Remington's 1911RAC

Ammunition shortages and expense, inclement weather, time constraints, and bouts of metrophobia can sometimes get in the way of maintaining firearm proficiency. Dry firing and mouthed sound effects are not always a suitable substitute for live fire. Folks who train aspiring new shooters may choose not to place a loaded 45 auto into the hands of a trainee until the conclusion of preliminary safety and familiarization training has been completed. Remington’s 1911RAC might represent an alternative.

Just like flight simulators for pilots…

The 1911RAC provides the heft and feel, functional controls and motion dynamics to simulate a 1911 type autoloader with only a couple of exceptions. A 0.177″ BB at 320 fps replaces a .45 caliber slug at 1,000 fps and a “Pffft” burst of CO2 replaces the bellicose boom of a .45 Auto. Unlike a 45 auto, the 1911RAC can be shot even indoors with the proper target and inexpensive trap. Safety, sight alignment and trigger squeeze drills can be conducted in the absence of nerve jangling recoil and muzzle blast.

When picked up, the Remington 1911RAC does not feel like a toy; more like a Government Model 1911 with balance that settles into the web of a shooting hand. Ejecting and reinserting the pistol’s magazine to load BBs and CO2, locking the slide open, letting the slide close to chamber a “round”, and flipping on the thumb safety to put the gun into cocked and locked condition are all familiar processes.

The 1911RAC feels like a 1911; the checkering on the backstrap, the compression of the grip safety, the precise detent click of the thumbs safety, the trigger pull and let off are all very realistic.

Disassembly for cleaning and oiling is very 1911 like. Magazine out, slide back to check for empty, align slide stop to slide stop notch and push out, ease slide forward and off. There are a couple of spots to keep oiled, but maintenance is low.

Loading is straight forward. The Magazine is removed and the follower is pulled back to expose the loading port. 18 BBs 0.171 to 0.173 are loaded in either one at a time or by speed feeding from a bottle of BBs. They look a bit… staggered in the picture below, but they feed reliably.

When fuel is depleted, a 12 gram CO2 cartridge is plopped in the window in the magazine with the nozzle fed into the gas seal, then the cartridge retaining screw is tightened with the supplied Allen wrench. Tightening punctures the cartridge seal, which charges the pistol’s gas system. The slide is pulled back and released, which loads a BB into the 1911RAC’s chamber. I was able to get approximately 50 – 60 shots from a CO2 cartridge.

 Shooting personality…

Yes, it feels like a 1911 right up to the need to squeeze the grip safety before it will discharge. The trigger is very good and the slide action is very realistic. Single fire, as fast as you can squeeze the trigger… the Remington 1911RAC can keep up. The slide even locks open on empty. Does it feel just like a 45 Auto when fired. Of course not. There is no powder charge or 230 grain bullet. Still, in terms of providing an opportunity to practice trigger squeeze, target acquisition and marksmanship, it is very good. Shooting the 1911RAC is also a huge amount of fun and it can foster a lot of interoffice and interfamily competition.

These were shot at 15 feet, which is a ways for a smoothbore BB gun. The left target was the first shot, the right was the last. It is very easy, with a little practice to rapid fire and keep everything in the 9 ring. The 9 ring is 2″, the 10 ring is an inch.

Conclusion…

I have one at the shop. It gets a work out after standing in front of a milling machine for two hours and removing 0.003″ too much metal, or in front of a computer monitor with a blank word processing page. The Remington 1911RAC is used for training, for proficiency building and when there is a disagreement and best marksmanship is the only way to settle the dispute. Glad it’s around.