WE-Tech Springfield 1911A1 "Pearl" Full Review

WE-Tech Springfield 1911A1 "Pearl" Full Review

Postby Rooke » Tue Mar 25, 2008 8:51 am

God damn it. My camera ran of out batteries - could only get a few of the pictures needed. Getting batteries tonight - so don't worry.

This review is split up into two man sections - the real steel info and the airsoft info. To learn specifically about the airsoft gun, you might wanna skip ahead to the second section. To learn how to fully operate the pistol and it's history, you may read the both sections.

THE REAL DEAL: The 1911/1911A1 Pistol.

Ahh, the 1911 - timeless perfection that has proven itself over and over again to be one of the best pistols of it's class. Packing a standard of 7 .45ACP, this heavy-hitter has been cherished by both the military and police as the ultimate "man-stopper." With such a highly praised pistol, you'd think it's background would be common knowledge amongst all gun owners, right? Wrong - in fact, the 1911 has had several mistaken identities over the years, possibly due to the fact that the 1911 is NOT limited to one manufacturer.

One of the biggest misconceptions is that the 1911 was invented by Samuel Colt, who is hailed as the father of the "Colt .45." Though this is true, it's also false. Yes, though Samuel Colt's name is famously linked with the "Colt .45," it's not the 1911, but rather the Colt SAA or "Peacemaker." This 5 shot revolver of .45 caliber was hailed as the best pistol of it's generation, and being best produced by Colt, it simply because unanimously known as the Colt .45, a term which would later be passed down to the 1911.

Fast forward a few decades and we're sitting down with John Moses Browning - a man with a problem. An inventor and gun smith, Browning has been producing several auto-loading pistols and finding them rather unsuccessful. But Browning caught a break: the military was looking for a new pistol, and Browning felt he had the just the thing the GIs needed. Enter our old friend, the 1911. The military loved this oh-so-simple pistol, and began purchasing them engross directly from Colt, who has worked very closely with the Military since the days of the Peacemaker. Once again, the Colt .45 surfaces.

With our history lesson out of the way, it's time to get to the real meat and potatoes - the pistol itself. To get technical about it, the 1911 is an SAO (single action only) automatic pistol which uses the Browning "Swinging Link" system for delayed blowback. This system utilizes several locking logs on top of the barrel which locks up with the corresponding groves cut into the slide. When the round is fired, the pressure keeps these lugs locked with the slide, preventing movement until the round has left the chamber. Once the gas can escape, the slide begins to cycle as the lugs leave the slide. Moving together, the barrel finally drops and the slide is forced against spring pressure to the end of it's track - extracting the spent casing and picking up a fresh round on it's cycle back. Real simple, right? This design has proven extremely effective and has been copied by many, many other designs, being regarded as the "tried and true" method for delayed blowback.

Utilizing only four main controls (not including the trigger) and one "secondary safety", the 1911 is a very easy pistol to use. These controls consist of the:

Slide Catch or Lock, which allows one to lock the slide in the rearward position for inspection and also catches the slide upon firing the last round to a.) notify the shooter of an empty magazine and b.) allowing for speedy reloads...
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Manual Safety which allows one to have the weapon cocked and yet unable to fire until the safety is deactivated (this control is southpaw friendly as it's on both sides),
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Magazine Release which holds and release the single stack magazine with the press of a button,
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Hammer which can be manually operated to either a half-cock or fully cocked position,
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and finally our "Secondary Safety," a great little feature that locks the weapon in the safe position unless the shooter is properly gripping the firearm.
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Just like its system of operation, we can see the 1911's controls are VERY easy to use, and even though only the manual safety is the only ampidexterous control, everything seems "southpaw friendly," allow lefties to operate the pistol just as easily as the right-handed users.

Disassembly of the pistol tends to vary between models, but generally shares the same basic motions. It starts by:

Removing the magazine and locking the slide to rearward position to ensure the weapon is completely unloaded,
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then releasing the slide by operating the slide lock, and depressing the trigger to release the hammer forward.
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Now, here's where things differ. If your pistol is built true to the original design, it features no guide-rod and must have it's retention spring removed. If your pistol features a guide rod, skip ahead to the next paragraph. To disassemble an authentic 1911, start by first depressing the plug under the barrel and rotating the brushing. This will now allow you to remove both the retention spring, brushing and plug.

