In an era rife with modularity, thesalient competition sidearm hasheld itself as a purpose-built affair.The Government model 1911 is

lots of things but modular isn’t one ofthem.

You want a Government model in9x19 set up as a Limited division SteelChallenge slayer? No problem, “ching$$ ching,” nothing a handful of hun-dred-dollar bills can’t cure. What?You’re a devotee of SS matches andonly the .40S&W will do? Whip outthe ol’ debit card and get yourself oneof them, too. Oh, you are also an avid3-Gunner and Heavy Metal is yourcalling? Order one more in .45ACP toround out your full set of three 5”1911’s. While you’re at it, you’d betterget a second job, as even a trio of rack

grade pistols will run you close to$3,000 without the inevitable up-grades.

Another approach would be fittingthree top ends to a single frame. Indays past this was accomplished by fit-ting a slide with the correct breech facefor each family of cartridges, based oncase head diameter: one slide for 9mmand its lineage, a second slide for the.40 S&W / 10mm to include the .357Sig and 9x25 Dillon, and lastly thebeloved 45ACP and its descendents.(Semi-rimmed .38 Super is sufficientlydifferent from 9mm that Colt and STIoffer 9mm and .38 Super as separateslides – editors.)

That’s an expensive proposition inparts alone, but one must consider that

these are not slap-together affairs. Afair amount of professional pistolsmitheffort is required to hand-fit each slideand barrel to the single frame, alongwith the caliber-appropriate extractorsand ejectors — not to mention thethree slides themselves, with duplicatesights, cocking serrations, etc.

Enter Springfield Armory and mostnotably the wizard at the helm of theircustom shop, David Williams. He andhis crew have conjured up a new sys-tem for the multi-caliber 1911. Dave’stack employs a user-interchangeable“cartridge positioner” to allow onemasterfully fit slide and frame to acceptany caliber suitable for the 1911.

Before we get into the “what-and-how” of this multi-caliber system a

FRONT SIGHT • July/August 200846

Springfield Armory�sMulti-CCaliber

Chameleon

Springfield Armory�sMulti-CCaliber

Chameleon

BY PATRICK KELLEY, TY-114401

couple of words about the SA customshop are in order. In talking with Mr.Williams, he was quick to point to hislong time crew of pistolsmiths for theirpart in creating an environment wherequality goes hand in hand with creativ-ity. Each custom shop pistol is craftedby a team of specialists who are able toapply their individual talents and spe-cialties to create something greaterthan the effort of any one master. Thepistol I received for this article is an ex-cellent testament to that philosophy.

Springfield’s Modus OperandiPicture (or just look at the picture)

and understand that the distance fromthe firing pin hole to the extractor tun-nel is the same for all 1911 slides. Whatvaries with case head diameter is thedistance from the firing pin hole to theapex of the radius on the opposite side.This is the key that the collectiveprodigy within the custom shop (whichincludes three members of the Ameri-can Pistolsmith Guild) used to make asingle slide into many.

An interchangeable“cartridge positioner”replaces that “radiusedge” as the means ofaccommodating multi-ple case heads. Each“cartridge positioner”is held in place via adrop of LockTite 680and a light press-fit us-ing the tool provided.They are comfortablyremoved with a littleheat and the supplied“jacking screw” andwrench. A recoil shoul-der is incorporated into

the unit to help it maintain integrityover the life of the slide. The position-ers are marked 1, 2 and 3 for the case-head families 45ACP, 10mm and 9x19respectively.

The slide itself is not special, as thisprocess consists of a milling procedureperformed on SA’s standard slides.This makes the concept more availableand affordable. While this featurecould be retrofitted to existing guns,Dave told me that “this would be a

47July/August 2008 • FRONT SIGHT

Guts of the Issue. At left, the Springfield Custom Shop’s “cartridge positioner” being“jacked” out. At right, a new one being tapped into place with the supplied tool. Switch thepositioner, extractor, and barrel, and you’ve changed caliber!

Custom Shop feature for the time be-ing.”

A single 9mm ejector is used for allcalibers, but extractors remain caliberspecific. Beyond that, it is only a mat-ter of picking your desired cartridgesand appropriate magazines. The cus-tom shop will do the rest.

The test gun I received will ulti-mately remain in Dave Williams’shands as it is the ONLY one in exis-tence outside of Springfield’s Geneseo,Ill., facility at this time, and it is Dave’spersonal pistol. When he offered upthat tidbit of information I was a littleuncomfortable about beating up theonly gun, let alone his gun! “Not to

worry,” were Dave’s words of comfort“go ahead and shoot the heck out of itlet me know how it shoots!”

A Plan Comes Together.I picked up the pistol two days be-

fore the Washington State Steel Chal-lenge, where I had planned to put itthrough its paces dressed as a 9mm.Since I was match director and the leaddog on the set-up crew, I was left withonly one day to sight in and get used tothis pistol. I had no time for pistolproblems or break-in considerations;heck, I did not even snap a photo of thegun until after it had been holster-wornfrom 100 draws. But thanks to thequality hard chrome and the supremeworkmanship of the Springfield Cus-tom Shop crew, the pistol is no worsefor the wear. After more than 500rounds of CCI Blazer 115’s, all I didwas lower the rear sight by ¾ of a turn,oil it and add ammo. This gun’s a win-ner, even if I (for lack of 1.1 seconds)am not.

