Metro Arms - American Classic II
Several years ago I was in the market for a 1911 pistol. I did not want to spend the money on some of the high-end 1911's that were out there. I don't know, something about dropping over $1,000 on a pistol that was going to be a range/ranch pistol didn't quite appeal to me! So, a budget 1911 it was!
When Taurus first came out with their 1911, I thought, "Wow! A tricked out 1911 that will not break the bank! I've got to have one of those!" Well, that love affair lasted all of about a year! During a department combat pistol shoot, my Taurus literally broke! What was even worse was it broke when my wife was shooting it and all the guys I worked with were standing around laughing! After all, they all had the big money 1911's! The Taurus quickly got repaired under warranty and then quickly sold afterward! (Note: About 5 months after selling the pistol, the new owner told me it broke again and had to go back to Taurus).
Fast forward to about 5 years later, and I found myself wandering around my local gun shop eye-balling the lower costs 1911. I was contemplating the Springfield G.I. and similar models. My initial thoughts were to buy a name brand base 1911 and trick it out myself. I almost felt like I was shopping for a new truck. On one side were the "loaded" models with all the bells and whistles like leather seats and satellite radio. I thought, "Yeah! I could probably budget one of those in, but I will be eating PB&J for several months!" Then, there was the flip side of the coin, those bare bone G.I. models that were sitting there like they had vinyl seats and manual windows. They would get the job done, but I knew I would be swapping stuff out for some upgrades. Almost like swapping out the AM radio for one with a cassette player. Oops! I'm showing my age now!
I had it narrowed down to either the Ruger 1911 or a Springfield G.I. model. As I was leaning toward the Ruger, the owner of the store came over and let me handle a few of the pistols. I told him what I was wanting and detailed my bad experience with the Taurus. He chuckled and informed me that his store provides a lifetime warranty on any pistol bought there, regardless of the manufacturer's warranty. That gave me a bit more comfort, especially knowing this place had been there for over 25 years, and probably wasn't going anywhere soon! He did tell me he had plenty of Taurus 1911's come in for repair.
He then handed me a Metro Arms American Classic II 1911. I looked at him, with probably a confused look, and told him I have never EVER heard of Metro Arms. After checking the trigger pull and inspecting the gun, I was very pleased as it had just about every bell and whistle on it that the $1,000 guns had, oh, and I forgot to mention, this pistol was under $500.
After explaining that this was a pistol from the Philippines, and the owner of Metro Arms is a competitive shooter, I was still a bit skeptical. What finally sold me on this pistol was the fact the store backed up the lifetime warranty. After all, I was just wanting a 1911 to play around with.
The gun store owner told me, "I've probably sold about 300 of these pistols since I got them in stock, and I've only had one come back, and it was a magazine spring issue and not the pistol."
While he waited on another customer, I quickly got on my phone and searched the internet for any issues. Low and behold, I could not find any negative comments save one or two! Since it had a good warranty and I wasn't using this as a defensive carry pistol, I figured what the hell, and went ahead and bought it.
One of the advantages of being a police firearms instructor is I have full access to the range! I called one of my fellow instructors and told him to bring me whatever .45 ACP ammo he could find and that I wanted to see what this pistol could really do! Let's say it was more of an impromptu torture test!
When he showed up to the range, he grinned and told me that he had cleaned his garage out and found a large assortment of .45 ACP, from lead ball and semi-wad cutter hand-loads to factory hollow points and everything in between. My initial break-in of the pistol was 100 rounds of jacketed American Eagle. As we figured, it ate that up without a flaw.
Then came the coffee can of ammo surprise! We fed that 1911 anything we could find, and it ate it flawlessly, all while shooting less than two-inch groups, which at this point, we were not so much concerned about accuracy.
Impressed that we had gone through about 300 rounds, we decided to load some more American Eagle rounds and actually try to do some decent groupings and grouping it did! Shooting at 10 yards, both of us were able to shoot the center out of the B-27 target we were using, without much effort. My fellow instructor went back to his car and got his Colt 1911 A-1 (1991) where we both discovered the Metro Arms 1911 was shooting tighter groups than his tried and true Colt. After that, I took it out to the range here and there where it continued to run flawlessly.
Then came kids, and the pistol sat in the safe for a year or so before I finally knocked the dust off of it and sent it to a friend of mine for a new finish (pictured). Not that anything was wrong with the old finish, but I didn't think a gun that shot so well deserved a plain old blue finish. Instead, it got a two-tone silver over black treatment!
Over a month ago, I took this pistol out to the range again, this time to qualify with it as one of my duty weapons. Yes, I trust this pistol that much that I would literally bet my life on it! This go-around at the range, my Metro Arms had some competition. I had recently acquired an S&W 1911 E Series so I could actually compare it to a true upper-crust 1911. At the end of the day, my Metro Arms American Classic II out grouped my S&W hands down.
