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Drift-adjustable post front sight (top), and fully-adjustable rear sight (center & bottom).

Taylor's compact 9mm (right) compared to S&W Performance Center Round-butt Lightweight Commander 45 (left).

It is getting harder and harder to find many gun companies these days that do not have a 1911 style pistol in their lineup, and for good reason; the 1911 is more popular now than ever. Even with designs available that are lighter and cheaper, the proven 1911 design is the pistol of choice for many who carry and enjoy shooting pistols. Taylor’s & Company has for many years marketed mostly reproductions of nineteenth century firearms, but have now moved into the early twentieth century with their line of 1911 pistols, of which they have several variations.

The newest 1911 in Taylor’s fold is this compact 9mm shown here. The size of the pistol is what is commonly referred to as an “Officer’s Model” pistol. The compact 1911 is made of steel and wood. This gives the pistol a solid feel, and enough weight to make follow-up shots quick and accurate. The excellent set of sights consist of a dovetailed post front and an adjustable rear. The front sight is black, and the rear has a two-dot pattern. The thumb safety is right-hand only, but an ambidextrous safety can be easily fitted, if necessary. The pistol wears an overall black-matte finish, which contrasts nicely with the double-diamond pattern checkered walnut grip panels.

The Taylor’s & Company Compact 1911 has a traditional pre-Series 80 1911 action. Many refer to this as a Series 70 action, but this type of action predated the Series 70. The term “Series 70” was used by Colt in reference to the collet-style barrel bushing introduced with that pistol, and had nothing to do with a firing pin safety, nor the lack thereof. The firing pin safety was introduced by Colt in the Series 80 pistols, but all previous generations of the 1911 had no firing pin safety, and none is needed. The Taylor’s pistol has no such safety. It has a thumb safety, a grip safety, and a disconnector to prevent firing out of battery. That is enough. The main safety is between your ears.

The Taylor’s Compact 1911 uses a cone-style barrel, which eliminates the need for a barrel bushing, as the barrel returns to the same position in the slide every time. The pistol also has a full-length steel guide rod. The trigger pull is a perfect, crisp three and three-quarters pounds on this particular pistol. Just right.

The Taylor’s & Company 1911 pistols are built for them by Armscor in the Philippines. Armscor has a long history of building quality all-steel 1911 style pistols, and the Taylor’s pistols are very well-built. Everything on this Taylor’s pistol is made of steel, with the exception of the checkered walnut grips. Even small parts such as the trigger, sights, and magazine follower are steel. The feed ramp is polished for smooth feeding of cartridges from the magazine.

While on the subject of magazines, I also used two Mec-Gar ten-shot magazines in this Taylor’s pistol. Mec-Gar is likely the largest manufacturer of pistol magazines in the world, and they make many original equipment magazines for makers of pistols in the United States and Europe. These ten-shot magazines fed smoothly, with only one type of ammo hanging up on two occasions. Everything else fed smoothly from the steel Mec-Gar mags. If carrying spare mags, they might as well hold ten cartridges each instead of eight, and Mec-Gar is a good choice.

Specifications are listed in the chart below. Weight is listed in ounces. Trigger pull is listed in pounds of resistance. Linear measurements are listed in inches.

I fired a variety of ammunition over the chronograph to check velocities, with the results listed in the chart below. Velocities are listed in feet-per-second. Bullet weights are listed in grains. JHP is a jacketed hollowpoint bullet. DPX is a hollow nose homogenous copper bullet. FMJ is a full metal jacket roundnose bullet. FMJ-FN is a full metal jacket flat nose Buffalo Bore Penetrator bullet. PB is Pow’RBall, a specialty bullet from Cor-Bon. XP is a specialty homogenous copper bullet from Lehigh Defense. Glaser is a pre-fragmented bullet. Velocities were taken at an elevation of 541 feet above sea level, with an air temperature of sixty-eight degrees Fahrenheit and humidity of eighty-nine percent. Velocities were recorded at twelve feet from the muzzle.

Reliability was excellent with the little Taylor’s pistol. I had one failure-to-feed early on, in the first magazine, but no other problems after that. The pistol fed, fired, and ejected flawlessly after that first magazine. Reliability with the Mec-Gar magazines was also near-perfect, with the exception of two failures to feed with one brand of ammo. . Both the eight-shot Taylor mags and the ten-shot Mec-Gar mags loaded to capacity easily. The magazines also ejected perfectly with the pressing of the mag release, and the slide never failed to lock back on an empty magazine. The little pistol is easy to shoot, and easy to shoot well, due to the all-steel heft, perfect trigger pull, and excellent sights.

The little 1911 carries comfortably in a belt holster, and I used the Galco Yaqui Slide holster to carry the pistol on my hip. The Galco carries it well, and is a trim little holster that will fit any length 1911 pistol.

The Taylor’s & Company 9mm Compact 1911 is an accurate, reliable, and affordable all-steel 1911 pistol that is very comfortable to shoot, even with premium high-pressure ammunition.

Check out the extensive line of quality Taylor’s firearms and accessories at www.taylorsfirearms.com.

To order Crimson Trace Lasergrips for the Taylor’s compact 1911, go to www.crimsontrace.com.

To order quality 9x19mm ammunition, go to www.midsouthshooterssupply.com, www.doubletapammo.com, www.luckygunner.com, and www.buffalobore.com.

You can order the Mec-Gar magazines from www.shop.mec-gar.com.

Check out the extensive line of Galco holsters and mag carriers at www.galcogunleather.com.

Jeff Quinn

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