard. I was seething with anger and disappointment at times. I don’t normally care if the local deer herd eats from the apple tree in my yard – there’s enough for all of us, and I can only make so much apple sauce. But I tried growing green beans in containers outside this year for the first time, and also plum tomatoes. I awoke several mornings this summer to devastation of my crop. I would inspect the almost-ready veggies when I got home from work in the evening – intending to harvest them the next afternoon – only to find nothing left but chewed vines when I went back outside in the morning.
The deer didn’t just eat off the green beans, they ate virtually the entire plant – leaves and all! They also ate the cluster of pretty Roma tomatoes that I’d been watching with eager anticipation for several weeks. I get that this wasn’t expensive shrubbery, and admittedly it wasn’t a subsistence crop either, but I was still PO’d!
Like many of us, I live in suburbia not out on the back forty (although I wouldn’t mind that). But as we know, deer love edge areas. I may need to invest in fencing. And perimeter towers with automatic weapons and night vision.
In addition, I propose that there needs to be such a thing as a suburban crop damage permit.
I have upstairs windows from which I could take a perfectly ethical and safe-for-the-neighborhood crossbow shot into my yard. This would provide me at least some small meat recompense (and revenge) for the damage to my tomatoes and green beans that these four-hooved locusts have wrought. Not to mention the Lyme ticks they bring with them into my yard.
So the neighbor kids might be traumatized with gut piles occasionally. They need to grow a pair anyway.
My crossbow literally paces back and forth in front of the window and whines when the deer are out there. This would be a fair thing to do for both of us.
But nope. It will never happen. Every year I have to go somewhere ELSE to hunt, while I come home to hoof prints in my driveway, ravaged bird feeders, and devastated bean plants.
I bought my first polymer-framed pistol (a Glock 17) in 1989. Between comparing the Glock’s 22 ounces in weight to my Browning Hi-Power’s 35 ounces, (the difference in capacity being 17 and 13 rounds, respectively) I figured the upgrade just made sense.
Fast forward 10 years and I’m looking to replace/upgrade from my full-sized 1911 in .45 ACP. I already had a Glock 30 as an “off duty” gun, so I figured I would get a pistol that would use the same full-sized mags interchangeably with a pistol I already owned.
I’ve had that Glock 21 for twenty years. Other than changing out the barrel for one that will shoot cast bullets and take a suppressor, I’ve been satisfied with it. That being said, the “suppressor-ready” XD-M .45 from Springfield Armory has made me reassess the Glock 21 I’ve had and recommended over the years.
The XD-M .45 Full-Size with Threaded Barrel is a great option for someone wanting a pistol ready to accept a suppressor right out of the box.
Why the Change?
Two things have become apparent to me when recommending a pistol to the average person. First, most people like the more vertical grip angle of pistols like the 1911, XD and XD-M. Second, most people don’t like the grip size of the Glock 21 .45 ACP pistol because they’re larger than a typical semi-auto pistol.
Even with the largest grip insert (there are three included with the pistol) in place on the XD-M .45, its diameter feels obviously smaller than a G21. I have very large hands, so it’s not a big issue for me. However, this can be a big deal for the new shooter who is just getting used to their new gun. Being comfortable with your gun’s grip is important.
[Ed: The little reported deaths of 8 children in a knife attack in China this week recall the horrendous 2016 Sagamahira stabbings in Japan that left 19 dead & 26 wounded. Both remind us that guns are not the (only) issue. Warren Lind shares another gruesome narrative.]
“KYOTO, Japan, July 19 — A man screaming “You die!” burst into an animation studio in Kyoto, doused it with a flammable liquid and set it on fire Thursday, killing 34 people in an attack that shocked the country and brought an outpouring of grief from anime fans. Thirty-six others were injured, some of them critically, in a blaze that sent people scrambling up the stairs toward the roof in a desperate – and futile – attempt to escape. Others emerged bleeding, blackened and barefoot.” [ABC News]
As readers know, Japan is a country with a low homicide rate and almost no firearms. Yet, the means for mass murder still exist. This was the country’s worst mass murder since 2001.