Let’s Go .40.I own a couple of single stacks in

10mm but this is my first experiencewith one in .40 Smith and Wesson. Inanything other than “high-perfor-mance” loads these two cartridges areballistic fraternal twins. Most factory“plinking” loads run within 100 fps ofeach other, and for our uses we load topower factor so it is all moot anyway.

FRONT SIGHT • July/August 200848

From Steel Challenge to HeavyMetal, Springfield’s switch-barrel1911 is a go-everywhere, do-everything pistol.

49July/August 2008 • FRONT SIGHT

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See it in action atwww.pepperblaster.com

.22 LR Conversion Kit fits most brands of 1911 pistols.

Installation takes one minute without tools. Adjustable sight is included.

For more information on Kimber products, please send $2 to:

PepperBlaster products not to be sold to minors or where prohibited by law. ©2008 Kimber Mfg., Inc. All rights reserved.

The Kimber Custom Shop™ offers premium 1911 night sights,

magazines, grips, performance parts and refinishing in the high-tech KimPro II ® process.

KimPro® Tac-Mag® The ultimate .45 ACP magazine for any brand of mil-spec full size or compact 1911. Three quick-change bases. Stainless steel with Teflon-coated follower.

STI and SV .40 guns actually em-ploy magazines designed for the 10mmlength, and shooters often “load long”to get best results. The single stack1911 has .40 S&W caliber-specificmagazines available, and two of WilsonCombat’s finest accompanied the pis-tol.

After taking a 5-minute detour toswap the 9mm parts for .40 S&W, I de-cided to see if THIS pistol needed the40-specific magazines. It didn’t. I puta good 650 rounds of CCI Blazer 180’sthrough this set-up using five different10mm Metalform magazines I had onhand without a failure of any kind. Ac-curacy, as one should expect from acustom shop pistol, was excellent. This.40 cal. 1911 was able to create multi-ple 8-shot groups of less than 2” at 25yards from a supported position. The9mm iteration fared even better, withmany groups hovering at or near the 1”mark. In both instances CCI Blazerwas the “match” fodder employed.

Just like the 9mm, we have to letthe infamous Mr. Murphy take his shotand test this pistol in competition —because if it is going to fail, it will failat a match. This time the match was theOregon Single Stack.

Had I shot better I could havewalked away feeling better about mymatch performance, but over the eightstages I could not find fault with theperformance of this Springfield Ar-mory creation. Speed shoots, fieldcourses and many a reload, Murphyhad his opportunity and lost again. Iam starting to think I don’t deserve agun this good!

Before I close this article I mustmention that this pistol not only runsflawlessly but is also nearly flawless inaesthetic execution. From the flat-topped and serrated slide with “meltedin” Champion adjustable sight, to theexpertly fitted grip safety and perfect2.25# trigger, no detail has been over-looked.

I don’t know if the gentleman whofitted this gun’s ambi thumb safeties isa lefty, but I am, and not only do theyfeel good, their operation from my sideis smooth and positive. This is an item

that a number of pistolsmiths fail to ad-dress and one I notice immediately.

As I continue to “gray” I find my-self enjoying things I scoffed at in therecent past, one of these things ischeckering. Pick your flavor: 20, 30,40, or more lines per inch, routinelyapplied to create pyramids with linesintersecting at 90 degrees. Dave andcrew have created what he refers to as“diamond plate checkering,” a visuallynew and effective pattern that is the re-sult of cutting lines that intersect at 60degrees. This pattern is applied to boththe front strap and main spring hous-ing, and I like it. If I had to pick some-thing I didn’t like it would be the grippanels. They certainly rank high forstyle points but were a little too ag-gressive. I had to change them out asthe shooting progressed to protect my"sensitive” hands.

It would be foolish to expect ahand-fitted multi-caliber single stack tobe an inexpensive proposition. Theyare not, but to my thinking they arereasonable. While it would take about$4,000 to duplicate Dave’s personalshooter, a less feature-laden basemodel complete in 9, .40 and .45 canbe had for around $2,700. You couldeasily pay that for a single caliber gunwith a few extra touches. Remember,these are full-house Custom Shoppieces and are built to standards notavailable outside of a skilled pistol-smith’s shop.

Deadline and time constraints pre-vent me from performing any mean-ingful testing of the .45ACP version ofthis pistol, but I would expect an equalmeasure of success to that of the 9 and.40 editions. In my mind the ultimateexamination is within the crucible ofcompetition. This is where this multi-caliber chameleon can change its colorfaster than we can change games.

There is much to be gained fromthis pistol as I believe there is moretruth than lore to the adage "bewarethe man who shoots but one gun; heprobably knows how to use it." Thismulti-caliber single stack from Spring-field Armory could certainly be thatgun!