John Moses Browning was not killed by heart failure, but by imitation. Browning’s designs for firearms, many of which are still used by our military today, testify to his genius. His iconic 1911 pistol is the most copied gun in history, by companies such as Tisas. Two Tisas Models that won’t break the bank Over the years, many imitators have appeared. Some good, some terrible. Jeff Cooper’s promotion of the 1911 in the 1970s and 1980s as a defensive weapon was the catalyst for many manufacturers to produce their own versions of this venerable warhorse. But it wasn’t always this way. When I first started shooting 1911s in the late 1970s, my only options were Colt or Springfield Armory. Some peripheral players were Crown City, Vega Safari Arms and Randall. Most folded before gaining a significant share of the market. If you wanted a beavertail or match sights you had to take your gun to the smith for a long time. Kimber didn’t introduce a factory-made gun with a beavertail safety grip, extended thumb safety and low-profile combat sight until 1993. Three decades later, the world is different. There are more 1911 makers than I can count. The good news is that the majority of pistols are actually very good guns. Even the budget-priced Philippine firearms come with useful sights, extended safety features, and beavertails. Quality is generally a function of price. The new Springfield Ronin is one of the best values that I’ve seen in the 1911 market. It has a strong side-only safety, a good trigger, good sights and a beavertail. It has a forged slide and frame, and everything you need to have a modern fighting pistol 1911. The Ronin is priced at $849 and has great accuracy. I liked it so well that I bought the test gun. Exceeded Expectations I stopped at the SDS Imports booth at the 2020 SHOT Show Las Vegas and took a quick glance at some of their Tisas 1911s that were imported from Turkey. The samples I saw were of excellent quality. The samples I saw were far too nice for the suggested retail prices of $420 for the parkerized GI and $500 for the modern Duty model equipped with a beavertail, ambidextrous thumb safeties, and excellent sights. (Photo by Alex Landeen). I remember telling a colleague that, if the imported guns looked even half as nice as the display model, it would be a great deal for budget-minded 1911 shooters. A few months later, at a local firearms show, my son-in law bought the Tisas U.S. Army 1911 A1 pistol. I was able to examine his model in detail. It was just as nice as those guns displayed at SHOT Show. The slide-to frame fit was exceptional and the fit of parts such as the bushing, thumb security, and slide release far exceeded my expectations for a gun that retails for $420. Even the matte parkerized surface was executed well. I was impressed! Securing Models for Test and Evaluation When I heard that my old friend Dave Biggers was now the General Manager of SDS Imports I contacted him to get a couple of test guns. Biggers sent the Tisas 1912 A1 U.S. Army and the Duty BR. Both guns are made in the state-of-the art Trabzon Silah Sanayi A.S. factory in Turkey. Tisas says they produce more than 50,000 guns a year. This does not include the arms they produce for the Turkish military and government. Quickly browsing their website, you will find a wide variety of handguns. Many of these handguns show the influence from Beretta and CZ75 handguns. Last year, I tested the Tisas version (available from another importer) of the Browning Hi-Power. I found that the gun was very well made, and it was much more accurate than my vintage Hi-Power. Tale Of Two Turks 1911A1 (Photo By Alex Landeen). I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised by how nice my T&E pistols looked. Tisas heat treats their own frames and slides, and uses forgings to make their frames. These guns are made of hard metal, so you won’t need to worry about them bending under heavy use. They achieve a very tight frame-to slide fit using modern CNC machinery. Both thumb safety mechanisms are perfectly fitted and snap on and off with the same crispness as the trigger. The military model breaks at 4.8 pounds. The Duty BR also requires 5 pounds to drop the hammer. (Photo by Alex Landeen). Both guns have a 1/16-inch take-up, a little creep and almost no overtravel. The Tisas pistol, like the 1911A1, has a short trigger that has a checkered texture. A mainspring housing with an arched shape and lanyard hole is also used. It even has a checkered, fat hammer which makes thumb cocking so easy! Tisas also did a great job replicating the A1 style cocking serrations. The BR Duty is a Series 70 design, and like its military counterpart does not have a firing pin security. This gun does not have a full-length guide rod for the recoil spring, which is fine with me. In the 40 