Now, move the slide rearwards until the slide catch's notch is alligned with the small, round cut-out,
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and begin pushing the rounded end of the slide catch inwards.
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You can now remove the slide catch and remove the slide off of the receiver by moving it forwards along the rail. If your pistol is an authentic design, you can now just simply remove the barrel by pushing it forwards. If your pistol features a guide rod, as in the case of this WE-Tech 1911...

THE REPLICA: WE-Tech Springfield 1911A1 "Pearl."

Start by taking your thumbnail and placing it in the notch above the rim of the barrel brushing,

and slide it down to the rear of the guide rod,
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which you will then grip like a syringe and remove together as one, unified piece.
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You can now slide the barrel forward and out of the slide.

Aside from it's cosmetic additions and guide-rod, the WE-Tech 1911A1 "Pearl" is pretty damn close to the real deal, and should be VERY easy for any 1911A1 user to operate. Featuring a full metal construction (built from aluminum in the newer pistols), the pistol feels rather meaty and, dare I say, "trustworthy." Because 1911s vary GREATLY in design, materls and consruction methods, I can't directly compare this pistol to another, but I CAN say is it's weight is right in the ballpark with a SIG Sauer P226 Navy - a sign that it feels like the real deal for a reason.

Its true-to-life SAO operation gives a VERY sweet and crisp trigger pull that gives this former DA/SA user a very new opinion on airsoft guns. Having delt with "trigger click" on almost every DA/SA replica I've used, I feel SAO is the best choice for those of us who wish to eliminate creep and gain the best response from our pistols as possible. Said trigger features cutouts for weight and cosmetic purposes.
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The hammer is somewhat skeletalized (not exactly like the Springfield style) and spurred for traction, though the rather large beaver-tail wrist guard and large rear sighs makes manually cocking the hammer a bit of a cumbersome experience. The weapon is true-to-life and features both a half-cock,
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and fully cocked position.
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The rear sight is defiantly of Springfield's Match 1911 decent, and is actually quite enjoyable to adjust. I was pleasantly surprised when adjusting the elevation and finding that it "clicks" into place, rather than just simply becoming a free-sliding hunk of metal that you have to tack into place by applying heavy screw force. This sight is quite easy to use, but I think I would've liked it even better if it featured dots or a contrast method instead of leaving the only dot to the front sight.
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On either side of the front sight are cutouts, presumably used for muzzle flash. These cuts go from the slide down into the barrel, but it's dubious whether or not such a design could be helpful to the shooter, as it would send the flash right into the line of sight.
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The last cosmetic change in this pistol focuses in on the trigger guard, which is of a square design instead of the standard circular angle. Personally, I prefer this new angle and think it gives the gun a better overall look, though I can see some old-school elitists disapproving of this change.
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The standard magazine is ho-hum. Just your standard single-stack mag. It features a neat little cut-out at the bottom of the return plate for easy insertion of 6mm, but otherwise it's really nothing special. Please note these magazines need to be "worked in." Fill 'em up and empty them about 3 times to secure the valves and keep them from leaking then they're a-okay for use. Just don't be caught off guard when you first charge a brand-new magazine and find it hissing - she needs some tough loving first.

The finish of this pistol is very even and of a good shade, but in surfaces it seems to have some scratch issues. Already the finish has little specs missing on the spring housing and magazine release - but this is to be expected with just about ANY metal-based pistol with a paintjob. Please note that even though you'd think little marks of wear on a pistol's finish would be a bad thing, it actually gives the 1911 character, and really brings out it's true nature - a rough and tough tool for a VERY specific job. It's just like the AK-47, really.

One thing I was VERY happy about was that this pistol came with a removable orange tip that plugs into the rifling of the barrel. This is an EXCELLENT little detail and allows for one to avoid -any- controversies when storing the pistol or using it off the playfield, yet look professional and ready for action when meeting up with your team. I REALLY wish more companies would pick up on this little detail. Please note that when that plug is inserted, it ain't movin' unless you grab yourself a pair of pliers.
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Okay, enough cosmetics. When first using this pistol, I had one heavy realization: the factory lube job SUCKS a$$. The pistol felt stiff and I was scared that I might've made a bad investment. I fired just long enough to break the magazines in and get the parts "warmed up," then sat down to apply my own lube.

