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INTRODUCTION WELCOME to the 2011 Edition of Gun Digest!

When Gun Digest was founded in 1944, it had been a scant 33 years since the U. S. Army’s adoption of what many have called the greatest pistol of all time, the Model 1911. And now here we are, on the threshold of the centennial of that truly remarkable pistol. Today, of course, there are dozens of companies who make 1911 and 1911A1 pistols, offshore and domestic, and in shooting most of them, I haven’t yet found one that wasn’t, at the least, a sturdy, serviceable pistol. Some of course have been a great deal more than that.

This edition of Gun Digest contains an excellent overview of the history of the 1911 and its commercial variants by — who else? — Gun Digest’s venerable Contributing Editor for semi-auto pistols, John Malloy, whose familiarity with the 1911 is second to no one’s. From the pre-1911 Model 1905 to today’s Colt Rail Gun, John literally knows the 1911 inside and out.

Of course, other things are happening in the world of shooting besides the 100th anniversary of the 1911. Our chronic ammunition shortage, especially in regard to self-defense ammo, seems to be abating as hoarding and hysteria wane, so it’s now possible to feed that .380 and .40 and bang away just as you used to, at only slightly higher prices. Of course, our able Contributing Editor for ammunition, Holt Bodinson, gives you the inside scoop on the last ammo-related developments a bit later in these pages, and our good friend and Contributing Editor Larry Sterett helps us get the most out of the consequent boom in reloading in his remarkable profile of the latest reloading components and tools.

The hottest area in the gun market today seems to be in small, CCW pistols. Contributing Editors John Malloy and Jeff Quinn cover these in their respective sections — and hoo-boy, is there a lot to cover! But sporting rifles and shotguns are enjoying their fair share of innovation, too, and well-known gunscribe and. Contributing Editor Tom Tabor shares his inimitable perspectives on today’s rifles — and there’s more out there than ARs, folks — while our good friend and Contributing Editor John Haviland lines up his bead on today’s shotgun market.

Of course, not all guns go “Bang!” or “Boom!” — some go “Pffft!,” either intentionally or not, so we are indebted to Contributing Editors Tom Caceci and Wm. Hovey Smith for their insights on airguns and blackpowder rifles, respectively. Women’s issues are ably covered by one of our favorite gunslingers and firearms trainers, Gila Hayes. And for those who love adorned and special-order guns — and who doesn’t? — we’re grateful to Contributing Editor Tom Turpin for his breathtaking pictorial on custom and engraved guns.

With so many guns entering the market, sooner or later someone’s going to have to fix them, so we welcome gunsmith and Contributing Editor Kevin Muramatsu’s report of what’s new in the tricks and tools of the gunsmithing trade. Contributing Editor Wayne Van Zwoll, who’s looked through more scopes than I’ve looked through martini glasses, sorts out the burgeoning scopes and sights market for you in a way that our old catalog section never could.

Of course, what would Gun Digest be without the usual assortment of pieces about oddball handguns, custom rifles, great gunwriters of the past, and controversies? All of this can be found in these pages along with much more that I hope you’ll find as entertaining and intriguing as I did.

Speaking of Which. . .

You may notice that the catalog in this edition of Gun Digest may look different to you unless you’re a very long-time reader. We’ve reverted to a format that Gun Digest used back in the mid-sixties. Aside from providing a nice retro touch, the new layout allows us to keep the picture of a gun closer to its description, which we hopes eliminates the page-jumping and other contortions readers formerly had to endure. As always, guns are presented by major type, then in alphabetical order. Prices shown are representative, of course; a 10-minute visit to the internet or your neighborhood gunshop will show you that, truly, there is no such thing as “suggested retail price.” Some manufacturer’s don’t even provide them — and if a manufacturer doesn’t provide good photos of his products, there’s a good chance they won’t appear in our catalog section.

