Ed Brown Special Forces vs Wilson Combat CQB vs Yost-Bonitz 1* Springfield Armory GI

[rob_s]

Unfortunately the picture of the Brown safety was taken after the other two, and was the only one engaged. Other than that the photos are essentially identical.

In general I prefer a blended thum safety. I have heard the argument in the past that this weakens the part, and it does. However for me it is a trade-off and it's worth the slight weakening to get a comfortable firing grip. With that said, I do think that it's possible to over-blend the safety and take away more material that is necessary.

The Wilson is the most contoured of the three, with the gentlest slope and the most material removed from the top of the safety. I would say that the Yost is second, with a little material removed from the top, and the Brown is last having virtually no material removed from the top. I find the Brown to be more than adequate in terms of comfort. In truth, they all feel about the same when I have a firing grip. Since I also think that the Brown is the strongest (having the most material), I prefer it to the other two. Following the same logic, the one with the most material removed, the Wilson, is last.

Thumb Safety
Brown 3
Wilson 1
Yost 2

Total
Brown 18
Wilson 15
Yost 17

[rob_s]

See pics above and in "Front & Back Straps" post on page 1.

Grip safeties should be blended to the frame to make them as comfortable as possible when holding the pistol in a firing grip, and to ensure that they are engaged when one wishes to fire the pistol. Of the three, the Yost appears to have had the least blending. The pics above are of the grip safeties fully depressed, and you can see that the Yost part is blended the least of the three. There's also a pretty ugly gap between the safety and the tang.

The Brown piece, with it's "memory groove" bump feels the most solidly engaged of the three when firing. I don't know that the grooves provide any sort of tactile memory, but that's a non-issue for me.

This is really one of those parts that should be more heavily weighted. The gap in the Yost part, and the lesser amount of fitment REALLY bugs me. I don't know that either have any affect on function or not though.

Grip Safety
Brown 3
Wilson 2
Yost 1

Total
Brown 21
Wilson 17
Yost 18

[rob_s]

I don't believe that extractors need to be "timed" (i.e. fit so tight that they can't rotate in the slide) for reliability and wouldn't want a gun that did require it, so the fact that all three show some degree of rotation in this part is a non-issue for me.

The only thing that really bears mentioning here is the large gap in the slide to ejector on the Yost gun. Like the gap in the grip safety, I do not know if this has any effect on reliability or function, but it bugs the hell out of me. I assume that when Y-B bought the Springfield (I didn't send them the gun) it came like that from the factory. The difference here is that I trusted them to go over the gun before they began work on it to check for things like this and they obviously didn't. Had I purchased the gun myself to send in I would have chosen another example, but Y-B proceeded to do $1300 +/- of work on a sub-standard gun.

The Brown and Wilson are even in my estimation.

This is another one that should be weighted more heavily, but again I do not know if it affect function and it does not appear to have done so to date.

Slide Rear
Brown 3
Wilson 3
Yost 1

Totals
Brown 21
Wilson 18
Yost 18

[rob_s]

I tried to get a good picture of each with the slide on and the gun completely assembled because I don't think that the views below tell you much. The real test is how the two parts meet up when the gun is firing. I couldn't get the right amount of light down there the day I what photographing, so I may have to try again later. You're just going to have to make due with the pictures below and take my word for it.

When assembled, the Brown appears to have the smoothest fit of the three. Both the Yost and Wilson barrels appear to sit a little further forward when the gun is assembled than they do in the pictures below. If you went just off of the pictures below, I would say that the Yost appears to have the smoothest transition.

Barrel/Feedramp Fit
Brown 3
Wilson 2
Yost 1

Total
Brown 24
Wilson 20
Yost 19

[rob_s]

I don't know what the proper terminology for this part is, but I know that on stock Kimbers it pinches the hell out of me. It was a point (no pun intended) of concern for me when buying (sight unseen, mind you) each of these guns. In fairness, I got bit by the Brown shortly after buying it, and conveyed that to the Y-B folks and made sure they knew I wanted to be certain that these parts were relieved when I got their gun.

These pictures are probably not taken at the best angle for what I want to talk about, and one isn't even properly focused, but you can look at the front strap and mag well pictures also to get a better idea.

To put it bluntly, the Brown bit me so it loses on this one. In looking at all of the pictures, the Wilson is clearly the most rounded. The Yost has been relieved, and it hasn't bit me, but I think that the little bit of extra rounding on the Wilson is nice to have. Honestly, if I had my way, they would all be cut in a straight line like they are when an extended magwell is installed. It's distracting as hell when you catch the meat of your hand in there by mistake when performing a reload.

"Points" or "Horns"
Brown 1
Wilson 3
Yost 2

Total
Brown 25
Wilson 23
Yost 21