SR1911 Talo Night Watchman Initial Review

[Olympus]

My full size Talo Night Watchman just arrived today and I thought I would give my initial impressions of the gun.

Right out of the box, the gun is a looker! Aesthetics are a subjective matter, but I couldn't stand the look of the regular model with the black small parts. Just looked mismatched and out of place. So the Night Watchman is a HUGE improvement to my eyes in the all black. The finish is VERY nice. I don't know how durable it will be, but it looks very nice. It's even and deep and the slide matches the frame perfectly. The grips are a blackish/gray color that look black in some light and more gray in other light. They match the overall scheme of the pistol nicely.

Handling the pistol, I noticed my first let down. The grip safety has noticeable side to side slop. There's a lot at the pin area and then even more noticeable down at the speed bump. I'd say this level of fit is on par with some of the lower RIA guns I've sold. At this price point, I expected better from Ruger. The sights are true Novak brand night sights and they are very nice. The front is a single dot and the rear has two dots. They are very bright.

I stripped the pistol for the initial clean and lube and found my second let down. Inside the slide where the top of the barrel would fit, I found some pretty significant rust. I also found rust inside the recoil lugs. I cleaned and wiped away the rust and applied a nice coat of oil. But again, at this price point and being a brand new out of the box gun, I would not be please with finding rust on my gun. Especially a stainless steel gun. To me, this indicates a lower quality stainless steel with a higher amount of carbon in the steel. Aside from the rust, everything else looked to be very nice. The gun feels adequately tight, nothing that I would comment to say this thing is Dan Wesson tight, but it's also not something I would comment about saying it's loose. I'd call it exactly what I'd expect from a gun at this price point.

After cleaning, lubing, and reassembling, I ran into my third and biggest let down. The trigger was exceptionally heavy. Now this isn't my first 1911 and I know better than expecting a 3.5lbs trigger from the factory and I know out of the box guns will be slightly heavier until they are broken in. So I say that in preface because this gun has a trigger that I would call absolutely horrible for a 1911. I put the gun in a vise and brought out my gauge and measured the pull. The pull is anywhere from 7.75 to 8lbs! Absolutely unacceptable to me in terms of a 1911. Now I know the gun will lighten up as it gets broke in, but I know better than to expect a 4lbs improvement just from breaking in. I might get the gun down to 6lbs after break in, but I don't expect more than that and that's still way to heavy for a broken-in 1911 with no firing pin safety mechanism to operate.

So my initial impressions are that the gun is extremely good looking with a loose grip safety, possibly prone to rust if not oiled regularly, and has the worst trigger I've ever seen on a 1911. Based on this example alone and considering the retail price of $775 to $800 that I'm seeing, my recommendation is PASS unless you're just interested in the looks. There are plenty of other models in this price range that I think are a better buy. I'll have some photos up tomorrow hopefully.