After wiping every part clean of the shitty factory lube, I used"Gun Oil" 100% silicon oil purchased from Airsoft Atlanta and applied it generously on every moving part, including the slide rails. I then applied some to the valve of the magazines and made sure my Madbull Propane adapter had a few drops in it to deposit inside of the magazine. Putting the pistol back together and racking up 7 rounds in the mag, I felt a HUGE improvement in the gun's operation. Amazing how just a little lube can go a long way.

After adjusting the sights, I found accuracy on this gun to be rather standard; nothing special, but exactly what you'd expect and what you'd need - at 15 feet with .2g, she pulls in about 1 to 1.5 inch grouping. Please note that though I might seem ho-hum about this result, it's actually a VERY nice grouping. I just expected a pistol with a longer barrel than my SIG to pull even tighter groupings. Please note, you MUST zero your rear sight to get proper groupings. The sight was DESIGNED to be manually zeroed for best performance, so it'd be a waste-o-cash to not take advantage of this feature.

Power-wise, the pistol pulls up a good amount of punch for a sub $100 pistol. On average, she maintained 250fps with .2g rounds and standard propane+silicone oil. This is -plenty- power for a pistol, and combine with it's good over-all accuracy, should allow one to engage targets a good ways off.
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In all, this pistol, though it has it's flaws (which are outlined below), is really something worthwhile to look at. For just under $100, you get a full metal pistol (produced from better material than your standard KJW) that's a great performer and wont give you a whole lot of trouble for it. Maintenance of this pistol is pretty nominal... Keep it lubed up and remember to "break in" all new magazines. In the end, I'd recommend this pistol to anybody who's short on cash or just wants something simple and reliable to pick up, but would dually note that you MUST a.) break in the magazines and b.) DO YOUR OWN DAMN LUBE JOB! Please remember that the factory lube SUCKS BIG FAT COCK. I honestly can't believe WE-Tech would ship guns with such a shitty lube job.

PROS -

1.) Very responsive controls, no "wiggle" bits (except for the southpaw's manual safety which has slight movements).

2.) True to the 1911 design except for cosmetic additions (guide rod). Even features the swinging-link system.

3.) SAO produces a wonderfully smooth trigger pull that's just candy to the hand.

4.) Even though the safety is the only ampi control, it seems very easy to operate as a southpaw - as compared to a SIG, it kicks a$$ for lefties.

5.) Good power and good accuracy makes for easy engagements.

6.) It sounds just divine when operated, and cosmetically it's pleasing to look at - the pearl grips really give it its own identity.

7.) The removable orange tip is probably the best 50cents a company has ever spent.

8.) Price! Just under $100, folks.

CONS -

1.) Although the grips look killer, they're not exactly the most comfortable I've ever used.

2.) The finish chips away at areas with rough surfaces.

3.) Guiding the slide forward runs into a lot of lockups, but in defense of the ACTUAL 1911 design, you're NEVER supposed to do this.

4.) Slide catch only really seems to manually work when actually firing the gun... If the you manually pull the slide back with an empty magazine, it wont lock all the time. Yet, it has preformed flawless when firing off the last round. Strange...

5.) Hammer is somewhat cumbersome to manually cock thanks to the big-ass beaver tail wrist guard and large rear sight.

6.) Rear sight has no markings or contrast methods used, though front sight has a dot.

7.) Trigger can be forced to wiggle up and down slightly, but it has no effect on the actual operation of the weapon (I'm really pushin' it here).

8.) Magazines seem dubious... Though rumor has it that TM mags work.

FINAL WORDS - Low on cash but want something reliable, full metal and NOT a total piece of shit? Consider this. Also, balls.
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Postby Rooke » Wed Mar 26, 2008 10:40 am

Bump for completed review and all pictures finally added :D Phew.
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Postby Alex » Thu Mar 27, 2008 12:01 am

thats a mighty nice pistol you got there rooke. i'm really diggin' the grips.
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