Saturday I bought a new American Classic Trophy, 1911 .45 ACP. I was in the market for a budget 1911 and after reading several positive reviews about the American Classic II I decided to get the Trophy edition. I got to shoot it today and I love it. Seems to be a very well made firearm. Very smooth and tight slide action. I added the some Alumagrips and a Pierce grip as well. Shoots very accurate out of the box.
Now some nuances. The Metroarms website says the Trophy has a reverse recoil spring plug. Mine does not (at least not to my understanding). The recoil spring plug in my gun looks exactly like a normal plug used with a FLGR only its about a 1/2 inch longer. The plug can be pushed freely through the muzzle end of the slide just like a normal plug. Nothing about the plug design or the slide design prevents this. The barrel bushing holds the spring plug in place and there is no way you could use a bull barrel with the stock spring plug. Now the caveat. The guide rod is slightly longer than other FLGR's I've seen. The guide rod protrudes just far enough that you cannot use a bushing wrench to push down recoil spring plug and turn the barrel bushing thus preventing a standard field stripping. You must remove the recoil spring plug/spring/FLGR just like you would a normal reverse plug/FLGR. Remove the slide, push the guide rod toward the muzzle end to compress the spring, then use the takedown hole w/ a paper clip to trap the spring. Then you remove the guide rod assembly through the rear of the slide. Not a big deal just interesting considering how the recoil plug is designed.
Also the gun came with one ACT-Mag. It would not feed at all using the stock magazine. I tried it several times with no success. Luckily I had already bought a Chip McCormick power mag. It fed flawlessly. Using that magazine I had no troubles at all. I'll be purchasing another Chip Mag soon. Can't wait to put more rounds through her.
Now some nuances. The Metroarms website says the Trophy has a reverse recoil spring plug. Mine does not (at least not to my understanding). The recoil spring plug in my gun looks exactly like a normal plug used with a FLGR only its about a 1/2 inch longer. The plug can be pushed freely through the muzzle end of the slide just like a normal plug. Nothing about the plug design or the slide design prevents this. The barrel bushing holds the spring plug in place and there is no way you could use a bull barrel with the stock spring plug. Now the caveat. The guide rod is slightly longer than other FLGR's I've seen. The guide rod protrudes just far enough that you cannot use a bushing wrench to push down recoil spring plug and turn the barrel bushing thus preventing a standard field stripping. You must remove the recoil spring plug/spring/FLGR just like you would a normal reverse plug/FLGR. Remove the slide, push the guide rod toward the muzzle end to compress the spring, then use the takedown hole w/ a paper clip to trap the spring. Then you remove the guide rod assembly through the rear of the slide. Not a big deal just interesting considering how the recoil plug is designed.
Also the gun came with one ACT-Mag. It would not feed at all using the stock magazine. I tried it several times with no success. Luckily I had already bought a Chip McCormick power mag. It fed flawlessly. Using that magazine I had no troubles at all. I'll be purchasing another Chip Mag soon. Can't wait to put more rounds through her.
