TAFFINTESTS tHe sIXGUNNer HIMseLF: GUNs, GeAr & More JoHN tAFFIN target-fired rapid fire at 10 yards. thrashers from top left clockwise: satin stainless, polished stainless, matte blue and polished blue all ran like clockwork. Threshin’ Out TIny The T hrashers 1911 s I Iver JOhnsOn’s the four .45 aCp thrashers from iver Johnson: ver Johnson is going to the birds! matte blue and polished blue; satin stainless First we had the Eagle and the Hawk and polished (Taffin Tests, March/April 2010) and stainless. now a whole flock of Thrashers have landed, and I’ve been busy at the Taffin Trappin’s Threshin’ out Thrashers. The flock consists of four birds, all different, and yet they have some attributes in common. The original Iver Johnsons were 1911 and Commander-sized, however the Thrashers are different. They are all Officer’s ACP-sized, and grip panels made for Officer’s Colts readily fit the Thrashers. iver offers three .45s: the 1911 My test guns are all chambered in eagle, the Commander-sized hawk, and .45 ACP, however they will also be offered in .40 S&W and grip frames are the the officer’s model-sized thrasher. 9mm. Barrel lengths are 31/8" with an overall length of 67/8", older-style flat housing overall height of 47/8", and an unloaded weight of 34 ounces. found on the original 1911s. They all have barrels which are Magazine capacity in .45 ACP is 7 rounds, and each magatapered to a larger diameter at the front to fit solidly into the zine has a bumper pad on the bottom. slide, and all have guide rods. Slide stops, thumb safeties The four different models are Polished Stainless, Poland magazine releases are all on the left side and are stanished Blue, Satin Stainless and Matte Blue. All four models dard size. Lowered ejection ports are also standard to each have Commander-style hammers and beavertail grip safeversion. I’d call these pretty classic styles with no real design ties with the memory bump to assure its being pressed, and surprises, and nicely built. Family history Finishing I ver Johnson has been around for a long time, especially providing low-cost, self-defense revolvers going back to the black powder days and extending into the smokeless era, with their top-break .32 and .38 pocket pistols. Who knows how many farms and ranches have had an Iver Johnson Sealed Eight .22 revolver with an 8-shot cylinder on hand? About 2 years ago, Iver Johnson started offering 1911s. They are produced by S.A.M. in the Philippines, with a higher grade parts specification than the normal S.A.M. parts. The external design is to Iver Johnson’s specifications also. The Thrashers were test-fired with eight different 230-grain .45 ACP factory loads, with the following average muzzle velocities: American Eagle FMJ, 748 fps; Black Hills JHP, 711 fps; Federal FMJ, 732 fps; Herter’s Nylon RN, 740 fps; Magtech FMJ, 721 fps; Remington JHP, 731 fps; Speer TMJ, 692 fps and Winchester FMJ, 723 fps. I shot them at 7 yards simply because while the guns may certainly be fired at 25 — why? My 7-yard shooting was done rapid fire (at least for me!), as if I were shooting to defend. It resulted in groups of 2" or less, overall, and they handled very nicely. t left: the thrashers were test-fired with nine different loads, however feeding of the 185-gr. Jhps was not totally reliable in all of them. right: Grip panels on the thrashers are easily replaced with those made for the Colt officer’s aCp model. these are by pearce and herrett’s. 32 here are basically two models, with each being offered in two finishes. First up we have the Polished Stainless Model. Both the sides of the frame and slide are high polish stainless while the top of the slide, bottom of the frame, front of the grip frame, flat mainspring housing, beavertail safety, thumb safety, slide stop, Commander-style hammer and trigger are all matte finish stainless. The trigger is the long original 1911style but lightweight, with three holes drilled in it. Serrations are provided on both sides of the slide in front of the rear sight and behind the front sight for ease in operating the slide. Slide-to-frame fit is very tight. The right side of the slide is marked “Thrasher SS” while the left side bears the inscription in two lines “IVER JOHNSON” and also the Iver Johnson owl’s head logo. I quote from my original article on the Iver Johnson 1911s as it still applies to the Thrashers: “Any regular readers know my aversion to most factory Continued on page 93 WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM • JULY/AUGUST2012
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