Anybody here have experience with ATI FX45 1911s?
Old Ugly has become irreplaceable by virtue of its immense sentimental value, so I'm looking to retire it from EDC CCW and replace it with something that wouldn't be a great loss if it ends up in one of the zillion-and-one ways things can go sideways for a CCW iron after use in the line of duty. With some hand issues I have, I have three things I'm rather particular about strongly preferring:
- A rounded grip-safety-tang, something similar to a late-production WWII Ithaca
- The A1-style arched mainspring housing
- A short, rounded (WWII GI-style) trigger to better fit my short fingers
I tend to be partial to basic, no-frills close-to-GI setups like my grandfather carried in the line of duty over his USAF career--the one exception I'd make is I'd really prefer a threaded-barrel option from the factory, but "grip shape" trumps such luxuries every time. (I'm no stranger to 1911 disassembly and parts installation, but for an EDC CCW I prefer not to go changing things.) Back in college I preferred the Springfield (Imbel) PW9108L as a baseline, but it's no longer available. I started to look at Rock Island, but they use the sharp "spur" tang and exclusively use flat MSH's, and their triggers are a bit on the long side. The ATI GI-model has a strike against it in its long, square-edged trigger, but the back half looks almost perfectly matched to the one I've been carrying most of my adult life, so I have two questions.
- Does anybody here have any experience with these, and if so are they worth considering?
- Does anybody else offer a similar model as regular-production (not a limited run collector model) that has the same rounded grip-safety tang and arched MSH but also has a shorter GI-style trigger which I might look into as a possible alternate option?