The finish isn’t as highly polished as the beautiful Hi-Power clone, the latter of which is more expensive. It is the least expensive handgun tested. The Citadel is reliable and is the easiest handgun to conceal of the handguns tested. Our Team Said: The pistol performed well, especially considering the price. The Officer’s-size Citadel M1911A1-CS, being shot with one hand. We rated the piece down a half grade on accuracy. This isn’t great by 1911 standards, but it is good for the size of the pistol and the short sight radius. At 25 yards, groups ran from 2.9 to 3.5 inches. The handgun is more than accurate enough for personal defense. The Citadel is the least expensive handgun tested, and we did not expect match-grade accuracy. The two Commanders were quite accurate, and the Hi-Power clone provided surprising results. In bench accuracy, the Citadel trailed the pack. Otherwise, results were comparable to the Commander-type guns in the combat firing test. We had to use sight black to resume firing. We rated the pistol down a half grade for this. In certain light conditions, the front sight simply seemed to fade away. The Citadel would have performed better with a darker front sight or a fiber-optic front post. The pistol gave good results on the combat course with no failures to feed, chamber, fire, or eject. There is some take up, with no discernible creep. The trigger is a decent, crisp 4.5 pounds, leaving nothing to be desired. The trigger span is the same as the other 1911 handguns. Despite the abbreviated grip of the Officer’s Model 1911, the raters were able to maintain a good grip on the handgun. We added two Metalform Officers Model eight-round magazines to the test. The Citadel’s light recoil invites practice. Even our smallest raters found the 9mm single-action handguns pleasant to fire and use. The shorter sight radius may be an advantage in short-range combat drills because the shooter can quickly line the sights up, but there was a trade off in long range accuracy. But the Citadel is by no means a burden to carry. The Citadel is actually heavier than the Ruger SR1911 Commander because the Citadel features a steel frame versus an aluminum frame for the Ruger. This would not be true with the Officer’s Model in 45 ACP, which generates considerably more recoil than a Commander 45. The pistol did not exhibit tool marks when field-stripped.Ī comparison all of the raters made was that the Citadel Officer’s-size 9mm was about as easy to fire well as the Commander-type 9mms. The fit of the slide to the frame was comparable to the other handguns. The grips are wood, and while the checkering isn’t presentation grade, it works. The mainspring housing is nicely checkered. The beavertail grip safety is properly designed and releases its hold on the trigger halfway into compression. The Citadel offers more cartridges than a comparably sized 45 ACP pistol. The Citadel Officer’s-size 1911 is a well-made handgun that we found to be reliable. Short recoil-operated locked breech, single action Not a defect, but a consideration, we agreed. In re-evaluating the slide-lock safety fit of the Citadel, we cannot complain at all in this regard however, all the raters noticed the differences. In long term use, the Ruger is superior to the other 1911 types in this regard. They sometimes break off and must be re-staked. This is the tube that holds the springs, keeping tension on both the slide lock and the slide-lock safety. Another advantage in the Ruger is that the Ruger features a new-design integral plunger tube. The Citadel is good, just not quite as good. However, it suffered in comparison to the Ruger’s crisp let off. It was a contrast to the slop we found in the Zenith Tisas slide-lock safety. However, these sights do not feature a three-dot line up. Frankly, these sights are so common on inexpensive handguns these days, we see little point in purchasing a GI-type 1911 handgun with abbreviated sights. The sights are Novak types, a good touch on an inexpensive handgun. The 3.5-inch barrel is a belled version that features good lockup with the slide. The pistol features the Parkerized finish common to Philippine-produced 1911 handguns. The Citadel 9mm is a 1911 type that operates in the same manner as the Ruger and the Tisas Commander, but it has the shortened slide and grip frame of the Officer’s Model, so it isn’t a Commander.
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