December 11, 2019
By James Tarr
The LS10 has a fully supported ramped barrel. Note the extra-long recoil spring plug—the end half of it is solid, adding more weight and allowing the pistol to use a standard Government Model-length recoil spring.
From the exterior, the LS10 has what looks like a standard recoil spring plug. A standard recoil spring plug is hollow, to contain the recoil spring. The LS10, however, features a solid plug, which does two things. A solid steel plug adds weight to the muzzle end without the need for a guide rod or even any additional parts, and allows Ed Brown to use a standard Government Model-length recoil spring. The spring on this pistol is of course stiffer than the 16-pounder, which is the standard weight recoil spring for a 5-inch .45 ACP.
The front of the frame has been checkered 25 lines per inch (lpi), as has the mainspring housing. This is machine checkering, as only masochists these days hand-checker 1911s, but the way you can tell it is machine checkering is that it is perfect. Even a master gunsmith would leave a few traces of imperfection when hand-checkering a 1911, but back in the day, hand-checkering was the only option.
The 25 lines per inch checkering on the front strap and mainspring housing is machine cut, which means it’s perfect. It is aggressive enough that the gun won’t move in your hand.
Machine checkering isn’t quite as sharp as hand-checkering, but in this era of plastic guns, it is still more aggressive than what most shooters are used to. 25 lpi machine checkering is about as sharp as 30 lpi hand checkering, and is a good compromise between appearance and grip.
This Ed Brown pistol is, unsurprisingly, equipped with an Ed Brown beavertail, in this case a Memory Groove model. Two beavertail patterns rule the 1911 world, and are denoted by the cuts they require to the frame—or used to require before factory guns caught up—the Ed Brown and the Wilson.
The Wilson beavertail frame cut is simpler, a constant radius, but your hand will sit a little lower on the gun. The Ed Brown beavertail will get your hand higher on the gun than anything but a custom ground beavertail. The “Memory Groove” is the raised grooved bump at the bottom designed to increase the chances of you deactivating the grip safety even if your grip is less than ideal.