years I’ve been shooting 1911s, I have never experienced a stoppage that could have been avoided by using a recoil spring rod. The BR features wide and deep cocking striations at the front and back of the slide. This model has an accessory rail on its dust cover for attaching a laser or tactical light. Tisas undercuts the frame where the front strap meets the triggerguard. This allows the shooter to get a better grip on the gun and reduce muzzle rise. (Photo by Alex Landeen). The BR’s beavertail with high-sweep also helps to get a good grip. The beavertail has a memory bump that helps shooters who use a thumb-high grip, like I do, to disengage the grip security. The Beauty is in Details I was amazed at how few tool marks were visible when I disassembled the guns. Both guns are Series 70 frames and neither has a firing pin. Both frames have well-polished feed ramps, and the GI barrel has a throat from 3 o’clock to 9 o’clock. This should allow you to feed any type of round that fits into the magazine. Both barrels are cold hammer forged. However, the BR uses a stainless steel barrel. It’s interesting that neither 1911 Tisas is radically different. Aftermarket parts for Colt Springfield Armory Kimber etc. The Turkish guns should work just fine. This is great news for gun enthusiasts and tinkerers. It makes it easy to find a holster too. How’d They Shoot? I was working at Gunsite in Paulden Arizona on another 1911-related Project. I was able to fire both guns while there. Ken Campbell, Gunsite CEO, kindly provided me and Alex Landeen access to a shooting range. We were able to chronograph the guns, and benchrest them. The Tisas 1911 A1 U.S. Army, including the sights, is a perfect replica of our military issue.45. It was probably the tiny front sight which caused me to concentrate so hard on it as I added the necessary pressure to break the shot. Federal’s Syntech Defense round, 205-grain, was the one that put five rounds in a tight group measuring only.092 inch! The sights on the 1911 A1 U.S. Army are a perfect replica of the military issue.45. It wasn’t an accident. (Photo by Alex Landeen). The aggregate group size of four different ammunitions was only 1.17 inches. Tisas BR also has a high level of accuracy. Remington’s FMJ 230-grain rounds produced the best 5-shot group measuring only.88 inches. The aggregate group size of the four ammunitions was just a hair more than an inch. I am amazed that a gun that has a suggested retail of well under $500 is so good. The Tisas 1909 Duty BR is equipped with a 3-dot configuration dovetail sight. (Photo by Alex Landeen). I fired over 500 rounds between the models. Some were fired on the bench, while most were fired at steel target, practicing double-taps, failure drills, and double-taps to the body, and one to head. The guns would get so hot that I had to put them in the shade to cool. I did not fail in any way despite not cleaning the guns. (Photo by Alex Landeen). A Tremendous Price for the Gun Sometimes an importer will offer a brand new gun at a ridiculously cheap price to generate interest among shooters and create demand. If this is the situation with the Tisas 1912s, then these prices won’t last forever. If you are interested in a replica of the 1911A1 used by our military or a more contemporary 1911 with a laser rail and extended ambisafeties, then you would be doing your self a disservice if you didn’t check out the Tisas 11s. Both guns are a great value for money! SDSImports.com has more information. (Photo by Alex Landeen). 1911A1 U.S. Army Specifications Caliber:.45ACPBarrel: 5 Inches
Overall Length : 8.5 Inches
Weight: 39 ounces
Grips: GI style checkered brown plastic
Sights: GI fixed
Action: SA
Finish: Parkerized
Capacity: 7+1
MSRP: $420 1911 DUTY BR Specs.45 ACP Caliber
Barrel: 5 Inches
Overall Length : 8.6 Inches
Weight: 40.5 ounces
Grips: Black Cherry Plastic
Sights: Novak-style, low-profile three-dot
Finish: Black Cerakote
Action: SA
Capacity: 8+1
MSRP: $500 Performance 1911 A1 U.S. ArmyLOAD VELOCITYACCURACYAguila 230 FMJ8521.43Federal Syntech Defense 205 TSJ9700.92Hornady 220 FLEXLOCK +P966 1.16Remington 230 FMJ8151.18 1911 Duty BRLOAD VELOCITYACCURACYAguila 230 FMJ8481.13Federal Syntech Defense 205 TSJ9551.10Hornady 220 FLEXLOCK +P947 0.96Remington 230 FMJ8220.88 Bullet weight measured in grains, velocity in feet per second (fps) by chronograph, and accuracy in inches for best five-shot groups at 25 yards. This article was first published in the Combat Handguns issue of July/August 2022. Subscription is available in print and digital editions at OutdoorGroupStore.com. Or call 1-800-284-5668, or email [email protected]. Continue reading Didn’t get what you were looking? Search The post Turkish Gold – Testing Two Budget Friendly Tisas 1911 models appeared first on Personal Defense World.
