Wilson CQB

by Geno Benelli

As a firearms instructor I have the good fortune (generally) to test fire hundreds of guns each year for reliability and accuracy.  I try and maintain good notes on particular guns and ammunition that prove to be compatible so that I can pass this information along to my students.  Here is a review of my own personal firearm, a Wilson 1911 CQB:

• It is a 5″ with green/black armor tuff finish.
• Standard length recoil guide.
• @ 4 lb trigger pull, clean, no creep
• Combat Pyramid night sights
• Well executed 30LPI on Frontstrap/30 LPI on flat MSH
• 4300 rounds fired with NO failures to feed or fire
• Ammuntion used includes 2000 rds of factory Winchester, Federal and S & B
• Reloads include 2200 rds of reloads loaded on my Dillon to the following specs (230 grn. FMJ, WW 231 powder, OAL 1.255″, case mouth diameter of .469″, assorted brass)
• 100 rds of Federal Hydra-Shock
• I generally train at 50 feet and less using standard IDPA targets, with interactive timed to turn targets
• Standard groups at 50′ are generally 1-2″ at slow fire
• I change springs every 2000 rounds, clean the gun every 500 rounds and lubricate as needed.

There’s not much more that I can say except the CQB is one of three guns that I own that I would trust my life to on any occasion (the others are my Glock 36 and my S & W 686)

For additional versatility and fun I sometimes slip on the carbine conversion which takes about 5 minutes and is remarkably accurate with a Hakko red dot system.  The CQB is an absolute 10.