The grip safety is a beavertail design with a memory pad at the bottom to ensure that the grip safety is depressed when the need arises. The front strap, flat mainspring housing and the underside of the trigger guard are all checkered to 30 lines per inch, which offers a solid hold without feeling like the points are digging into the skin.

The 30 lines per inch checkering on the grip provided good purchase without bite.

The skeletonized, serrated trigger broke at just under five pounds with a snappy reset. There was a noticeable hitch at the point of sear engagement, but the trigger did improve as the gun was fired.

The slide has a lowered and flared ejection port as well as forward cocking serrations. The extractor on the Taurus 1911 is the classic internal design, which I was pleased to see. While I realize that external extractors on the 1911 are being perfected, I have seen more problems with the external versions than I have with the internal design.

The hammer is a round Commander style that is a bit more compact than the classic version, but I thought it was very functional with a series of serrations on the top. The hammer on my test gun was also the location of the requisite gun lock that many manufacturers now place on their firearms.

SPECIFICATIONS PT1911
MANUFACTURER:	Taurus, 305-642-1111
TYPE:	1911 semiauto
CALIBERS:	.45 ACP
CAPACITY:	8 + 1
BARREL LENGTH:	5 inches
SIGHTS:	Heinie Straight Eight
GRIPS:	black hard rubber
WEIGHT:	38 ounces
PRICE:	$700

The magazine button was a bit extended but still too short for my small hands to reach without a bit of gun flip. I could easily solve this problem, however, by relieving the black, hard rubber grip just to the rear of the button. The grips themselves have a molded checkering with the classic diamond design around the grip screw holes. I thought they were rather classic looking and saw no reason to replace them.

The ambidextrous safety lever is a nice feature and will make a lot of lefties very happy as this addition can cost several hundred dollars depending on who performs the modification.

While the Taurus factory magazines did not have the same weight and feel as, say, a Wilson or McCormick magazine, only a trip to the range would determine their reliability. The magazine well had a slight bevel, but nothing that I thought would be a real aid to rapid reloading. I dug through my parts box and came across an old polymer Rogers magazine funnel that attaches to the bottom of the frame via the bottom grip screw posts.

Most of the controls on the PT1911 are standard fare except for the ambidextrous safety, a feature that's usually found on much more expensive guns.

While some may scoff at this addition, it really helped line up the magazine for a more positive insertion, though the Taurus magazine would no longer fit in the gun due to their wide floor plates. However, a host of other magazines including Wilson, McCormick, Colt, Kimber and even a few old Devel magazines worked just fine.

Of all of the fine features the Taurus PT1911 possessed, my favorite was the Heinie Straight Eight sights that are now standard on all Taurus pistols. An admitted fan of Dick Heinie’s sight design, I find the dot on dot configuration easy to see, and I appreciate the serrated rear sight face that dramatically reduces glare.

Jeff Copper is quoted as saying—and I confess I use this quote a lot—that a defensive pistol needs three things: good sights, good trigger and total reliability. It appeared that the Taurus had the first two, but the third was yet to be determined.