utm fk

another steel fist | February 2020 G&a 53
the high-polished blued slide features traditional square-cut slide
serrations on the rear only. Jeff Cooper’s signature is inlayed in
gold on the ejection port side.
the left side of the slide features ed Brown’s right-hand-only
extended thumb safety and slide-lock lever. the left slide slab is gold
inlayed “DVC,” a latin abbreviation for “accuracy, power, speed.”
someone who wasn’t left-handed, so it’s no surprise to me that
this pistol continues the tradition of right-hand-only buttons
and levers. However, what’s there is Ed Brown’s extended thumb
safety that is great for pressing down on with your thumb to aid
recoil management. However, there’s no risk in unintentionally
activating the thumb safety on any of Ed Brown’s 1911s; to push
it up and engage the slide requires considerable force. When it’s
time to send the cocked-and-locked hammer forward and engage
targets, deactivating it requires only moderate effort by contrast.
The trigger experience is also incredible. To shoot an Ed Brown
1911 is to remember why we all love the feel of a single-action
trigger. The raceway in the frame is like that of a fine watch as
the trigger bow glides through it to push
against the sear. There is no binding
that causes stuttering. To fire the pistol
required less than 4 pounds of smooth
pressure and there was no hiccup to start,
grit in the middle or overtravel at the end.
Seriously, the trigger felt flawless.
A great trigger like this can bring
out any pistol’s accuracy potential. In a
Ransom Rest, this is a 1-inch gun at 25
yards. At the bench at the same distance, I
managed to fire a several groups that measured
between 1.04 and 1.45 inches. (It
wasn’t as hard as it sounds.) On average, I
could free-hand 1.8-inch groups standing
perpendicular and bladed to the target as
if I were shooting in a bullseye match. I’ve
the cocobolo grips are smooth
and feature Jeff Cooper’s logo, his
initials over a sword and quill pen.
forgotten how rewarding it feels to repeatedly win the struggle to
print small groups. You can’t help but to love a gun that shoots
this accurately.
The acronym “DVC” appears on both the original Ed Brown
1911 and this remake. The letters stand for “diligentia, vis, celeritas,”
Latin for “accuracy, power, speed.” Cooper popularized this
phrase as the goals of learning defensive shooting. Given this
pistol’s extraordinary accuracy, the .45’s power and the speed of
employing a single-action trigger with short reset qualifies this
pistol as a sidearm Cooper would approve of.
Why now? Ed Brown said they wouldn’t make a Jeff Cooper
Commemorative again after September 25, 2008,
so I called and spoke to John May, Ed Brown’s
sales and marketing director, to ask why they
would reintroduce this model.
“Do you know how many shooters I speak to who
have never heard of Col. Cooper?,” May replied.
“Too many. The original pistol was designed to
honor Cooper’s legacy and all that he had done for
our industry. We have so much to be thankful for.
For the next generation to go without his Cooperisms,
reading his writings or learning The Modern
Technique, we would have forfeited his memory.
It’s important for us to keep Cooper’s history and
teachings alive. A portion of the proceeds from this
project will go to the Jeff Cooper Legacy Foundation
to help continue their work in letting the next generation
know what this man meant to all of us.”