First Impressions
The first thing I noticed about this pistol was the gorgeous finish. It’s a proprietary PVD coating that is supposed to be as tough as it is good-looking. It looks like the coating is on all major internal parts as well. I put the Demolitia through its paces, and after wiping off the carbon, it still looks new.
Starting from the front, the barrel has a flush and reversed crown. Five ports are drilled into either side of the barrel in a “V” formation that re-directs gases to reduce muzzle flip. With 10 ports total, these are known as V10 ports.
Slide to frame fit is good, with a tight barrel lockup. Internals are your standard 1911 action.
More Features
The slide is cut for an optic and uses a plate system. My test Demolitia came with a Trijicon SRO that co-witnesses the iron sights.
There’s a large safety lever on each side of the gun. The grip safety takes very little travel to disengage – a sign of a quality build.
The grip is special. Watchtower partnered with MJD Solutions to produce this unique-looking Kevlar and carbon fiber grip for the Demolitia. It feels great in the hand and has excellent texture all the way around. The grip is capped with a medium-sized magwell.
Lastly, the trigger is crisp and precise, breaking at just under 3 pounds. I had no problems controlling this gun.
Specs
- Caliber: 9mm
- Length: 8.7 inches
- Width: 1.5 inches
- Height (with standard magazine): 6.1 inches
- Barrel Length: 5 inches
- Weight (without magazine): 2.4 pounds
- Magazine Capacity: 17-round and 20-round
- Sights: Fiber-optic (green) front
- Trigger: User adjustable
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Optic Cut/Plate: RMR Cut (included plate)
Testing
The Demolitia is plain fun to shoot. I love the 2011 platform, and this is an excellent example of it. These pistols shoot and feel better than almost anything else on the market. There is a reason why most race guns are built from wide-body 1911s: their shooting performance, especially when taken to this level, is unmatched.
The Demolitia is a tack-driving machine. It is super soft and flat-shooting because of its 2.4-pound weight and ported barrel.
Another reason it is so fast is that it is stable on recovery, with little bobble when the gun returns from recoil. There is almost no bounce, so you can reacquire your target quickly to squeeze off another shot.
Now, to manage expectation a little bit, it’s not a full open-class race gun with a 3-inch compensator on the end of the barrel. Even an island-barreled comp like Demolitia’s sister gun, the PewView Apache, is probably a little flatter shooting. That is really splitting hairs –if you are not a top-rated shooter, you probably won’t notice a difference.
Accuracy was great at 15 yards. The Demolitia ran well with factory, Staccato, and Altas mags.
Pros & Cons
As you would expect from a gun in this price range, the Demolitia is fantastic. It is available in two packages – Core and Elite – both in the $4,000-5,000 range. You get the exact same gun in both packages with four magazines, a hard case, and a soft case, but the Elite package comes with more custom accessories.
Because this gun is so expensive, I’m going to nit-pick. First, I did get a few malfunctions with cheap, reloaded ammunition in the first 100 rounds. Since then, I have had no more issues, but I had to mention it.
Secondly, there is a slight hitch in the slide when you rack it. I felt some drag when it was brand-new. I would bet it goes away in time, but at this price range I want it butter-smooth from the factory.
Next, the mag release is oversized, as is common on competition guns. Usually, I don’t have a problem with these, but on this gun, I found myself accidentally hitting the button and dropping the magazine. I had to intentionally readjust my grip when shooting. This is not a big deal and might be particular to me and my hand shape. Also, changing the mag catch is not difficult.
While the trigger is excellent, it could be lighter. It didn’t hamper my shooting at all, but this does not look like a duty gun. It’s a fun gun, and I would have liked to have seen a lighter trigger. I also noticed that both the front and rear sight came loose during my testing. Again, not a big deal and easy to fix, but a little unexpected at this level.
Finally, the gun is loud. This is expected with porting, but it is something to consider. Whenever you have ports or a comp, presume concussion and noise. I was happy Otto just sent me a set of their new NoizeBarrier Range SA earmuffs. These are tactical-grade hearing protection with excellent attenuation, 360-degree audio, and comm compatibility. I’m not saying you need something like these muffs, but they make range time with ported guns much more enjoyable.
