Mag-na-port Putting Bling Back Into Blasting!
A Customized SA 1911
Mag-na-port/Springfield Armory
Range Officer Gear List:
Ammo: Federal Punch 230-grain JHP,
Federal Syntech 220-grain JST,
Holster: Mitch Rosen 5JR,
Pouch: Mitch Rosen 5DM,
Gun Vault: Streamlight Speedlocker,
Flashlight: Streamlight Wedge XT,
Steel Targets: Bluegrass Targets
I know, I know … you either love it — or not. But keeping mind, as His Editorship Brent says at times, “Gun is only one letter away from Fun.” And he’s right.
Lest we all fuddy-duddy ourselves into a state of harrumphing grumpiness, let’s keep in mind — sometimes, just sometimes, it’s okay to merely have fun. Yes, even when it comes to some guns. Maybe especially when it comes to guns?
To illustrate the need for this concept, let me share an honest letter we received here at GUNS:
“Dear Editor, please discontinue the use of color photos in your magazines as they distract from the information contained herein. Guns are serious tools and deserve the respect a more serious tone such as black and white photos would offer. I look forward to the future, where such nonsense is discontinued.”
No, really, someone really wrote that. We were tempted to send him one of our “It Sucks To Be You” shirts, but we were out of them at the time.
So, in celebration of all things gunny — and fun — we present this arguably over-the-top Springfield Armory Range Officer Target Model, as boldly envisioned by none other than Ken Kelly of Mag-na-port. Ken is known for his kindness and good humor — but he takes his gun work (fun?) seriously.
“Do you really think it’s over the top?” he asked me on the phone. “I mean … um, I think it looks good, really eye-catching even, but do you think people will like it or will they just not get it?”
I assured him people would indeed like it. Since I received it, every single person I’ve shown it to stops talking and simply stares at it. Then they look at me, back at the gun, at me, then back at the gun. Then they usually say something like:
“Oh. My god. Oh, my god … I love this. It’s so, um, uh … excessive! I want one. How do I get one?”
Getting One
First off, no, you can’t get one like this unless you already own a Range Officer Target, as Springfield has discontinued them. They have plenty of other models you can get, though, and you can have your way with them. The Range Officer series was always a favorite of mine and for some good reasons. For a sub-$1,000 price, they offered custom features usually only found on, well, custom guns. They have match-grade 5″ barrels, fully adjustable rear sights to take advantage of their amazing accuracy, skeletonized hammer, a forged steel frame and slide, a classic GI style recoil system (the best, if you ask me) and the fit, feel and function Springfield has always been famous for. They can all shoot sub-2″ groups at 25 yards with monotonous regularity, and they always make you feel like you shoot better than you actually do.
Our sample began life modestly as a stainless Range Officer — until Ken Kelly got ahold of it.
“Go for it,” I heard myself saying to him. Ken loves high polish, colorful Cerakote and jeweling. Trust me, the jeweling grows on you, and now I’m at the point unless a gun has at least a jeweled hammer and trigger it looks sadly ignored. I once jeweled the hammer and trigger of my police issue duty S&W revolver. Once, when qualifying with it, the range guy said, “What the heck did you do to that gun?”
“Gosh,” I said, “nothing, what’s wrong?”
“That crazy stuff on the sides of the hammer. Did you do that?”
“Oh, no sir, I got it like that. Must be something they offer at S&W?”
I’m not sure he bought it but I did notice later he was sporting some jeweling on his own duty gun. I told you it’s contagious. True story.
Stock Springfield cocobolo Crossed-Cannon grips mate with
a new bronze Cerakote finish on the Range Officer frame.
The change famously sets off the abundant jeweling.
The Custom Touches
“I think the base gun is excellent so we didn’t touch a thing in the action or fit,” Ken told me. “Why change things if you don’t need to? I mean, Springfield knows what the heck they’re doing so I like to just build on that.” I couldn’t agree more when it comes to SA guns in general and their entire line of 1911s in particular. My original gun showcased a 4.5-lb. trigger, breaking cleanly, those bold, adjustable sights and stable-in-the-hand 40-oz. all-steel weight. Insert a mag, run the slide, snick the safety on and feel safer immediately.
So this gun got a laser focus on cosmetics by Ken and his team at Mag-na-port. An agreeable de-burr of any sharp edges was followed up with some careful base polishing and prep for the Cerakote. The coating of the gripframe was done by the talented artist Jeff Breidenbach of Crazy Moon Cerakote. While the frame was out getting treated, Ken went to work.
The slide got some EDM lightening cuts and one set of Mag-na-port’s justly famous recoil-reducing ports. With a 1911, the barrel gets ports cut lining up with vents in the slide. The system works great and especially when using hotter ammo, very definitely contributes to less muzzle flip. Some shooters feel it also can reduce felt recoil to some degree. The ports do tend to make follow-up shots faster and smoother.
Ken is famous for his polishing skills and bits and pieces of the Springer got the attention they deserved. Look closely and you’ll see parts of the slide release, hammer, muzzle crown and safety are mirror-finished. For the final, core touch, Ken allowed his over-the-top thinking out of the safety box, applying careful engine turning (jeweling to we mere mortals) to the slide sides, safety, slide release, hammer and trigger sides and even the magazine base plate.
When the grip frame returned from Crazy Moon done up in a beautifully applied Midnight Bronze, Ken mated all the bits and lo and behold, once again, the sum of the parts made “Quite a statement” as Ken said.
The project gun got Mag-na-port’s famous porting.
On a 1911, the system consists of barrel openings lined
up with vents in the slide and very definitely reduce muzzle flip.
Less is more? The Mag-na-port barrel openings line up with one set of slide cuts, but the others contribute to “ABC” — Always Be Cool!
Some Shots
Did we shoot it? You bet, and invited a couple of friends to help out. They kept grinning, which is what shooting with a few friends should be about, shouldn’t it? We mostly shot Black Hills 230 FMJ, the classic “Hardball” round, and I’ve found it to always be consistently accurate, showcasing just what a 1911 can do to a target. Before going off to Ken and his kingdom, I could get 1.75″ to 2.5″ groups depending on the load. After Mag-na-port’s ministrations, oddly enough the groups remained the same — except they were delivered with a panache the stock gun simply couldn’t have lived up to.
Cue The Grins
With the slide glinting in the sunlight, we hammered away at my 80-yard torso gong, ringing it constantly and were even able to connect on my 12″ swinging plate at 100 pretty regularly. Watch the trigger press and you can do it too, as long as the gun is up to the task — Springfield 1911s always are.
The Winner Is?
Well, you of course. It’s truthfully a good idea to splurge at least once and end up with a fun-gun that breaks the conventional mold for you. When conversation stops at the range when your pistol case is opened, you know you’ve accomplished the objective.
“Hey, what’s that?”
Then you can tell them all about it. But watch out, there will indeed be copycats soon. If they take the dare, that is.
