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The Colt Government 1911 A1 CO2 Pistol
By Roy Hill
This year is the 100th anniversary of the US military adopting John Moses Browning’s 1911 Colt .45 as its official sidearm. What better time to try out Umarex’s CO2 version of that classic handgun design?
Built under license from Colt, the CO2 version is a dead ringer for its firearm big brother. It’s all there–the slide release, the thumb and grip safeties, the magazine release button, and the classically-shaped trigger and grip panels. The CO2 pistol not only looks like a Colt .45, it hefts and feels like one, too. The manual lists its unloaded weight as 38 oz, and 40.5 oz fully loaded, which is right around what many types of .45 caliber 1911s weigh. The Umarex version offers both front and rear cocking serrations, features not found on several brands of 1911s in .45.
But these features are not just cosmetic; the shooter must manipulate them to use the pistol, making the experience very similar in some ways to shooting the .45 caliber version.
The slide release allows the pistol’s top half to open up about a half inch so the shooter can load and unload it. While the CO2 pistol’s slide doesn’t reciprocate as far as a .45's, the front serrations are actually quite useful in helping the shooter get the gun closed back up after inserting an 8-shot rotary magazine full of pellets. The gun uses 12-gram CO2 cartridges that fit into the butt of the pistol. The shooter pushes the magazine release button to loosen the right grip panel and expose the gas cartridge, piercing assembly, and cylinder screw. And the thumb and grip safeties work just like they do on the Colt original.
The grip safety was so positive in its action, that when I first started shooting the pistol, I had to concentrate on keeping the grip safety depressed so the gun would fire. After about four or five magazines, I adapted, and could make the CO2 pistol fire without a hitch.
Unlike the original 1911, the Umarex version will fire in either double or single action. While I found myself shooting more in single action, cocking the pistol with my left thumb between shots, my wife preferred to shoot the pistol double action. I was trying to be more precise, zipping pellets into a soda can that I kept bouncing farther and farther away, while she wanted to practice her double-action, rapid fire fundamentals on a target a little closer so she’d be better with her self-defense handgun.
And that’s what’s so great about this CO2 pellet pistol. You can shoot it for inexpensive target fun, or use it as a more serious training aid to practice your handgun fundamentals on the cheap, especially if you already own a 1911 firearm that you use for plinking, hunting, or self defense. In one heavy shooting session, you can virtually pay for the cost of the gun in ammunition savings.
One thing that I learned quickly was to have lots of spare pellet magazines ready to go. The pistol was so much fun to shoot that even five pre-loaded 8-shot magazines ran dry entirely too quickly. It is a good thing that the rotary magazines are so easy to load.
I fired the pistol using five different kinds of RWS pellets. The hollowpoint style, Super H-Point, was the lightest at 6.9 grams with the wadcutter style, Supermag, the heaviest at 9.3 grams. In between were the Meisterkugeln match pistol pellets and the Hobby pellets, both diablo style at 7 grams, and the domed/round nosed Superdome field pellet at 8.3 grams. All pellet types loaded easily into the magazines and functioned smoothly.
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The grouping of pellets was very tight, indicating a high degree of accuracy with the pistol
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We shot the RWS Meisterkugeln the most, running almost the entire 500-round tin through the 1911. The college air rifle team I coach uses a lot of Meisterkugeln pellets for practice in our precision air rifles, and I knew they’d be very accurate. At 10 yards, I fired an 8-shot group of Meisterkugeln pellets that measured only one inch across, with five of the shots going into one hole only .43 inches wide. I’m sure the pistol could do even better, but since I was shooting unsupported, from a standard isosceles position, I was still very pleased with this Umarex pistol’s accuracy.
After printing a group on paper, my wife and I shot up empty aluminum soda cans, empty two-liter plastic bottles, and even made some of our steel handgun animal silhouettes ring a little. The manual lists the muzzle velocity on the CO2 1911 as “up to 425 fps,” which I’m sure means with a fresh gas cartridge, and using the lightest pellets available. While the pellets absolutely chewed up aluminum drink cans, they mostly bounced off the empty two-liter bottles, which meant we had to shoot them from at least 15 or 20 yards to ensure we didn’t catch a ricochet. We kept the same distance on the steel handgun silhouettes, but the pellets just flattened completely and fell right in front of the targets after producing a distinct, very high-pitched “ting!” that was most satisfying to hear. At one point, I backed up to 40 yards, and discovered that if I shot single action, and really focused on the front sight, I could consistently knock over the empty two-liters.
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Bottle top after being shot.
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The heavier Superdome and Supermag pellets did pop the two-liter bottles with more force, making them jump and rock more than the 7-gram Meisterkugeln or Hobby pellets. I noticed that the heavier pellets lost velocity shot-to-shot more quickly. With the 9.3 gram Supermags, the first two or three shots flew true, but even with a fresh CO2 cartridge, the fifth or sixth shots required a change in sight-picture elevation to keep the point of impact consistent. With the same CO2 cartridge still in the gun, I found that a magazine full of lighter pellets would still hit the target without major changes to the sight picture, at least not until I had fired at least four or five more magazines.
I filled two soda cans full of water, and shot them both from 10 yards using a fresh CO2 cartridge, one with a 6.9 gram Super H-Point pellet and the other with 9.3 gram Supermag pellet. I could not tell any differences between the entry or exit holes, and both made a little water fly and created a meaty “THWACK” upon impact. I don’t think the 1911 produces high-enough velocities for pellet design to make that much difference in terminal performance. But no matter what pellets I loaded, the pistol proved to be a handful of pure fun.
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One of the soft drink cans after being shot.
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At a price of around $250 for the black, and $270 for the nickel version, the Umarex Colt Government 1911 has the realistic look and feel of the .45 caliber original. Only you can safely shoot the Umarex version inside the house, provided you put up a pellet trap or construct a safe backstop. Also, a tin of quality pellets and a couple of boxes of Umarex CO2 cartridges don’t cost near as much as a single box of 230-grain hardball. Since it is the 1911's 100th birthday, what better way to celebrate than getting yourself a very enjoyable, cheap-to-shoot CO2 version of the classic American sidearm?
Items mentioned in this article:
Colt Government 1911 A1 CO2 Pistol
Hollowpoint style, Super-H-Point Pellet
Wadcutter style, Supermag Pellet
Diablo style, Meisterkugeln Pellet
Diablo style, Hobby Pellet
Domed/Round nosed style, Superdome Pellet
Sampler Pack of Pellets
12g CO2 Cartridge
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