Tisas ZIG 1911 Pistol
Lewis Creek Shooting School 07.01.13
Good and cheap do not normally go together. From time to time, I do see something that fulfills both categories but good and cheap are a rare combination. This week, I tested a gun that totally fulfilled both attributes and I’m compelled to share the information. I was at a church party last week and a friend asked me to stop by his car on the way out to look at a gun he’d just bought. He told me it was a 1911 in .45 ACP and that it cost $400. Politely, I asked to look at the gun and it appeared nice. He then asked me if I’d take it and shoot it as a favor to him. I did so and got a real surprise.
The Turkish-made Tisas ZIG 1911 looks pretty good on visual inspection. I field stripped the gun and examined the parts. The fit and finish and the machining looked good. The ZIG is a government model clone with tiny, non-adjustable sights and absolutely no extra features. The trigger is reasonable for a government model, neither particularly good or bad.
I reassembled the gun and put a handful of 185-grain round-nosed cast reloads in my pocket. I shot the ZIG at 10 yards, two handed, unsupported. The first three shots went into a slightly oversized hole. I had a flyer and then put all but the last shot into an ever-growing hole where the first three shots had gone. The tenth shot was also a flyer but the extreme spread was 1.21 inches. I have no idea what the capability of the gun is, but 1.2 inches is probably my wobble area.
The ZIG functioned perfectly through those shots and the trigger was consistent for every shot, breaking at a fairly clean six pounds with more backlash than I would like, but not bad at all for a service gun. I then got out an Uncle Mike’s Holster, blacked the sights, and loaded up the magazines, again with the 185-grain round-nosed cast bullets over 4.4 grains of Clays. I shot the plates at ten yards only and scored a 41 of 48 plates, probably using more time than the allowed six seconds. I experienced one malfunction in the form of a round that needed a bump on the slide to get it to drop into battery, but remember that I was shooting light cast bullet loads in a gun designed for hardball. I later ran 50 rounds of hardball through the gun without a hitch.
I have no idea if this is a typical ZIG 1911, but if it is, this gun is a winner. With a price tag just at four C notes and accuracy as good as guns that cost twice (and sometimes three times) the price, this gun is a bargain. This isn’t a plate gun or and has no enhancements or frills that make it easier to shoot, carry, or run fast. It is a bare bones service pistol that shoots well right out of the box and for $400, that is remarkable.
Dick Jones is an award winning outdoor writer and a member of the Southeastern Outdoor Press Association Board of Directors. He writes for four North Carolina Newspapers as well as regional and national magazines. He’s hunted and fished most of his life but shooting has been his passion. He’s a former High Master, Distinguished Rifleman, and AAA class pistol shooter. He holds four Dogs of War Medals for Team Marksmanship as shooter, captain and coach. He ran the North Carolina High Power Rifle Team for six years and the junior team two years after that. Within the last year, he’s competed in shotgun, rifle and pistol events including the National Defense Match and the Bianchi Cup. He’ll be shooting the Bianchi, the NDM, the National High Power Rifle Championship, The Rock Castle AR15.com Three Gun Championship and an undetermined sniper match this shooting season.
He lives in High Point, North Carolina with his wife Cherie who’s also an outdoor writer and the 2006 and 2011 Northeast Side by Side Women’s Shotgun Champion. Both Dick and Cherie are NRA pistol, rifle, and shotgun instructors and own Lewis Creek Shooting School.