Bottom line, if you are wanting a budget 1911 that performs just as well, if not better than an upper tier 1911, then the Metro Arms is for you!
When Taurus first came out with their 1911, I thought, "Wow! A tricked out 1911 that will not break the bank! I've got to have one of those!" Well, that love affair lasted all of about a year! During a department combat pistol shoot, my Taurus literally broke! What was even worse was it broke when my wife was shooting it and all the guys I worked with were standing around laughing! After all, they all had the big money 1911's! The Taurus quickly got repaired under warranty and then quickly sold afterward! (Note: About 5 months after selling the pistol, the new owner told me it broke again and had to go back to Taurus).
Fast forward to about 5 years later, and I found myself wandering around my local gun shop eye-balling the lower costs 1911. I was contemplating the Springfield G.I. and similar models. My initial thoughts were to buy a name brand base 1911 and trick it out myself. I almost felt like I was shopping for a new truck. On one side were the "loaded" models with all the bells and whistles like leather seats and satellite radio. I thought, "Yeah! I could probably budget one of those in, but I will be eating PB&J for several months!" Then, there was the flip side of the coin, those bare bone G.I. models that were sitting there like they had vinyl seats and manual windows. They would get the job done, but I knew I would be swapping stuff out for some upgrades. Almost like swapping out the AM radio for one with a cassette player. Oops! I'm showing my age now!
I had it narrowed down to either the Ruger 1911 or a Springfield G.I. model. As I was leaning toward the Ruger, the owner of the store came over and let me handle a few of the pistols. I told him what I was wanting and detailed my bad experience with the Taurus. He chuckled and informed me that his store provides a lifetime warranty on any pistol bought there, regardless of the manufacturer's warranty. That gave me a bit more comfort, especially knowing this place had been there for over 25 years, and probably wasn't going anywhere soon! He did tell me he had plenty of Taurus 1911's come in for repair.
He then handed me a Metro Arms American Classic II 1911. I looked at him, with probably a confused look, and told him I have never EVER heard of Metro Arms. After checking the trigger pull and inspecting the gun, I was very pleased as it had just about every bell and whistle on it that the $1,000 guns had, oh, and I forgot to mention, this pistol was under $500.
After explaining that this was a pistol from the Philippines, and the owner of Metro Arms is a competitive shooter, I was still a bit skeptical. What finally sold me on this pistol was the fact the store backed up the lifetime warranty. After all, I was just wanting a 1911 to play around with.
The gun store owner told me, "I've probably sold about 300 of these pistols since I got them in stock, and I've only had one come back, and it was a magazine spring issue and not the pistol."
While he waited on another customer, I quickly got on my phone and searched the internet for any issues. Low and behold, I could not find any negative comments save one or two! Since it had a good warranty and I wasn't using this as a defensive carry pistol, I figured what the hell, and went ahead and bought it.
One of the advantages of being a police firearms instructor is I have full access to the range! I called one of my fellow instructors and told him to bring me whatever .45 ACP ammo he could find and that I wanted to see what this pistol could really do! Let's say it was more of an impromptu torture test!
When he showed up to the range, he grinned and told me that he had cleaned his garage out and found a large assortment of .45 ACP, from lead ball and semi-wad cutter hand-loads to factory hollow points and everything in between. My initial break-in of the pistol was 100 rounds of jacketed American Eagle. As we figured, it ate that up without a flaw.
Then came the coffee can of ammo surprise! We fed that 1911 anything we could find, and it ate it flawlessly, all while shooting less than two-inch groups, which at this point, we were not so much concerned about accuracy.
The author's Metro Arms American Classic II after having it refinished.
Impressed that we had gone through about 300 rounds, we decided to load some more American Eagle rounds and actually try to do some decent groupings and grouping it did! Shooting at 10 yards, both of us were able to shoot the center out of the B-27 target we were using, without much effort. My fellow instructor went back to his car and got his Colt 1911 A-1 (1991) where we both discovered the Metro Arms 1911 was shooting tighter groups than his tried and true Colt. After that, I took it out to the range here and there where it continued to run flawlessly.
Then came kids, and the pistol sat in the safe for a year or so before I finally knocked the dust off of it and sent it to a friend of mine for a new finish (pictured). Not that anything was wrong with the old finish, but I didn't think a gun that shot so well deserved a plain old blue finish. Instead, it got a two-tone silver over black treatment!
Over a month ago, I took this pistol out to the range again, this time to qualify with it as one of my duty weapons. Yes, I trust this pistol that much that I would literally bet my life on it! This go-around at the range, my Metro Arms had some competition. I had recently acquired an S&W 1911 E Series so I could actually compare it to a true upper-crust 1911. At the end of the day, my Metro Arms American Classic II out grouped my S&W hands down.
Bottom line, if you are wanting a budget 1911 that performs just as well, if not better than an upper tier 1911, then the Metro Arms is for you!
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