Range Report - Citadel 1911A1-45CS

I got this compact 1911 pattern .45 ACP pistol for the 100th anniversary of the Army's adoption of the design.  And because I can, now that I don't live in Massachusetts.  But a new gun that's never been fired makes Baby Vulcan cry, and so it was off to the range.

This is an interesting gun, in a good way.  It's very small for a 1911, which was the primary reason I bought it.  The barrel is only 3½" long.  With the typical 1911 thinness, it seemed a good choice for concealed carry.  The .45ACP hollow point cartridges give a lot of peace of mind - even if something goes wrong and the bullet doesn't expand, there's still plenty of splat at the naughty end.

Citadel is one of the brands of Armscor, which also owns Rock Island Armory, High Standard, and STI Spartan.  Like the RIA 1911s, my Citadel was manufactured in the Philippines.  The quality seems very good, which was a major factor in my purchase decision.  Despite its small size, this is a heavy pistol (2.2 lbs unloaded).  The frame is steel, as you can see in this picture.  The Mrs.' SIG is on the left (disassembled frame/barrel and slide are SIG, the rest is the disassembled Citadel).

You can see that it's not much bigger than her SIG P230.  Because it's compact, it doesn't (can't?) use a barrel bushing.  To disassemble, you lock the slide back, and then insert a paper clip into a hole in the full-length guide rod.  In the picture above, you can see a blue paper clip holding the spring back.  Then you can let the slide forward until it hits the paper clip, at which point you can remove the slide lock and the slide itself.  It's a lot simpler than it sounds, but I must confess that I had to poke around Youtube for a bit to find a video that showed how to do it.

A note to new shooters: Youtube has a huge number of really good videos for things like gun disassembly/reassembly.

It shoots great - hey, it's a 1911, right?  Long time readers know that my marksmanship is modest at best, but here's my first shot (target at 24 feet).  There's a reason that so many people use 1911 pattern pistols in competitions.  Yes, they're heavy, but they shoot straight and the weight helps control recoil well. 

This one is short, and so has a very slightly "snappy" recoil.  The usual 1911 recoil is almost pleasant - more of a push back into your hand than an upwards rotation.  This has more muzzle rise than you'd get with a full size 1911, but I found it very controllable.  I had tried a Smith & Wesson M&P in .45 ACP, and found it decidedly "snappy" and unpleasant to shoot.  This is nothing like that; it's very quick to get back on target, because it doesn't go very much off target.

The sights are decent, for a low/mid end production gun.  I expect that I'll ultimately upgrade to something like tritium sights eventually, but out of the box these are perfectly serviceable.

The trigger is surprisingly good.  The manual claims a 1.8 kg pull (I haven't been able to test this), but it seems a combination of not-too-heavy/not-too-light.  This is admittedly subjective, but the Range Safety Officer remarked on how good the trigger was, so it's not just me.  There's very little movement required: maybe an eighth of an inch pull.  I quite like this feel, as opposed to a military style trigger like on the Beretta 92. The Beretta trigger feels "spongy" to me, with a lot of "take up" before the trigger is ready to break.  Unlike this, the Citadel's trigger is crisp.  I'm quite happy with it as-is; unlike the sights, I doubt that I'd feel the need for a trigger job down the line.

One thing that has been odd is that the slide doesn't quite return to battery sometimes, stopping perhaps an eighth of an inch before a full reset.  #2 Son and I put 15 magazines through it yesterday, and we experienced this 5 times.  I suspect that this may disappear after running 400 or 500 rounds through it, cleaning and lubricating it after each range trip.  If not, then it'll be back to the gun store for them to figure it out.  I've been using Remington Rem Oil to lubricate the slide; if anyone has any suggestions for something better, please leave a comment.


So far, I'm happy with it.  Assuming that I get the slide issue figured out, I'll be really happy with it.  The quality seems very good for the price ($550), and the size and heft were what I was looking for in a CCW pistol.

Oh, and the standard disclaimer:

I'm not any kind of gun or shooting expert. I like shooting, and shoot a fair number of different guns, but I'm really a dilettante. Your mileage may vary, void where prohibited.

I don't do scientific, repeatable tests. There's no checklist, although that's not a bad idea. I write about what I like and don't like, but it's pretty much stream of consciousness. Opinion, we got opinion here. Step right up.

I'm not a shooting teacher, although I do like to introduce people to shooting. Maybe some day I'll take the NRA teaching class, but until then, you get a dilettante's view. You'll get opinion here, but if you get serious about shooting, you'll want to get someone who knows what he's doing to give you some pointers. It can help.

And oh yeah, shooting things is fun.