In doing some quick research on arson, I came across the following report from the National Fire Protection Association: “Each year between 2010 and 2014, an estimated 261,330 intentionally set fires were reported to fire departments in the United States. The fires included 196,480 outside or unclassified fires, 49,690 structure fires, and 13,160 vehicle fires. Losses resulting from these fires included: • 440 civilian deaths • 1,310 civilian injuries • $1 billion in direct property damage” [Author’s emphases.] And this is just in the United States!
Here is a list of the 5 deadliest fires in history [from Ranker.com]:
1990, Happy Land Nightclub Fire, The Bronx, NY – 87
1998, Gothenburg Discotheque Fire – Gothenburg, Sweden – 63
1972, Blue Bird Café Fire, Montreal, Quebec, Canada – 37
It is significant to note that these arson attacks occurred all over the world.
If a country could magically eliminate all firearms, the following means of committing homicide would still exist and are readily available to everyone:
Bladed weapons.
Vehicles as weapons.
Fire, i.e., arson
Bludgeoning
The problem isn’t the means. It is people, when murder lies in the human heart. E.g., “And Cain slew Abel.” [Genesis 4:8].
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— Warren Lind is a retired licensed clinical social worker and former security officer who writes extensively about crime, survival, and self-defense. He is a member of too many pro-2A organizations to list.
Suppose a candidate for the highest office in the land – a presidential hopeful – bluntly declared that he would strip everyone in the country of their Constitutional Right to Freedom of Religion.
Suppose that candidate declared that he was sick to death of religious strife, Islamic terrorism and the deaths they cause, and therefore as president, he would send armed men door-to-door to confiscate every single religious text, crucifix, mezuzah, prayer mat, incense burner and saintly icon in the country. The doors to houses of worship would be chained.
Further, suppose this candidate declared that thereafter no one would be permitted to practice a religion without official testing and licensing from the government, and even then, only IF the government determined that you could practice religion responsibly and not kill anyone. To be subject to revocation at the whim of the government of course.
Suppose that the other presidential candidates wanted the same thing – but were too smart to actually SAY so.
Do you think that ANY of those politicians would make it out of obscurity onto the national stage, let alone into an actual debate? Do you think ANY of those politicians would NOT be torn apart – figuratively if not literally?
If that’s the case with Freedom of Religion, why is is NOT the case with the Right to Keep and Bear Arms? You know – the one that is second out of ten on the list of the ten most important freedoms in America?
How in Blue Hades does a jackwagon like the Faux-Hispanic Irishman get away with arrogantly proclaiming that “we” will take away ANYone’s guns?
Does it say somewhere in the Constitution that there are second class rights? Is there a sub-clause somewhere that says,
SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED. *unless everybody gets all full of feels and stuff?
And who is this “we” anyway? In case Candidate Jackwagon hasn’t noticed, the vast majority of police and armed forces members are private firearms owners. County Sheriffs in upstate New York have been pointedly ignoring that SAFE Act abomination that Albany signed into law since like 2013. And that’s just registration. I’m sure they are going to get right on that when you tell them they have to go do a confiscation now.
Yeah, good luck with that, skippy. You have the 1st Amendment right to “say” almost anything you want, there Beto-boy. But if you think “we” are doing anything with OUR firearms except hold onto them right here where they are, you have a lot more thinking to do. “We” don’t care what kind of gun it is you think you want to take – the answer is NO.
Hornady’s Precision Hunter line of ammunition is built to be the ideal load in ANY hunting situation. With its Heat Shield tip, it provides constant levels of accuracy regardless of temperature.
And El Paso Police are saying he’s no hero, just was trying to survive.
Earnest Christopher Grant, who goes by Chris, wasn’t able to make it to the award ceremony held at the White House because he was detained by the U.S. Secret Service on an outstanding fugitive warrant when he showed up in Washington, ABC News reported.
You read that correctly. Chris Grant, 50, who told a harrowing tale that made it to the President and who was honored by the President in ceremony, gave an ‘exaggerated account’ shall we say.
No this is not the soldier with the concealed carry who was shepherding kids out of the line of fire. Grant supposedly held the gunman off for precious seconds to aid his fellow shoppers. According to El, Paso though…
“Nobody bothered to check with us,” El Paso Police Sergeant Enrique Carrillo told the Washington Examiner. “They would have been informed, as I am telling you now, that our detectives reviewed hours of video and his actions did not match his account.”
“The video evidence of the scene does not support his assertions,” Sgt. Carrillo told KFOX. “His actions were captured by surveillance cameras, but they amount to an act of self-preservation, nothing more, nothing less.”