You will also notice that we have shortened or eliminated entirely the catalog sections that formerly dealt with optics, reloading presses and literature. We have left the former two categories in the capable hands of Wayne Van Zwoll and Larry Sterett, respectively — and this for a simple reason: were we to include all shooting-related wares in this book, the book would have to be twice as big, twice as expensive, and would include no feature articles, which we feel have always been the heart and soul of Gun Digest. As for including periodical literature or books, we have discovered to our dismay that many retailers of this specialized literature have suspended operations, so if you are looking for a particular out-of-print book on guns or shooting, we refer you to www.amazon.com. If a book exists, you’ll find it there.

A Call for Papers

Gun Digest remains what it has always been: the world’s leading firearms annual. Many of the pieces written in the pages were not written by profesional gunwriters but gun just plain folks. We have never met a gun owner who didn’t have something interesting to say, so if you would like to write something for possible future publication in Gun Digest, be our guest! All materials must be submitted in electronic format (e.g., MS-WORD or .rtf files) and must be accompanied by a suitable number of in-focus, high-resolution images (300 dpi or greater) in digital format (,jpg or .tif).

If you have such a manuscript, or an idea for one, contact us at: Editor, Gun Digest

Gun Digest Books 700 East State Street, Iola, Wisconsin 54990

Please include your full name, street address, telephone number and email address with your submission.

Dedication

This edition of Gun Digest is cheerfully and respectfully dedicated to you, the reader, who has made Gun Digest the world’s leading firearms annual since 1944.

Acknowledgments

This edition could not have been completed without the support of Jim Schlender, Gun Digest Books’s guiding hand, and of David J. Blansfield, our strongest corporate sponsor. Dave Hauser, Tom Nelsen and Patsy Howell lent their peerless layout talents, without which this book would never have been completed or look so attractive.

And a final word of thanks to those who prefer to be known only as EGH, EC, NA and JW, without whose help and support I would have been quite out to sea.

Cordially,

Dan Shideler, Editor GUN DIGEST

About the covers

FRONT COVER Today, without serious question, the 1911 is the King of the Hill of semi-auto pistols. A few of us remember one of the first major departures from the “traditional” 1911: the Coonan Model B of the late 1970s. Chambered for the .357 Magnum, the Coonan Model B was a solid performer from a smaller firm, but it happened to appear just as the “wondernine” phenomenon was taking off. The Coonan faded into obscurity, leaving behind a hard-core cadre of True Believers.

Today, glory be, The Coonan Model B has been reborn in two incarnations by Coonan Inc. of Blaine, Minnesota. The new Coonan .357s are available in two configurations: the full-size Coonan Classic, with 5-inch barrel and seven-round magazine; and the Commander-sized Coonan Compact, with 4-inch barrel and six-round magazine. Both Coon-ans feature frames and slides made of 17-4PH stainless steel, and both are 100% made in the USA. A number of custom options are available. For more information, visit www.coonaninc.com.

BACK COVER In this, the 1911’s centennial, we thought it fitting to tantalize you with two noteworthy examples of the greatest pistol of all time: the Kimber Centennial Edition (top) and Remington’s new 1911 R1.

The Kimber Centennial Edition is limited to a run of 250 pistols with a suggested retail price of $4,352. It’s all Kimber, meaning top-of-the-line, and is of course made here in the USA with special finishing work by Turnbull Restoration. For more information, visit www.kimberamerica.com.

Though Remington Arms never mass-produced the 1911 or 1911A1 until now – that distinction belonging to affiliated office equipment manufacturer Remington Rand – it is awfully nice to see again the name of Remington on a handgun. At press time we know but little about Remington’s plans for the 1911 R1, but next year we expect to have a full report. For breaking news, visit www.Remington.com.

Gun Digest Staff

EDITOR	Dan Shideler
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS	Holt Bodinson: Ammunition, Ballistics & Components; Web Directory
	Wm. Hovey Smith: Black Powder
	John Haviland: Shotguns
	John Malloy: Handguns: Autoloaders
	Tom Tabor: Rifles
	Jeff Quinn: Handguns: Revolvers and Others
	Tom Turpin: Custom and Engraved Guns
	Wayne Van Zwoll: Optics
	Gila Hayes: Women’s Perspective
	Kevin Muramatsu: Gunsmithing
	Tom Caceci: Airguns
	Larry Sterett: Reloading Components and Equipment