Description
The Springfield 1911 Loaded Target 45 ACP is the Loaded built for people who shoot at paper and care where the holes land. The defining change is the sights: a fully adjustable rear replaces the fixed combat unit, so the pistol can be zeroed to a specific load rather than shooting wherever the factory set it.
Why Adjustable Sights Change The Gun
Fixed combat sights are a compromise. They are regulated at the factory for a nominal 230 grain load and they are durable, but if your chosen ammunition prints three inches low at 25 yards there is nothing you can do about it short of a gunsmith and a file. Fully adjustable target sights let you dial elevation and windage until the point of impact matches the point of aim exactly, and then leave it there.
That matters more with .45 ACP than with most cartridges, because bullet weights in common use run from 185 to 230 grains and the difference in trajectory between them at 25 yards is easily several inches. Owning a Springfield 1911 Loaded Target 45 ACP means you can regulate for whichever load you actually shoot.
The trade off is honest and worth knowing. An adjustable rear sight sits taller and has moving parts, so it is more vulnerable to being knocked out of adjustment against a bench or a holster mouth than a low fixed sight. This is a range and competition pistol first.
The Rest Of The Package
The barrel on the Springfield 1911 Loaded Target 45 ACP is 5 inches of forged stainless, a match grade barrel with a 1:16 twist, and it is fitted to a match bushing by hand. That fit is what makes adjustable sights worth having: there is no point regulating sights on a pistol whose barrel does not return to the same place every time.
Springfield fits a titanium firing pin to the Springfield 1911 Loaded Target 45 ACP. Titanium is roughly half the density of steel, so the pin has less mass and less inertia, which means it is far less likely to move forward under its own momentum if the pistol is dropped on its muzzle. It is a safety feature and a light weight one, and it also allows a slightly lighter firing pin spring.
Elsewhere the Springfield 1911 Loaded Target 45 ACP follows the Loaded line: extended beavertail grip safety, match grade trigger, aggressive charging grooves on the slide, and a lowered and flared ejection port. Frame and slide are both forged stainless steel, and the recoil system is a two piece National Match full length guide rod. Crossed Cannons cocobolo grips finish it off.
Springfield 1911 Loaded Target 45 ACP Specifications
- Caliber: 45 ACP
- Barrel: 5 inch forged stainless steel, match grade, 1:16 twist
- Sights: Fully adjustable target rear with front blade
- Frame: Forged stainless steel
- Slide: Forged stainless steel with aggressive charging grooves
- Ejection port: Lowered and flared
- Firing pin: Titanium
- Grips: Crossed Cannons Cocobolo
- Trigger: Match grade
- Grip safety: Extended beavertail
- Recoil system: Two piece National Match full length guide rod
- Weight: 41 ounces
- Overall length: 8.6 inches
- Height: 5.7 inches
- Magazines: Two seven round magazines included
- Compliance: California compliant configuration
- Model number: PI9132LCA
- UPC: 706397913168
Two seven round magazines are supplied in the box.
Why Buyers Choose The Springfield 1911 Loaded Target 45 ACP
If you shoot groups, adjustable sights and a fitted barrel belong together, and buying them separately on a fixed sight 1911 means paying a gunsmith to mill the slide. Getting both from the factory with a warranty behind them is the sensible route.
The titanium firing pin is a genuine engineering upgrade rather than a talking point. Drop safety on a Series 70 pattern 1911 depends on firing pin inertia, and halving the mass of the pin addresses that directly without adding a firing pin block that degrades the trigger. Springfield chose the option that keeps the trigger clean.
Forged stainless throughout means the Springfield 1911 Loaded Target 45 ACP will still be serviceable in thirty years with basic care, and it tolerates the sweat and humidity that quietly ruin blued guns.
A California compliant 1911 with adjustable sights is a short list, so if you are shopping new in a restricted state this may be the only target sighted full size .45 available to you.
The honest limits: 41 ounces, seven rounds, and a tall adjustable rear sight that is not ideal for concealment or for a duty holster. The Springfield 1911 Loaded Target 45 ACP is not a carry gun and buying it as one is a mistake. Field stripping also needs a bushing wrench and an allen key because of the full length guide rod.
Who Should Buy The Springfield 1911 Loaded Target 45 ACP
The Springfield 1911 Loaded Target 45 ACP suits bullseye and precision shooters, anyone who handloads and wants to regulate sights for a specific load, and shooters who simply want the most accurate 1911 Springfield sells short of the custom shop. If you want a defensive pistol, the fixed sight Loaded is more robust and costs less. If you want night sights, the parkerized Loaded is the one. And if you want to start plain, the Mil-Spec is the same platform without the fitting.
Learn more about this 1911 pistol from the manufacturer, or see more firearms available at MAG5 Firearms.
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.