Springfield Armory 1911 Ronin Handgun

The full-size/commander-size .45 ACP/9mm/10mm Springfield Armory 1911 RONIN offers plenty to please. For starters, it’s affordable, beautiful and practical.

You’ll enjoy it for target practice or self-defense. Between three calibers (.45 ACP, 9mm and 10mm) and two sizes (full-size and Commander), you have five choices.

All three calibers are available in full-size while Commander frame choices are 9mm and .45 ACP. All five choices field a 1:16 twist ratio match grade forged stainless steel barrel.

The full-size guns use a 5.0” barrel while the Commanders have a 4.25” one. More dimensions follow below.

All five choices are gorgeously two-tone. Each pairs a blued forged carbon steel slide to a forged frame.

The full-size frames are forged stainless-steel while the Commander frames are forged aluminum alloy that then get a satin aluminum Cerakote. The result is eye-popping!

Springfield Armory uses a strong forged slide and a forged frame for amazing quality. In contrast, other companies often cast theirs. Forging adds durability. All five have slides mounted by a red fiber optic front paired to a Tactical Rack white dot rear sights.

Springfield Armory 1911s reproduce classic 1911-A1 models. The 1911-A1s took the original 1911s and added a lowered and beveled ejection port, finger recesses behind the trigger and more.

The full-size dimensions are about what you’d expect around a 5” barrel with a 1:16” twist ratio. Thus, length is 8.6”, height 5.5” and weight is 41 ounces for the 9mm and 40 ounces for the two others.

The Commander framed 9mm and .45 ACP have the same 5.5” height but with the 4.25” barrel comes a shorter slide and a 7.9” overall length. Weight drops as well. So the 9mm is 31 ounces while the .45 ACP is 29.5 ounces.

What you might NOT expect is the difference in materials. The full-size guns use stainless-steel frames while the smaller Commander frames use aluminum alloy. This explains much of the larger than normal 10-ounce difference between the two.

The grips are wood laminate. Each is visually split into two scalene triangles. The bottom triangle has beautifully done diamond hatching. The top is smooth and unadorned.

These grips eschew the famed “double arrow” flat head screw surrounds at top and bottom but still look great. Each grip is punctuated with Springfield’s famous crossed cannon rondel at center. You’ll see the same insignia etched into the slide flanks.

Speaking of slides, the slide has forward leaning grip serrations in both front and back. Behind it, you’ve got a loop hammer, left side only thumb safety at back and below that a grip safety. The curved trigger is skeletonized and has vertical serrations.

Housed under the barrel-vaulted slide is a 5” long match-grade barrel. Yes, even these relatively affordable 1911s utilize match-grade barrels. The mainspring housing is vertically serrated and arched filling your palm nicely and keeping it in place when you do fire it.

The Springfield Armory 1911 RONIN is Made in USA at the company’s Geneseo, Illinois location.