Dickinson Arms Adam 1911 Black pistol. (Photo courtesy of Brad Fitzpatrick)
March 06, 2025
By Brad Fitzpatrick
Dedicated handgun shooters may not immediately recognize the Dickinson name, but the brand has been importing elegant Turkish shotguns for some time. I was understandably a bit surprised when I learned that Dickinson’s most noteworthy new product for 2024 was a handgun. Its new Adam series guns are Turkish-made 1911 pistols chambered in both 9mm and .45 ACP.
Adding a 1911 to its lineup is an effective way for Dickinson , which is based in Moorpark, California, to expand its U.S. audience. But there are certain expectations when you build a 1911 handgun. This is, after all, a John Browning original design and a pistol that has served as the sidearm of soldiers in several major American conflicts. If you build a good 1911 you’ll get a tip of the hat from American shooters and will be welcomed into the fold. Screw it up and you’ll never stand on solid footing with many shooters.
The slide, frame and barrel are all forged from steel, and Dickinson has its barrels deep-hole drilled for concentricity. Barrels are button rifled and feature a 1:16 twist.
The new Adam guns come in a variety of colors and styles ranging from mild to wild. The more sedate Black model I tested comes with a blued finish on the barrel, slide and component parts, and these are paired with checkered wood grips with gold medallions. There’s also a Rainbow version with white grips and a multi-color finish that changes color depending upon the angle of the light, and a Fireball model with a case-hardened blued finish.
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1911 Flavor The gold medallions on the walnut grips are engraved with “BS” for Balistik Savunma, the Turkish manufacturer. The texturing on the rear resembles a micro carry gun’s, while the front features more traditional diamond checkering. (Photo courtesy of Brad Fitzpatrick) My 1911 Black sample was chambered in .45 ACP, and it came with a single eight-round magazine. The gun weighed 38.9 ounces on my scale. The rear sight is adjustable and shielded, and it features a basic square notch. The front gold-bead sight is pinned.
A stylized “BS”—for Balistik Savunma, the Istanbul-based company that manufactures these pistols—is engraved on the rear of the slide on both sides and on the gold grip medallions.
Despite its basic color scheme, the Dickinson Adam Black .45 has some interesting touches. This variant is the S, and its front and rear slide serrations have an S shape. The B model has standard serrations while the M features a cross-hatch pattern.
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The wood grips on the S sport a diamond checkering pattern on the front and a micro-texturing look on the rear. There’s no texturing on the frontstrap.
Reliability and Ergonomics The pistol features the standard 1911 control layout, and the thumb safety is ambidextrous. This is the S model, so named for its S-shaped slide serrations. (Photo courtesy of Brad Fitzpatrick) The ambidextrous safety is a nice touch, and the grip safety features a memory bump and extended beavertail. The pistol uses the standard Browning barrel bushing system.
The pistol proved to be reliable and accurate, which are the No. 1 and No. 2 questions that interest most shooters. While slide-to-frame fit is average and the laser etching elements look a bit cheap, it’s hard to argue with zero failures and accuracy in the 2.2- to 2.7-inch range at 25 yards.
The gold bead front sight gives the pistol a classic look. It functions well in most light conditions, but it can be lost when you’re looking toward the sun. (Photo courtesy of Brad Fitzpatrick) The sights are functional but nothing fancy, and it was easy to lose track of the bead front sight in the midmorning sun. That would be one upgrade I would make, along with the grips. They’re fine, but the dual design doesn’t speak to me. Thankfully, there are scads of 1911 aftermarket parts out there, so you can upgrade as you see fit. The guts of this pistol all work fine, which is what you should ask of a 1911 in this price range. There were zero failures to feed or eject, and while you won’t mistake the trigger for something like a Nighthawk or Wilson Combat, it’s serviceable and works fine. Break weight for the 70-series trigger over 10 pulls was 4.6 pounds, and there’s a bit of grit and take-up.
After testing the Adam pistol on the bench I ran some drills with the gun, and it performed well.
Performance and Accessories (Chart provided by the author) The Dickinson comes in a hard plastic case without lock tabs. Three bore brushes, a dual-sided general purpose brush, a cleaning cloth and bushing wrench are included (no more excuses not to clean your gun with this one) as well as a bushing wrench. The base model I tested carries a suggested retail price of $699, which is on par with guns like the Tisas 1911 Duty Enhanced 45 ($709) and the Rock Island Armory Standard FS 2-Tone .45 ACP ($659).
The Adam 1911 Black might go unnoticed—especially if it’s cased next to the company’s attention-grabbing Fireball and Rainbow models—but it’s a fine working gun that makes a great entry-level 1911. For all those who complain that you can’t find a solid 1911 for under a grand, this gun is certainly worth a look. It isn’t particularly fancy, and I would change some of the styling, but it shoots accurately and goes bang when you pull the trigger.
Dickinson Arms Adam 1911 Specs Type: 1911Caliber: 9mm Luger, .45 ACP (tested)Capacity: 8+1; 1 mag suppliedBarrel: 5 in. forged, button rifledOAL/Height/Width: 8.5/5.5/1.5 in.Weight: 38.9 oz. (measured)Construction: blued forged steel slide and frameGrips: checkered walnut w/gold medallionsTrigger: Series 70, 4.5 lb. pull (measured)Sights: drift-adjustable shielded black rear, gold-bead frontMSRP: $699Manufacturer: Balistik Savunma, Istanbul, TurkeyImporter: Dickinson Arms, DickinsonArms.com
