Cobalt Kinetics 1911 test run

During the 2020 Annual Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, we stepped out of the halls for an hour or so to test fire some fresh off the milling machine 1911 pistols made by Cobalt Kinetics.

Cobalt Kinetics new 1911s.

We first got word of these brand new handguns a few months back when Cobalt's Skylar Stewart told us that he was abandoning the AR market and going to take a run at making higher-end 1911 pistols. Could a company known for making cutting-edge and innovative AR-15s make a go at building a nearly 110 year-old  military sidearm in today's market?

The answer, is yes.

Before you start mumbling “OK, Boomer” and “Muh two world wars”, keep in mind that these are not the same blunderbusses your gramps toted back when he stormed the beach at Normandy.

We shot six different 1911s I was looking for the true innovation here that Cobalt Kinetics is known for. Their rifles would drop magazines automatically when they ran dry, the dual forward assists acted as bolt drops that could be deployed by the shooter's thumb, but the real cutting edge components were their brake and buffer systems that mitigated recoil and muzzle rise. What did they plan to do here?

The first thing you notice is the dust covers; some of the pistols had rails, while others had full-length solid slab sided barrels with no lightening cuts. They imparted a distinctive look as well as using the full weight to reduce muzzle rise.

The shorter carry-type pieces had Novak sights and were chambered in 45 ACP.

The grip profile on this model incorporates a palm swell.

Some of the models incorporated grip safeties that were pinned in place All of them ran double stack STI-type magazines giving 17 rounds of 9 mm or 11 rounds of 45 ACP. Sights on these test pistols were either Novak or Bo-Mar pattern.

Perhaps the biggest surprise was that we truly enjoyed shooting the 9mm versions over the more traditional 45 ACP. We found all of them pleasant to shoot and it was this author's first real go-around with 9 mm through a 1911. Scorning that combination for years, we can now truly understand the appeal.

The frames seemed so light and our first go-around suspected a polymer and metal bond. It turns out that the frames are simply aluminium but have very unique grips that either sport magazine funnels or on the tactical pieces with threaded barrels, a traditionally styled mainspring housing.

Magazine funnel grip and threaded barrel.

Accuracy was phenomenal. These are truly competition grade pistols. There were a few failures with ammunition in one of the 45 models, but running Magtech 230-grain 45 ACP may have been more of a culprit than the pistol in question. The 9mm pistols chattered along like a typewriter on Federal 115-grain FMJ. It was truly sad when the 9mm ammunition dried up at the end of the session.

We were given no official ship date and only a ballpark on MSRP. However, this author thought his 1911 collection was complete with 10 of these pistols in his safe. Cobalt's 9mm might make that go to 11!

For more information see: http://www.cobaltkinetics.com

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