Springfield Operator 9mm Government 1911 Handgun

The Springfield Armory Operator Government 1911 handgun, now in 9mm, boasts plenty of duty-grade features.

January 31, 2024 By J. Scott Rupp

Is it possible to own too many 1911s? The answer is, of course, no. One of the latest to consider is Springfield’s Operator, a model that recently added the 9mm chambering in addition to .45 ACP. It’s a Government 1911 with a five-inch, fully ramped, forged stainless steel barrel. It has the traditional barrel bushing and short guide rod.

Springfield uses the Operator name to denote its 1911s incorporating an accessory rail, but that’s only the start of its duty-grade features. Springfield prides itself on its forged steel slides and frames. This production method creates components that are denser and stronger, and they’re easier for the company to machine to precise specifications. The bottom line is you get a durable slide and frame that will last for tens of thousands of rounds.

They’re finished in black Cerakote. I see a lot of Cerakoted guns in a lot of colors, and while we’re talking Henry Ford black here, it strikes me as really handsome—not shiny, not dull, just right.

The slide has serrations on the front and back. They’re flat-bottomed and fairly shallow, but they’re well cut to provide a good grip for press checks and racking. The muzzle end features a ball end cut, a look I prefer. “Springfield Armory” and the cross-cannon logo are engraved on the right, below the flared ejection port, and “Operator” is on the left. The frame’s accessory rail is two inches long and has three notches.

A gun intended for defense needs serious sights, and the Operator has them. The rear is the company’s Tactical Rack design, which allows you to use the sight to rack the slide against a hard, flat surface like a table or catch it on your gun belt and rack it that way in an emergency. It is drift adjustable and sports a serrated face to defeat glare and white dots on either side of the 0.13-inch notch. It matches up with a front sight that’s 0.14 inches wide and set in a dovetail. It features a tritium lamp surrounded by a white circle, and it shows up well in any light condition.

The grips are from VZ Grips, that company’s Alien model. They’re made of G10 and have a series of horizontal ridges and vertical “gulleys” that provide excellent traction. As a bonus, their olive green color looks fantastic against the black Cerakote. Yes, it’s a defensive, duty-type gun, but there’s no reason it can’t look good, too.

The pistol’s flat mainspring housing is textured with a series of horizontally oriented polygonal shapes that provide good traction. The frontstrap is smooth.

Springfield Operator 9mm Gov't 1911 accessory rail and slide serrations — Because it’s an Operator model, it incorporates an accessory rail. The slide sports front and rear slide serrations and a ball-end cut.

Controls are what you’d expect on a modern 1911. The grip safety incorporates a memory bump, and the ambidextrous safety levers are extended and slightly curved. Even if you’re not a lefty, you should care about the ambi safety. Should your dominant hand be injured, you can switch to your non-dominant hand and still be able to operate the safety. It works with just the right amount of tension, snapping sharply from Safe to Fire and back.

The magazine release is your standard 1911 serrated button. However, the Operator’s grips have a dished-out area behind the release that should make it easier to depress without having to shift your firing grip—although with my medium-sized hands I can’t quite manage it. I still have to shift the gun to hit the release, but I have to do that with all 1911s.

The hammer is skeletonized, and the trigger is a three-hole style. Break weight was two pounds, four ounces with just a bit of creep and overtravel. There’s an overtravel screw that can be accessed via a hole in the grooved finger lever. The gun ships with two nine-round, black-finished metal magazines with bumpers.

Springfield Operator 9mm Gov't 1911 textured grip — The grips are G10 from VZ. Thanks to the texturing on the grips and on the flat mainspring housing, the Operator offers excellent control.

I’ve come to love 9mm 1911s, and this one is outstanding. It’s accurate, as you can see in the accompanying accuracy table, and at more than 40 ounces thanks to the accessory rail, it’s as soft-shooting a pistol as you could want. As such, it’s easy to hit with.

The relationship between the front and rear sights means there isn’t much light on either side of the front sight, which allows for great precision. Further, in practical shooting if you can see the entire front sight within the rear sight notch, you’re combat-accurate right there.

All in all, this is an excellent 1911. It looks good, shoots well and has features that commend it as a home defense or duty gun. For me, it’s too big and heavy for concealed carry, but if I were in law enforcement or wanted a dependable field-carry pistol, I think the Operator would be a great choice.