TiSAS / Trabzon 1911

I just picked up my first 1911. I chose the TiSAS over the RIA mainly because it's much more low-key, doesn't have a billboard-sized roll mark. I like that look (and price) more than the "BBQ gun" look - not to say I won't get a nicer 1911 later ....

It certainly seems solid, weighty and well-lubed. I field-stripped it last night and everything seems in order, so I plan on shooting it tonight and wanted to have a place to share my experience, hopefully to benefit some other folks in the market for a practical, cheap, furren M1911.

I'll follow up again here as I shoot/clean/maintain the gun. It'll be mostly a range toy, since I already have several Glocks to press into defensive service, so it'll be while before I shoot anything but hardball through it. More later ....

Range Report:
Shot 49 rounds of Speer (200gr, I think) and I was kinda all over the paper - seems there'll be a learning curve to shooting this one after all my Glock experience. The pistol experienced a couple nosedives, and after 3-4 attempts to chamber, one cartridge was set back so much it was obvious, so I put it aside - that was the 50th.
Followed with 50 rounds of Blazer Al-cased (230gr, I think) and experienced a couple more nosedives, but they chambered after cycling the slide once.

Accuracy - combat adequate for me, it's my first 1911 so that should improve.

Trigger - nice and crisp, with very short travel, but it seems quite heavy to me (6lb + maybe?) and I'll seriously consider some part-replacement level mods to lighten it - I'll have to look into that.

Sights - very plain, small, and they don't look to be replaceable except by a gunsmith - I may treat it with some white-out.

Grip panels - plain wood, it's a bit rough, but would probably smooth and mellow nicely from use. I've given some thought to replacing them with some SkinGripz polymer scalloped panels. I'd probably only put fancy checkered wood panels on a nicer pistol.

Cleaned it last night and though I like a black gun, I can see the value of bright metal for cleaning purposes!

For now I'll treat the nosedives as a break-in issue. The Mec-Gar magazines (it came with one, I bought one more from Bud's) may have something to do with the malfunctions, but I'll have to shoot it more to see. I may have to pick up a can of Tula at Academy (if I can find it in stock).

Pictures later!

Interesting - I kinda thought MecGar mags were well-regarded. Oh well - I'll grab a couple of the others and see how they do.

I think it's a pretty handsome gun, being as I like a low-key, purposeful look. No gigantic roll mark, no two-tone treatment, no fancy slide serrations, just a nice smooth parkerized finish. All business.
Pics:
Here's the case it came with along with the extra mag:


And left and right sides:

If I can get it to work, here's a new pic with the "SkinGripz" Grip panels. Not as pretty or classy as the wood, but much better for hanging on to - the texture is quite aggressive. Will shoot it some more next week and report back.

Took my TiSAS to the range again last night, put another two boxes of hardball through it (Blazer Brass 230gr and Speer Lawman 230gr). The only feeding issues occurred when I put the first full mag in the gun and pulled the slide back instead of thumbing the slide lock to drop the slide. This caused a nosedive, and it was with one of my new CMC PowerMags, too. After that there were no more issues.
I seriously need to put some liquid paper or something on the front sight. I would hesitate to recommend this pistol for defensive use due to the small, dark front sight.
Incidentally, I was shooting with some friends, one was a brand-new shooter to whom I introduced my Glock 19 - the other guy went to the office to get more ammo for his revolvers and came back 30 minutes later with a new Colt 1911 (at least new to him). He let me shoot a magazine through it and was ... a little nicer than mine, but not worth double+ the price of the TiSAS, in my opinion. At least his 3-dot sights were up to the task. Take that for what it's worth, though - I'm no 1911 connoisseur, after all.
Will update again when I shoot it some more...

Another update for the record. Took my TiSAS to the range again yesterday and put another 2 boxes of ammo through it. Blazer Al-cased and Remington 230gr brass-cased. Sad news: had 4 malfunctions, all failures to return to battery. I think it was 2 of each kind of ammo. The last one, I took the cartridge and gave it a good once-over -the rim of the case looked a little irregular - whether it caused the malfunction or was caused *by the malfunction, I'm not sure. It wasn't set back, so I loaded it in a mag, chambered it successfully and shot it. (all of the malfunctioning rounds rechambered and shot successfully)
Disclosure: I did not clean the pistol between this range trip and the one prior - this may have been a factor in the malfunctions. I've cleaned it and will be more diligent in cleaning between range trips to see if that doesn't enhance the performance.

^^^ This is what I'm hoping. ^^^
Another range session last night, after giving the pistol a bit of a cleaning, produced zero malfunctions with 100 rounds of Rem 230gr hardball. Now if I could see the front sight, surely I could make it a bit more accurate. To be fair, the Glock I shot last night exhibited the same low/left tendencies that the Trabzon did.

Let's not get too serious about this gun - it's a cheap (for the type) 1911 that I'm giving a fair chance to sort itself out. It's a range toy for me, and I'll probably never press it into self defense service. It if turns out to be at all reliable, I'll be more than happy with it - and I'll have passed on some useful knowledge to some who are in the market for a budget 1911.

@MICHAEL T: Huh?