Manufacturers are still finding ways to dress up the venerable 1911 handgun. Springfield Armory this week announced two new Garrison Target pistols, one chambered in .45 ACP and another in 9 mm Luger that add a fully adjustable rear sight onto the company's classically styled Garrison frame.
The Garrison line has always leaned heritage. Hot salt blued carbon steel, checkered wood grips, forged frames and slides, the kind of aesthetic that rewards a leather holster and a slow Saturday at the range. What the standard Garrison lacked, for anyone chasing tight groups at 25 yards, was sight adjustability. These new Target models fix that without diluting the look.
The adjustable rear sight is steel, with full windage and elevation travel and a black, serrated rear face designed to cut glare when the sun is working against you. Up front, a single white dot gives you something to find in a hurry. It's a simple, no-nonsense sighting system, and the kind of setup serious 1911 shooters have been adding on aftermarket for decades.
Underneath the cosmetics, both pistols are built on forged carbon steel frames and slides, a solid foundation for any 1911 that's going to see high round counts. The 5-inch barrels are forged stainless and match-grade, which in Springfield's catalog typically means tighter bore tolerances aimed at measurable accuracy gains rather than marketing copy.
Magazine capacity: the .45 ACP ships with a blued steel 7-round magazine (7+1 loaded), and the 9 mm comes with a stainless 9-round mag (9+1). Both are single-stack, both are steel, both will feel familiar to anyone who has spent time running John Browning's design.
Springfield's announcement lists an MSRP of $999 for both models. More information is available at springfield-armory.com.