Grant has a less than honest past, so why not take advantage of a little misplaced hero worship?
In 2016, he was sentenced to 18 days in jail for stealing televisions from a Sears store. He was also convicted of evading arrest that same year. In March, he was convicted of stealing a 2009 Mazda 6, and was sentenced to eight months in prison. It is unclear how many months of that sentence he actually served.
Grant began revving up and touting his supposedly heroic actions during a series of interviews in the wake of the mass shooting, he gave some of those interviews from his hospital bed which would undoubtedly lend emotional gravitas to his tale.
Petty exploitation of tragedy is nothing new, but I’m tickled he got to spend his award ceremony in Secret Service custody and had his name removed from the ledger.
Washington (CNN) – The House Judiciary Committee voted on Tuesday to approve gun violence prevention legislation as Congress faces pressure to take action in the wake of recent mass shootings.
A High Capacity Magazine Ban and Extreme Risk Protection Orders, colloquially called Red Flag laws, have passed the Democratic controlled House Judiciary Committee. This is the most forward progress we’ve seen on national gun control legislation in nearly a decade. Right beside the ERPO and Magazine bills, the former focused on incentivising states, a third bill amending background checks also advanced.
Incentivise States to pass ERPO
The red flag bill that the committee voted on Tuesday would establish a federal level grant program to incentivize states to establish red flag/ERPO laws. These enable a court to intervene and temporarily (allegedly) prevent someone who is in crisis (allegedly) from having access to a firearm. It would also create a federal extreme risk protection order program of unknown make up.
Democrats assure us that due process will be maintained in red flag legislation. In other news, if you like your healthcare plan you can keep your healthcare plan…
ERPOs, Red Flag Laws, are the crowd favorite gun control measure at the moment. They’re seen as the alternative, or perhaps an supplement to gun bans depending on the state. On the surface Extreme Risk Protection Orders sound perfect. Look at the name, “Extreme Risk”, it evokes the imagery of dire situations. “Protection Orders”, this is about safety and protection for everyone.
S.A.F.E Act, remember that one?
The title design is about trust. Trust that, granted the power to infringe upon several constitutionally protected liberties prior to any criminal charge or conviction, that the government will stop at that much infringement and never wrongly, whether deliberate or not, misuse this power.
Outlaw High Capacity Magazines
I cannot find the text on this bill, I will keep looking as it advances to the full House floor where Democratic control will likely see it passed to the Senate. Word is that the bill grandfathers current high capacity magazines, rendering it useless as all but an extreme annoyance and infringement upon the gun owners of the nation.
If this goes to the Senate we could see a run on high caps very quickly. The President has been nebulous about what he will be willing to support, some word is expected this week but what is a mystery.
Republicans in the Senate have made supportive noises about background check changes.
Mitch McConnell, Senate majority leader, has publicly stated he won’t bring any gun control out that the President won’t sign. The proverbial ball is in Trump’s court on what we could see become law.
The final passed item was an amendment to NICS adding misdemeanor hate crime convictions into the same disqualifying bracket as misdemeanor domestic violence. On the surface this looks fine. The question becomes what are the misdemeanor hate crimes? Are there any crimes on that list that, removed of the ‘hate crime’ descriptor should not result in temporary or permanent 2nd Amendment rights revocation?
We are people, a society, that holds too much faith in titles and headlines to convey the information we need. If the title of a bill sounds good and makes us feel good, it’s good. SAFE Act. Extreme Risk Protection Order. Titles that sound good, the procedures are written down for anyone to see and find the weaknesses of the rules and the potential for abuse. We are counted on not to look.
With the release of the Israeli Weapon Industries Tavor 7, their newest bullpup battle rifle, there has been an ongoing question on the rifle’s accuracy. This speculation has come from a couple of sources and was, in part, caused by of some of the perfectionists that IWI has on staff here in the U.S.
The Tavor 7 was a fully fleshed concept in IWI circles when inquiring parties made serious inroads into the prototypes for a mission profile. After those inquiries, the IWI team went back to the shop with a goal to tighten down the Tavor 7’s accuracy to a much greater degree than the original design had conceived. Comments were made about the GOAL of a 1 minute of angle gun.
