Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns A low buck 1911 that runs and shoots well...

With the recent talk about having to spend a grand on a 1911 to get it functional, I felt compelled to post this. One of my contorted gun trades recently yielded a lightly-used Metro Arms “American Classic II Government Model” 1911. I might have $450 in in including improvements.

I knew nothing of Metro Arms until I stumbled onto this one, but some web surfing indicates they are essentially a best-grade Philippine 1911-A1. I read everything I could find on them and it’s difficult to find a bad review.



The little firing wear present showed the barrel bedding perfectly to the frame, with the bottom of the lower lugs just kissing the slide stop crosspin, which measures 0.1995”. The extractor is a quality part, properly dimensioned and with well executed bevels in the right places. Trigger & thumb safety action are real decent, which also indicate careful fitting. In short, I found lots of positives and very few negatives. The hammer is weird-looking but easily replaced. The grips that came on the Classic II were of the ‘double diamond’ pattern, of some sort of Philippine soft wood with a very poor finish. I since slapped on an old set of checkered Ajax Cocobolos I had laying around. The OEM link measured .283 and I replaced it with a Wilson #3 (.278”) which improved lower lug engagement. It took a little shooting to seat the parts, but accuracy began to improve.

Ultimately I fitted a 0.001" over bushing to the slide by spreading the skirt, just enough for a snug fit but not requiring a bushing wrench for disassembly. 50 yard groups shrank to 3 ½” with almost any 45 ACP ammo. There is no earthly reason for a shallow-rifled barrel to shoot this well- but it does. This is five rounds of Armscor 230 grain FMJ (plated!) on the 4x6 inch head of my dinger target, at 50 yards. Fired from a rest of course.



This 45 Auto has a passable blue finish and about every add-on to a 1911 that renders it non-GI. If you’ve read much of my 1911 stuff you are aware that I don’t like any of that crap on a 1911; but I’ll admit some fondness for this one. That fondness is based on performance. At this writing the American Classic II has flawlessly digested about 1000 rounds of various FMJ, JHP and reloads. It’s hard not to like any 1911 that runs like a Swiss watch and groups five rounds of damn near anything into 1 1/2 to 2 inches, at 25 yards.