TM M1911A1 Review
By LonFor Airsoft Guam
Intro: The TM 1911 is one of TM's newer "high kick, high grouping" guns. It came out in August 2006 as a cheaper alternative to the more expensive WA 1911 models. It retails at about ~$125 on most sites.
Looks: The TM 1911 has a replicated parkerized finish. It's pretty much a flat gray all around, and it's actually pulled off pretty well. Is it perfect? No, but it's very good. Upon first glance, one could think the gun is metal, but nope, it's 100% ABS plastic, minus the hardware, i.e the trigger, hammer, safety, and slide release.
It's true that TM pistols aren't the best in appearance, especially their older models (eh, pretty much every model before the 1911 unfortunatley...), which have somewhat prominent seams depending on the gun in question. The TM 1911 has no seams, PERIOD.
But what's not to like are the crappy looking, plastic faux wood grips. Seriously now TM... they don't even LOOK like wood. One could replace the OEM grips with real 1911 grips, but lose a whole lot of the gun's heft in the process, because under the stock grips are weight panels, weighing at about ~+50 grams each if I were to estimate.
Note: My 1911 was ordered from Redwolf, and had the trades totally covered up with a peice of tape superglued onto the slide. I didn't expect this, and needless to say, I was kinda pissed at first. But it wasn't anything big... I just had to scrape the plastic off with a freakin' red hot 200 degree knife. If you plan to order one of these from Redwolf, consider ordering from another site.
Feel: The TM 1911 is pretty hefty for such a slim, single stacked gun; It weighs in at about 780 grams with the mag in. There are no rattles (well maybe a LITTLE if you shake it a lot), showing that this thing is pretty well built, inside and out.
The blowback with green gas is very quick and crisp. The kick isn't too bad, which could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on what you want, really. And speaking of green gas, using it with this gun is perfectly FINE. Same thing goes for propane, as they more or less the same thing.
Now the 1911 is a single stack gun, meaning that in real life, it's mag only holds one stack of .45 cal bullets. The TM 1911 is a double stack in the airsoft world, but of course, it still retains the 1911's slim grip. If you hold a double stacked Glock or Beretta, you'll feel the difference in width right away. This makes the gun easy to handle, especially for people with small hands... but what many people I've seen having troubles with, including me, is reaching the freakin' SLIDE RELEASE (aka the lever you release when you're outta bullets). I guess Browning designed this thing for big "American" hands. Yeah, live with it people with small hands... I personally got used to it myself.
Performance: The TM 1911 is designed for use with HFC 134, AKA PC duster gas, AKA car aircon fluid. But, like mentioned above, using green is fine, and reccomended. No worries about cracking your slide here, as the plastic on the 1911 is very durable.
Power is something the TM 1911 doesn't have out of the box. It shoots at around 260-70 FPS, which is considerably lower than a good amount of other gas blowbacks on the market. Still, this should be more than enough in most cases.
Range and accuracy are two things that the TM 1911 DO have out of the box, though! I'd say it can reach as far as a stock AEG with it's hop up dial turned all the way up. Yes, it does have an adjustable hop up, and a very good one at that. Accessing it is a bit of a pain, as you need to take off the slide to actually see the dial... other than that, things are pretty simple here. I'd say the TM 1911 is a 5 star in the "performance out of the box" area.
But perhaps the TM 1911's biggest issue is it's gas economy. With green gas, don't expect to shoot a full mag's worth (26 rounds) of BB's with one charge. The main thing that contributes to this problem is, you guessed it, the thin single stack mags, which don't have very big gas reservoirs. I usually load 22 rounds for a guaranteed slide lock and empty mag. You gotta give it up to TM for making the 1911's mag hold 26 rounds in the first place anyway, as many airsoft 1911's only hold around 20.
Note: Don't mess with the inner unit's (that THING that holds the barrel and hop-up) too much. You may weaken the screws after the 50th time. Don't touch things you don't need to... I learned this the hard way.
Overall: The TM 1911 is up there as one of the best-yet-most-affordable gas guns out right now, I have no doubt about it. Great build quality, good looks and solid performance make it an awesome pistol to own overall. If you're the type of player who busts out a sidearm for what it should be used for, i.e a gun to use in bad situations when your rifle is totally messed, the TM 1911 is a near perfect fit for you. Just get an extra mag, and you're set, man.
RatingsLooks: 8.5/10 - Very nice, but those plastic "wood" grips don't even resemble wood. Finish is good, but it could be a
bit better...
Feel: 9.0/10 - Feels great in the hand, has some heft.
Performance: 9.5/10 - Awesome. Good range and accuracy. Power could be a bit better, but that may be asking for too much.
Overall: 9.0/10 - Solid pistol overall, highly reccomended.
