The Smith and Wesson 1911PD Gunsite Edition Pistol

The Smith & Wesson 1911PD Gunsite edition pistol is a classic, wooden gripped, commander-style 1911 chambered in .45 ACP.

Perhaps it goes without saying, but in a market increasingly consisting of 2011 pistols, feeling the heft and mechanics of 1911 in the hand is somewhat soothing.

Moreover, with the 1911PD Gunsite edition two great things come together: Gunsite Academy and Smith & Wesson.

Gunsite is a renowned firearms training academy in Paulsen, Arizona, focused on “[providing] firearm training to elite military personnel, law enforcement officers and free citizens of the US.”

The training academy was founded in the 1970s by Lt. Col. Jeff Cooper, an author, columnist, professor, and WWII and Korean War combat veteran.

Cooper famously said, “Owning a piano does not make one a pianist any more than owning a handgun makes one a good shooter.”

Gunsite’s webpage observes, “Only an effective, safe and authoritative program of study can guarantee that in a moment of danger YOU will act to protect yourself, your loved ones or the ones you are sworn to with self defense firearms training skills.”

The Smith & Wesson 1911PD Gunsite edition has a fixed rear sight and a front sight with a brass bead embedded into it. The set-up is so rudimentary that it almost feels advanced. We passed the pistol around at the range two weeks ago and people could not believe how accurate a classic 1911 can be.

Being an older firearm, the thumb safety is not ambidextrous, so you have to operate that safety with your right thumb. But there are trade-offs; for instance, the trigger is match aluminum and the frame is scandium alloy so…the pistol is balanced.

Again, the 1911PD Gunsite is a classic. It is the type of pistol your grandpa loved, the one your father trusted, and perhaps the one both of them used to teach you how to shoot.

The bottom line is that the Smith & Wesson 1911PD Gunsite brings American greatness in firearm manufacturing and firearm training together in one gun.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He holds a PhD in Military History with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. He enjoys reading Philosophy and novels by Jack Carr and Nelson DeMille. Follow him on X: @awrhawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.