As I sit here and hammer out this review on
the keyboard, we are nine days away from the one-hundredth
anniversary of the adoption of the Colt 1911 pistol as the
official sidearm of the United States Military. This year,
several makers of 1911 style pistols are making commemorative
models, and the 1911 pistol is more popular today than at any
time in its history. Even with some excellent competing pistol
designs available, the 1911, updated from the original design,
is still the choice of elite fighters that have a choice of
which pistol to carry into harm’s way. While it has been
officially out of US Military service for over two decades, the
1911 continues to serve our military in specialized units. The
1911 style pistol is still the choice of champions who shoot
competitively, because to this day, no superior pistol has been
built that beats the classic Browning design for fast, accurate,
powerful shooting. The 1911 is built on at least three
continents and one island around the world, of which I am aware.
In the US today, we have more manufacturers and importers of the
1911 pistol design than I can track, and more coming all the
time.
Here we are looking at a variation of the
1911A1 design called the Regent R100. The R100 is built in
Turkey, and imported into the US by Umarex. The Turks build some
good guns, and this Regent looks pretty much like a GI 45 ACP
1911A1, with a couple of exceptions.
The Regent has a firing pin safety that is
activated by the trigger. Unless the trigger is held to the
rear, the firing pin cannot contact the primer of the cartridge,
even if dropped. The entire pistol, with the exception of the
grips, is made of steel. The grips are Hogue synthetic rubber.
The exterior of the pistol is finished in a matte black, with
the exception of the stainless steel barrel, which is left in
its natural color. Another welcome feature that is common among
modern 1911 style pistols is that the chamber is throated to
accept hollowpoint ammunition, and the ejection port is lowered
as well to ensure reliable ejection of the empty cartridge
cases. The R100’s slide is CNC machined from bar stock, and
the frame is a machined investment casting. The wide hammer spur
is checkered for a positive grip, and the grip safety is of the
long 1911A1 style. The sights are of military 1911A1 style also,
with the rear drift-adjustable for windage correction. The
overall appearance is very business-like.
Being of all-steel construction, the R100 has
the welcome heft and feel that has become familiar to
generations of shooters. The R100 is built to close tolerances,
with barrel-to-slide and slide-to-frame fit very well done.
Critical dimensions are listed in the chart
below. Weight is listed in ounces. Linear measurements are
listed in inches. Trigger pull is listed as pounds of pressure.
| Chambering |
45 ACP |
| Weight with Empty Magazine |
39.6 oz. |
| Trigger Pull |
5.4 lbs. |
| Barrel Length |
5.02" |
| Barrel Diameter |
0.575" |
| Overall Height |
5.39" |
| Overall Length |
8.62" |
| Slide Thickness |
0.9" |
| Grip Thickness |
1.2" |
| Trigger Reach |
2.67" |
| Magazine Capacity |
7 Rounds |
| Magazines Supplied |
1 |
The Regent R100 was fired for accuracy and
reliability with several brands and types of ammunition.
Reliability was one hundred percent. There were no failures or
stoppages of any kind. Every cartridge fed, fired, and ejected
perfectly. The Regent performed very well with my standard
target handload. This load consists of a Rim Rock 200 grain lead
SWC atop 5.5 grains of Hodgdon Titegroup powder in a new primed
S&W 45 ACP case. This is a moderate load, and a very good
general working load for a 1911 pistol. I have only recently
started using the Rim Rock bullets, but they seem to be of much
higher quality and consistency than the run-of-the-mill gun show
bulk bullets. Accuracy was good, with most ammo grouping in the
two and one-half to three inch range at twenty-five yards from
my Ransom Rest. Accuracy from the
handload with the Rim Rock bullets was excellent, grouping five
shots into one and one-quarter inches at twenty-five yards,
consistently. Velocities were recorded at a distance of ten
feet, at an altitude of 541 feet above sea level, and an air
temperature hovering around forty-three degrees Fahrenheit with
moderate humidity. Velocities are recorded in the chart below,
and are listed in feet-per-second. JHP is a jacketed hollowpoint
bullet. EPR and AF are specialty premium bullets as loaded by Extreme
Shock Ammunition. DPX is a homogenous copper hollowpoint.
FMJ is a full metal jacket bullet. WCC is Winchester military
hardball ammo. PB is Cor-Bon Pow’RBall.
| Ammunition |
Bullet Weight |
Velocity |
| Cor-Bon JHP |
200 |
1071 |
| Cor-Bon JHP |
165 |
1255 |
| Cor-Bon JHP |
230 |
933 |
| Cor-Bon DPX |
185 |
1070 |
| Cor-Bon PB |
165 |
1277 |
| Cor-Bon Glaser |
145 |
1246 |
| Buffalo Bore JHP |
230 |
993 |
| Buffalo Bore FMJ |
230 |
981 |
| Handload LSWC |
200 |
1019 |
| Extreme Shock EPR |
185 |
1171 |
| Extreme Shock AF |
125 |
1445 |
| Stryker FMJ |
230 |
755 |
As stated above, reliability of the R100 was
perfect. The weapon cycled smoothly. The trigger released
crisply, with no feeling of mushiness at all. The trigger pull
weight was about two pounds heavier than I prefer on a 1911 for
use on the target range, but is perfectly serviceable for a
fighting pistol, and the trigger pull is easily lightened by an
experienced gunsmith, if desired.
The Regent R100 is a good, affordable,
well-built 1911 style pistol. It is built of steel, easy to
shoot, and easy to shoot well. Being of 1911 design, there are
hundreds of parts available, if you wish to customize the R100.
For my use, with my old eyes, I need better, larger sights, and
a laser if carried for defense,
but other than that, the R100 is good-to-go right out of the
box. Besides the variety of ammunition put through the R100 for
function and accuracy testing, I ran a lot of Stryker
230 ball ammo through the weapon for fun. The heft of the pistol
handles the ball ammo very well, and the R100 is easy to control
and to get back on target quickly.
After a century of modern, high-tech weapon
design, nothing has come along yet to knock the beloved 1911
from its lofty perch as the top choice of many experienced
pistol shooters, and the regent R100 is a good choice for a
well-built, affordable 1911. At the time of this writing, the
R100 has a suggested retail price under $500 US, which makes it
one of the most affordable 1911 pistols on the market.
Check out the Regent R100 online at www.regentarms.com.
Jeff Quinn
NOTE: All load data posted on this
web site are for educational purposes only. Neither the author nor
GunBlast.com assume any responsibility for the use or misuse of this data.
The data indicated were arrived at using specialized equipment under
conditions not necessarily comparable to those encountered by the
potential user of this data. Always use data from respected loading
manuals and begin working up loads at least 10% below the loads indicated
in the source manual.
