Nighthawk's Thunder Ranch Combat Special: Ultimate 1911?

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I have a confession to make: I like this job. Yes, you should be a bit jealous, because I get to test all the cool stuff. Well, not all of it, the other writers here get their fair share of cool stuff as well. But really, I get to try the gamut of firearms, from pedestrian to patrician. And today we are definitely going to be in the upper echelons of firearms artistry, with a 1911 from Nighthawk Custom. In particular, the Thunder Ranch Combat Special. Thunder Ranch is the training facility that has been owned and run by Clint Smith since 1993. He had had extensive experience before that, with two tours in Vietnam in the USMC, Operations Officer at API, as Gunsite was known in the very early years, and teaching for HK. I’ve had the good luck to have crossed paths with him twice that I recall. Clint has definite ideas about how things should be done, and the tools to do them with. So, when it came time to have a 1911 designed to his specs, he made sure that Nighthawk knew what he wanted.

The Thunder Ranch Combat Special is an all-­steel full-­sized 1911. You can have a choice between 9mm and .45, and apparently the 9mm in 1911s is quite popular these days. This one arrived in .45 ACP. On top Nighthawk has fitted a set of Heinie Ledge sights, with the front blade sporting a 14k gold bead. Dick Heinie makes first-­class sights, and the Ledge is designed so it can be used as a one-­handed slide-­racking tool. Hook the sight on a holster or barrier, push and release. Hard on the sight, but if at that moment in time you only have a one-­handed option, then sights can be cleaned up later. The gold bead is a nice touch and makes low-­light shooting easier. No, it isn’t a tritium sight, but sometimes style matters more than tactical. And I like gold bead front sights.

Nighthawk differs from other custom pistolsmith operations in one significant way: one pistolsmith, one gun. Now, if you are having your pistol (1911 in this case, but any pistol, really) worked on by a one-­man operation, then obviously it is one pistol, one ‘smith. But, that ‘smith is also the receptionist, shipping manager, inventory supervisor, etc. At Nighthawk, non-­smithing tasks are done by non-­pistolsmiths. Each pistolsmith does just that: build a gun, from parts to finish, without handing it off to this specialist or that specialist. Because they are each (sounds like an impossibility) specialists in all the details. Depending on the model, you will (or won’t) have options. You pick from the options and build an order. Once your order is complete, then it gets put on the schedule. When it comes time for your pistolsmith to build your pistol, they pick up the parts package: a frame and slide with the machine-­cut details you have specified, and a barrel in the caliber you ordered. A pile of the smaller parts, all ready for fitting, and none of them fitted to each other. That’s right, the slide, frame and barrel are made over-­sized and in-­house, and your pistolsmith will machine, fit and polish them to a unit, then install the internals. He will test fire, zero, refine and attend to any details that come up, before it goes to get whatever finish you have specified.

In a one-­man shop, all that happens in-­between phone calls, emails, letters, packages, wrapping and shipping, billing and parts ordering. (I know, I’ve been there, it can be like a one-­man three-­ring circus.) In bigger operations, the tasks are often done in sequence by different ‘smiths. The frame and slide fitting guy will match those, then the barrel fit guy works on your pistol. The trigger and safety guy will install those parts, and finally someone at the end of the line has to make sure all the various fitting tasks are in agreement as far as looks, function, fit and appearance are concerned. If there’s some discrepancy, or discontinuity, then he has to walk the pistol over to whoever did the task in question, consult, get things back in order, and re-­fit (sometimes) the pistol to “book spec.” Yes, a bit clumsy, but teaching someone how to fit a slide and frame, and have them do that and only that, is easier than teaching someone every single task in building a 1911.

Of course, all this is made easier if you machine your own slides, frames and barrels yourself. Then, if the slides have some minor variance, the pistolsmith who notices it simply has to tell the CNC machine operator that this-­or-­that dimensions is wandering a bit fat or thin. (I can imagine a confab of pistolsmiths arguing over what to tell the CNC guy, where some think the dimensions are too much, others think they aren’t enough, and some just want to get back to building guns. But then, I’m evil that way.) That’s a lot easier than telling the CNC shop two States over that the previous order of 250 slides had a minor detail that needs to be corrected. And that they can’t fit the 250 frames from a CNC shop two States in the other direction unless the problem is fixed. Nope, in-­house is so much better.

The Thunder Ranch as-­tested was the basic model, with everything you’d need, nothing extra, and all Nighthawk goodness. This included the Smoked Nitride finish, which is a tough finish applied to look like it has already had several tours worth of use and wear on it. The safety is the nub safety, like the original 1911 (not the later Series 70) safety, and that was a bit of concern on my part. There’s a lanyard loop built into the mainspring housing, in case you want to secure the pistol to your person or web gear. (Not a bad idea, considering the cost, plus there’s always the “An emergency is when you need it” aspect of wearing a pistol. If you don’t have it, your emergency just got a whole lot worse.) And, it has the Thunder Ranch logo engraved behind the rear cocking serrations. Clint is a fan of forward cocking serrations, and I am not. That’s just personal preference and were I the one who had ordered this pistol, I’d have made a case for leaving them off.

The grips are linen micarta, a substance that is nearly indestructible, and Nighthawk has machined (it is that hard, durable and resistant to wear-­and-­tear) into their non-­slip pattern. This is a sharp-­edged wavy series of edge-­to-­edge curves, and it is so non-­slip that if you use a “crush ‘em to death” grip like mine, you’d swear you have to pry the pistol off of your hand even after you’ve let go of it. They also machined a groove on the left-­side panel, to make it a bit easier to reach the magazine button when you want to. Beneath the grips, Nighthawk puts a gently beveled magazine well opening on the basic pistol, so there’s a good reload opening, but not a big competition-­sized funnel. The owner of this one opted for an extended mainspring housing and mag funnel, to speed things up even more but not go to competition extremes.

