What happens when Springfield Armory, Lipseys, and Larry Vickers get together? They produce a fighting-oriented 1911 in the most American caliber possible, the .45 ACP. The Vickers Master Class 1911 series offers shooters a semi-custom 1911 platform aimed at defensive applications.
Larry Vickers is a former Delta Force operator and Master Sergeant with more awards than a North Korean General. He’s worked as a firearms instructor, and has hosted numerous classes instructing students on how to build their own 1911s. The man clearly knows his way around firearms and, most specifically, around the M1911 platform.
The Vickers Master Class represents what Larry Vickers would do to an M1911.
WWVD: What Would Vickers Do?
To figure out what Vickers would do, we need only look at this M1911. Springfield Armory decked it out with various parts and pieces to make it a modern fighting M1911. The Vickers Master Class comes packed with features.
These features include:
- Wilson Combat Extended Thumb Safety
- Wilson Combat Tool Steel Retro Commander Hammer
- Solid Medium Trigger
- Springfield Armory Custom Shop Tool Steel Sear
- Springfield Armory Master Class Bushing
- Springfield Armory Machined Extractor
- Pinned Extended Ejector
- Unique Grasping Grooves (front strap and main spring housing serrations)
- Ball Scallop Cuts on the Slide
- Wilson Combat Vickers Duty Sight
- Orange / Tritium Pro Glo Front Sight
- Beveled Magazine Well
- Mil-Tac G10 Grips with Vickers Logo
- Black-T Finish
- Stainless Steel Match Grade Barrel
- Wilson Combat 8-Round Vickers Duty Magazines
A lot is going on with this gun. It’s slap full of features. Some I understand the benefit of, others, well, I couldn’t tell you why a pinned extended ejector is better than a normal one. However, it’s comforting to know a group of experts put the gun together and understand what it takes to make a great gun.
It also really helps that the gun looks fantastic. It’s fancy but looks subdued and keeps the classic M1911 profile.
The Vickers Master Class: In Hand
The Vickers Master Class feels fantastic in the hand. Everything about the grip screams aggressive. The grip panels, the front and rear checkering, and everything else about this gun are incredibly aggressive.
An aggressive grip texture helps prevent hand movement during recoil, and that’s always good. The M1911 has always had a nice, svelte grip for a .45 ACP, and the Vickers Master Class ensures that remains in play.
The well-placed scallops on the group make it easy to reach the trigger and get a good, solid grip on the gun. Grip is everything when shooting a handgun. Those same scallops also make it easy to access the magazine release.
The gun lacks an ambidextrous safety, and I prefer a standard safety. Ambi safeties tend to get in my way. The Wilson Extended Safety creates an excellent shelf that makes safety engagement quick and easy. It provides a nice, comfy rest for your thumb when pressed down.
The extended beavertail allows for a nice, high grip on the gun without the fear of slide or hammer bite. The Vickers Duty Magazines slide ride out, and the aggressive metal baseplate makes them easy to rip out of the gun if necessary and easy to retrieve from a magazine pouch.
Running the Vickers Master Class
Where do you start with a gun this fancy? It almost feels like someone more competent with M1911s should be reviewing that thing, but guess what? You’ve got to deal with me!
Let’s start with accuracy. The sights are superb. The blacked-out rear sight contrasts perfectly with the bright orange front sight.
From the draw, the sights line up rapidly, and finding the front sight is a zero-effort task. When shooting, the bright orange sight stays easy to track. Proper grip technique is still required to keep the sights easy to track, but proper technique is easy with the Master Class.
The M1911’s grip design, alongside the extra touches of the Master Class, creates a very ergonomic platform. It makes it easy to lock the gun in your hand. I shot the bog-standard 230 grain FMJs but used some hotter, faster, 180 grain defensive ammo.
The faster ammo proved to be a little snappier, but it still handled wonderfully. The Vickers Master Class is easy to control, and throwing double and triple taps is easy to do quickly. The combination of the sights and grip makes it effortless to shoot the gun quickly.
Hitting Targets
The Vickers Master Class also proved to be quite accurate. Hitting a target at 50 yards with iron sights is always entertaining, especially when it’s a gong. Seeing it swing back and forth and timing the swing to keep hitting it will provide the most satisfying ding you’ve ever heard.
Drilling an IPSC target quickly at 50 yards also brings joy. Firing rapid controlled pairs into the C-zone at a minimum also makes me quite happy. It also shows that the Vickers Master Class delivers in the accuracy department.
At closer, more common-sense self-defense ranges, the Master Class keeps it classy. It prints tight and tiny groups smaller than your palm at 15 yards. Up close, double taps can land nearly on top of each other with a good, tight grip.
I used a mix of standard Winchester White Box 230 grain FMJs, 180 grain JHPs, and some ancient reloads that used cheap lead projectiles. I got the gun filthy dirty and cursed the cost of .45 ACP, but the only issues I had were with a few of the reloads failing to fire.
It seems more tied to them being reloads than to the gun failing. Outside of those failures to fire, the Vickers Master Class had no reliability issues.
The Fighting M1911
The Vickers Master Class is an excellent shooting handgun. It takes the inherent advantages of the M1911 and emphasizes them even more. It allows you to use the gun’s accuracy, svelte grip, excellent trigger, and grip design.
It takes those points and refines them even more. I’m not a 1911 pro, but I can see why these decisions were made. The Vickers Master Class certainly lives up to its name.
