Tisas Carry 9mm

[Rob72]

jar_ has an excellent post outlining his experience with Tisas 1911s. It has been roughly two decades since I've owned or worked on one, and I had a hankerin'...

I'm a confirmed 9mm shooter. I've tried other calibers, but handling & firing never lit a fire in me. I owned one of the early Springfield Champions, one of the early Kimbers, worked them both up, but ended selling them. Eventually, I discovered STI's BLS (discontinued), a single stack, ultra slim 9mm. In that case, a "match" chamber meant having to have them reamed to function. A great little gun, but the 1911 mentality of over-tight tolerances and "break in" killed the romance. Add to that the overall requirement for specialized tools for 1911s in general, comparative fragility and cost of replacement parts, and I quit chasing the hare, so to speak.

Enter the Tisas, with it's darling reviews by real users, 1911 aficionados, and the general gun-press.

 

[Rob72]

This is definitely not the OEM 9mm Tisas Carry, but we'll start there. Fit & finish, for a production gun are excellent. That's really all that needs to be said, it checks every 1911 box: tight lock up, reliable feeding due partially to excellent MecGar 10 round mags included, respectable white 3-dot steel sights in Novak profile, well fit beavertail, positive ambi Swenson-style safety, and a nicely chamfered frame mag well, all covered in matte black CeraKote.

My nit-picks:
My ignition set was CeraKoted as well, which made it a bit soft & sluggish to start with, not horrible, but could have been better.

Swenson safety- actually, this was among the best I've ever felt, no mush, no slop, but...its Swenson design, meaning that fragile little square DT is going to pop loose one of these days. Unfortunately, to mitigate the stress on the safety, Tisas seems to be using very weak safety springs. OEM, things work well, due to a sharp shelf on the left safety lever, but switch it out, and it isn't usable.

Nit picks aside, pulling it out of the box & disassembling it, I thought I might have come across that glittery, sparkeley rainbow unicorn - the Optimal 1911 Base Gun.

 

[Rob72]

I'm not saying much more about the stock piece because I have no complaints. Zero, nada. Perfect barrel lugs, smooth & crisp Para-cut lower lug accommodating the full 9mm ramp, slide to frame snug, not tight & no rattles anywhere. 250 flawless rounds on the initial outing.

Now about those add-ons...

First & foremost, better sights. I like TruGlo TFOs, and they fit the DTs with some stock removal from the bottom.

Wilson extended slide release. Stainless, because its a high-wear part, and the length & width are right for me.

Wilson FLGR, because they keep things nicely on track, not that there was any slide-frame inadequacy to account for here.

Specter Match threaded barrel. I've read good things about Specter parts, but had never tried any. This barrel took a touch of fitting on the hood, and is a flared-taper profile, meaning you generally don't have to worry about re-reaming your bushing to allow cycling. 416 stainless, Para lug that perfectly matched the frame. Upper lugs took a hair of chamfering for smooth motion. Lock-up was like the proverbial bank vault, it sounded like the door on the old 1920s safe in the machine shop where my father worked when I was a kid. A great part that also tells you the manufacturing specs are dead on.

I like and have tried all the micro comps I'm currently aware of, HB Industries being my preference until now. Any comp should offer a flat wall against which gas will impact and vent. Strike Industries released their micro not long ago. They are a bit if hit-and-miss, being geared towards airsoft initially, the stepping up to "real gun" accessories, some of those being more keyboard commando than others. They have had a few home runs, and the Circle Comp is one. 3 port, so it offers some shielding for your WML, if you have one, nice, scalloped, vents that pull forward a bit more than downward, so no real impact on unlocking. Nitrided steel, best of all

 

[Rob72]

I switched out the bushing too. Not a "have to", but I'd read about Ingenious Gun Works spring loaded bushing & wanted to check it out.

Advantages- with a tight lock up, the spring will absorb some of the locking impact, while still forcing the barrel to fully engage. No more hammering the steel cylinder of the bushing, which has caused more than a few cracks over the years. I asked the owner about purchasing a few extra springs (because new and innovative is not always in lifetime production) and they sent me a couple, no charge.

I mentioned the safety. In the pic I posted in jar_'s thread, I had installed a Wilson single-side safety, one of my favorites. Buuuut... I had read about this new keyed & pinned Novak ambi that was supposed to be the schizzit, and cleared the index knuckle for most rightey shooters.