Inside, the Thunder Ranch Combat Special is 1911 the way JMB wanted it to be. The barrel is standard USGI configuration, no integral ramp, but ramped for reliable feeding of any .45 ACP ammo to be had. The recoil spring system is not a guide rod system, and the bushing is a snugly fitted solid bushing that can still be wrestled open by hand. Just, but by hand. There is one detail that is modern, one I discovered back in the 1980s. The guide rod head has the rear face of it machined (or filed) to an angle, and this provides clearance for the barrel when it links down and keeps the bottom lugs from binding on the guide rod. I discovered this when a customer’s custom gun was starting to produce some very squirrelly function. This was early in the days of the .38 Super in competition, and everyone told him “That’s what Supers do.” No, it was a dimensional mis-­match that did it. Once I beveled his Supers guide rod, it worked just fine. Ever since, I have looked at every 1911 I’ve ever worked on, or tested, to make sure that wasn’t happening. I have found it rarely, but when it is there, it is a problem. Well, Nighthawk makes sure there is no problem, starting from Day One. The ejector is extended just enough to ensure reliable, and “off to the right” ejection, out of the lowered ejection port.

The trigger? You have to ask? The trigger is a medium-­length solid aluminum-­faced trigger, and the weight is set at four pounds. Yes, yes, yes, the local IPSC shooter who wins all your club matches shoots a gun with a two-­pound trigger, but for daily carry, and use in an emergency, four pounds, clean and crisp, is the perfect setup. And this is both clean and crisp. Basically, you take up the slack, and the trigger stops. Then, when you get up to four pounds, the hammer falls, the trigger moves a short amount for over-­travel, and when you release it you can feel and hear the re-­set. The thumb safety proved to not be a worry. I did some holster work with the TRCS, and never had a problem getting the safety off without thinking about it. I used a Blackpoint Wing holster, and it was comfortable, fast, secure and entirely suitable for daily carry. I did not do a lot of work from the holster, because this isn’t my gun, and I didn’t want to put wear on it that the owner might object to.

As an all-­steel government-­sized pistol, the TRCS (you never thought I’d get to an acronym, right?) has soft to manageable recoil. I tried it with an array of defensive ammo, and it worked just fine. With 230 JRN “hardball” it was a breeze to shoot. What surprised me was that it really loved my current bowling pin load. That one is a coated 250-­grain round-­nose flat-­point bullet at 875 fps. It is definitely up into +P recoil levels, and it brooms pins off the tables with alacrity. Out of this TRCS, it shoots like a bullseye gun. All the loads shot at or under two inches, but this load produced near-­one-­hole clusters. (Note to self: getting low on that load, gotta make some more.)

The Thunder Ranch Combat Special comes in a zippered Nighthawk case, with a pair of magazines, bushing wrench, manual, and a test-­fire target. The test-­fire target is eye-­opening. This particular pistol was built by Hunter Dotts. One of these days I’m going to have to have a long conversation with Hunter, or one of his cohorts, of which there are 27. Because this pistol is, as have been all the others I’ve tested by Nighthawk, flawless. Then it was test-­fired by Eldon Depew. Eldon, you are my hero of the moment. The test-­fire group is a single ragged hole. The Thunder Ranch Combat Special can be had with many options, as I’ve mentioned. 9mm or .45. For barrels you can have your barrel fluted (9mm only) or threaded. You can have a second fitted barrel, threaded. You can jump up from carbon steel to stainless, and opt for various finish types. You can have the frame with or without a light rail, stippled, checkered or smooth. You can get a magazine well funnel or not, blended one of several ways. You can get an ambi safety. You can get suppressor sights, or a tritium or fiber optic front blade. You can have the rear of the slide checkered or serrated, and have an extra extractor fitted.

The basic TRCS runs $3,499. Just to get a feel for what can be done, I ran down the list of custom add-­ons for this model. You know, the extra barrel, finish options, and so-­on. I managed to run the order list up to $6,500. Now, it has been a long time, but I believe my first new car didn’t cost me that much. Then again, it wasn’t at the quality level of a Nighthawk pistol, either. With that perspective, the base price doesn’t seem all that much, considering that you are getting a lifetime-­of-­service, hand-­built 1911. The service life? I suspect that you could easily get 100,000 rounds through this before you needed to have some kind of service or overhaul done to it. I know I have gotten more than that out of other 1911s. At “before the panic” ammo prices, .45 ACP 230 FMJ was running something like $400 per thousand rounds. If it ever gets back down to that level again, 100,000 rounds of ammo is going to cost you $40,000. At the current prices, it is going to cost you $70,000. At $10 per, you are going to be spending a couple of hundred bucks on replacement recoil springs alone. Ammo and springs are just consumables, after all. At that cost, do you really think that $3,500 for a hand-­built 1911 is “too much”? I don’t. This pistol is not mine, as much as I might wish it so. Nor is it Nighthawk’s on loan. It is the pistol ordered by someone who is involved with the people in the special operations community, and who appreciates a premium pistol. It will almost certainly get those 100,000 rounds, and in a surprisingly short time, before it maybe does/maybe doesn’t need a rebuild or overhaul from Nighthawk. All I know is, I will be quite sad the day (soon) when the delivery truck arrives to take it onwards. If you are a serious shooter, you should own at least one professional-­grade, leave-­to-­your-­heirs-­quality firearm. This one is certainly that.

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