Corners of the internet took this as the accuracy gospel according to IWI and when the truth emerged, they raged. This is the internet, what can you do?
The test line-up
Tavor 7 Comparative Accuracy
[TL:DR Version – It’s accurate and will have an effective range on man sized and medium game targets out to 600 yards or so. HINT: Don’t disrespect trigger control]
Testing criteria: Comparative grouping on 3 platforms to establish standards and information on the Tavor 7 using a 3x10rd format. Ammunition is M80 Ball, Federal.
Platform 1: M110 SASS, Operation Parts SR25 Conversion – The M110 is the control, it has an established accuracy standard of 1.1 MOA with M118LR 175gr ammunition.
Started life as an SR25 and was then full parts converted, M110
Platform 2: FN SCAR17s (Upgraded) – The SCAR is a modern tech competitor in certain respects to the Tavor 7. Namely the barrels used in both rifles are just over 16″ with 1:12 twist rates, cold hammer forged and chrome lined.
Platform 3: IWI Tavor 7
Course of fire: From prone, supported, fire a 10rd group into the designated box. Switch weapons after each group to allow some cooling and not ‘dial in’ or fatigue on one platform. 3 groups were fired from each rifle total. Rifles had been fired and effective zero’s confirmed prior to the test.
Optics: Each rifle was wearing a different class of optic but all were shot at 4x to match the SCAR’s TA31 ECOS.
Stabilizers: Both the M110 and SCAR were fired from bipods. The Tavor 7 was braced on a bag.
Results:
All 9 groups plus a quick string of 3 headshots I did to confirm zero. The results tell the tale of the Tavor 7 and the accuracy finally achieved out of the box without sacrificing the rifle’s function (Note: It is known that the T7 hates TULA due to the crap consistency of primer depth and hardness)
The individual strings of fire varied as I switched off weapons. M110.. SCAR17.. Tavor 7.. Repeat next line down.
Pictured here, the middle sting of fire, is probably the most illustrative. It felt the best on all platforms and the groupings reflect that. I was fully warmed up to shooting all 3 and not fatiguing yet. Shooter fatigue is real, anyone who has shot a slow repetitive test like this will understand. It’s one of the reasons you don’t spend a long time chasing a rifle zero.
M110 – SCAR17 – Tavor 7
Conclusions based on results:
The Tavor 7 grouped the worst of the 3 rifles, yes. The T7 is not going to win your PRS match. Not it’s job and not its design.
But it didn’t lose by much nor was “winning” the shoot off the point of the test. The reason for the test was to gather shareable data so that an average of comparative performance can be established. I didn’t expect a $2,099 7.62x51mm stock bullpup carbine to beat $6,000 and $10,000 dollar systems, one of which was built from the ground up as a precision rifle.
The largest contributing factor to this accuracy, in my opinion, is the trigger. Once aftermarket 2-Stage triggers for the T7 become a reality we can see the accuracy gap close further. It’s never going to beat the M110 or SCAR, those rifles both have mechanical advantages that lend accuracy the Tavor can’t match as a bullpup and in how the system itself is put together and serviced.
Another illustration I included, the barrel/sight offset of the Tavor 7. Shots were at 10 yards with a zero for 50, done quickly while standing. (Yes, I like to pull shots left while shooting quickly. Thomas can roll his eyes at me later when I see him at the next Tavor Operator course.)
The Tavor rifles have a significant optic over bore offset
Rounds fired close will impact low, low left if you pull.
The T7’s trigger feels like an old roller delayed H&K trigger, like the G3 and MP5, it’s a trigger you have to ‘roll through’. The trigger on both the other rifles in the test are 2-Stage triggers meant for very predictable and accurate breaks, something infinitely easier to accomplish in a standard trigger group without a long transfer bar. While the Tavor 7 trigger is good, the best of any bullpup I’ve shot stock, it isn’t a Geissele or Knight’s 2-Stage and when shooting for pure accuracy trigger break does matter. Minimizing sympathetic motion transfer to the gun is easier when the trigger is helping you out.
The 7 is a practically accurate rifle that can take advantage of the effective range on a .308. Rumors of its inaccuracy are exaggerated. Kind of a strange reversal of the M14‘s legendary status actually.
It will work well as a battle rifle, especially in any environmental parameter where being compact gets you those mobility bonus points, precisely as intended.