Ohmigosh! After trimming the paddles back a bit, doing a 300 grit polish, then final fitting, this makes Wilson's MIMs look like cast trash. CRISP on and off, very positive off engagement, same feel on right & left paddles. This is da bomb!

 

[Rob72]

The hammer may look a bit odd, and that's because its the Cammer Hammer. I read about this ~6 years ago, but had no platform on which to try it. Anyone who's gleefully run down the 10/22 rabbit hole knows about Kidd Design (and several others) putting an aggressive chamfer on the back of the 10/22 bolt to provide more reliable function with the not infrequent lower power .22lr shells you may encounter, or with Quiets or CBs.

Basically, changing the bolt (or in this case, slide) and hammer interface, you allow for "dispersion of the pressure gradient." The Cammer Hammer's scallop, where the firing pin retaining plate hits it during cycling spreads out the force required for cycling. Think of it like pulling a fridge on a dolly over a door sill. If the sill is square, you have to exert substantial force all at once to get over. Adding even a small ramp decreases the amount if force you have to provide. And, you can get the hammer with a mated EGW sear, so...

Last but not least, Stan Chen Shooter Installed magwell. Yeah, buddy, if you want a magwell, this is it. The only blending was knocking the ears back about 1/32", so that they weren't sharp at the front of the well. The well chamfer is less than that, overlapping the frame well. Unless you're brutally OCD, this is about as plug-n-play as it can get.

You do want to use standard width grips to be flush with the Chen magwell. Normally, I prefer thins, but I'm willing to go with it, rather than grinding & blending around for full-on custom. The Nighthawk Falcon well blends better with thin grips, but really requires blending to the comparatively wide frame chamfer.

All in all, this was loads if fun! It took fitting, but in all the right places, again, letting me know that this pistol is well on the conservative side of spec.

 

[OkieStubble]

Great looking gun and great write up Rob!

 

[Rob72]

Thank you, sir!

I meant to add some links to this:

Ingenious Gun Works bushing

Stan Chen recommends VZ Grips with his magwell, and they have the best price Chen SI magwell
Brownells has the Novak ambi safety

My grips are not VZ, but klonimus, on ebay, among a few other places. Not quite as accurate in fit as VZ (I had to lower the plunger tube notch on mine, for fit) but generally 1/2 to 1/3 the cost.

You have to create an account to view products, but dvor ( Dvor.com ) has the best price on the SI Circle Comp.

Specter Supply 1911 barrels. There are a couple of other makers whose products, from the rest, may be more accurate, but unless you're in the top 1/3 of the top 1%, it is highly unlikely you'll appreciate more inherent accuracy in a pistol barrel. Specter is $50 to $200 less than those offerings.

 

[jar_]

Glad it worked out for you.

On my end the Prodigal Child returned. My brother-in-law got to try my S&W Shield 2.0 45acp and after awhile noticed it was half the weight of the "Carry".

He said I could have my "Carry" back.

 

[Rob72]

Yeah, 1911 carry is about art & nostalgia as much as anything.

 

[OkieStubble]

Yeah, 1911 carry is about art & nostalgia as much as anything.

Facts.

 

[Ad Astra]

Some say Tisas is making the forged billets for Springfield Armory's SA-35 ... (and some say the forgings are made in Italy).


AA

 

[jar_]

Another fifty rounds through each of the Prodigal child and my new "Duty" (full size government) with once again, zero failure to feed, zero failure to go fully into battery, zero failure to fire and zero failure to eject.

In other news...

Tisas has set up US based warranty and service.

Tisas has extended the limited lifetime warranty to cover the older models as well as the current crop.

Tisas has resurrected the great Beretta .380 model 80s. (but I'm happy with my 7.65 version)

 

[OkieStubble]

Another fifty rounds through each of the Prodigal child and my new "Duty" (full size government) with once again, zero failure to feed, zero failure to go fully into battery, zero failure to fire and zero failure to eject.

In other news...

Tisas has set up US based warranty and service.

Tisas has extended the limited lifetime warranty to cover the older models as well as the current crop.

Tisas has resurrected the great Beretta .380 model 80s. (but I'm happy with my 7.65 version)

Beretta just came out with a new and improved series 80 at shot show.