That was the conversation that started it all.  You see, Tim had signed up to be a Vietnam chopper pilot for an airsoft scenario coming up soon.  He was looking for his proper attire and happened across the KJW 1911 Single stack offered by the company that we worked for.  He was jazzed that finally KJW made a 1911 A1 single stack gas blow back for airsoft.  It wasn't as thick as the first 1911 version and felt a lot more realistic.

So we finally got some of these pistols in this is what we found.  Upon first inspection, this was a really nice gun.  It is made of full metal design including the lower base and the slide.  It has a really nice feel to the gun, especially since it is a single stack, so the grip isn't too big for those of you that don't have really big hands.  But on the same note, it isn't too small, so we'll have to say that it is 'just right'.  The grip handles have a realistic 'brown' color to them similar to the real steal 1911 A1, which ads to the realism of the KJW single stack.

The magazine holds 12 rounds and NO, you can't 'fit' more.  I am sure if you were to attempt to stuff 13 rounds into the mag, you could (on some guns) but you would probably end up damaging the BB, therefore causing you to have an out of round BB.  You could always cycle one into the chamber to make it a 12+1 set up, but that is your choice.

The thumb safety works, but it is not ambidextrous so for you lefty's this 'may' not be the gun for you.  Unlike the 'thick' KJW 1911, which has the thumb safety on both sides,  it will be harder to release the safety in a tactical situation.  The grip safety or palm safety that requires you to have a complete grip on the pistol works just like any other 1911.  Also for those of you that don't know how to work the thumb safety, the hammer must be pulled in order for the safety to engage. 

The slide guide on the KJW 1911 single does not protrude from the front of the gun like it's 'thicker' brother, again giving a more 'realistic' look to the gun.  This may or may not be important for those of you looking to emulate the real steal.

So how does it fire?  Okay here it is.  This gun was one of the WORST guns that I have ever come across as far as shooting reliability.  As soon as we got some of these in, I pulled one out and loaded the magazine up with the 12 rounds.  I filled the KJW 1911A1 single stack up with green gas and loaded one into the chamber.  I fired the first round and I noticed that it had quite a bit of gas discharge.  Now, I'm not talking about gas discharge in the terms of power.  I am saying that I had a cloud of gas come out from the gun.  Very similar to what you would see if you were to fire your gas pistol in 40 degree weather.  This was not good, because it was telling me that I was 'wasting' gas on every shot.  I thought maybe it would fire differently with red gas, but I got similar results with the red gas as well.  The ambient temperature was about 76 degrees.

Another thing that I noticed was that when slide recycled, a BB literally 'rolled' out of the barrel.  Yes, rolled out after the first shot.  This obviously meant that the next shot that I made was a blank.  I fired the gun a third time and what do you know?  The SAME EXACT result.  I fired the gun a fifth time and right after the BB left the barrel, the remaining gas emptied from the mag.  What a complete disappointment.

I figured, maybe it was because it was the first magazine.  So I reloaded and fired the gun.  The first three rounds fired beautifully but then I had the same result.  I can honestly say that it took me five separate attempts to completely get through one complete magazine.  Again, how depressing.  And to ad insult to injury, the ONLY way that I was able to do that was to fire each round at a 2-3 second interval.  Not, in a fire fight, this would not be acceptable because really... who fires their sidearm in 2 second intervals?  The entire reason for the sidearm is for emergencies.

I chalked up the problems, to possible a bad gun so I pulled another out of the box and it did the same thing.  When Tim finally came in, I told him, "I'm not going to say anything, just fire a few rounds through it."  Hey, maybe it was operator error.  So Tim fired a few rounds as I sat back and laughed after every shot.  Yes, it did the same thing.  After the slide recycled a BB rolled out of the barrel each time. 

Tim thought that maybe the gun was messed with, but soon realized that the KJW single stack 1911 just plain sucks.  Then we decided to pull apart the gun, thinking it was the wrong slide spring.  So he pulled apart a plastic slide 1911 and swapped the springs.  NOPE... good try though.

So to sum up this review on the KJW 1911 A1 single stack gas blow back airsoft pistol, this gun just plain SUCKS.  It is unreliable, it pushes BB's out of the barrel and since you only have 12 rounds to begin with, this is even more disappointing.  Since the magazine is a single stack, it does not hold enough gas to get through a complete magazine in the even of rapid fire.  So if you were to 'have to' go to your side arm, you wouldn't be able to fire this gun more than once every 2-3 seconds.  Otherwise the gas would discharge too quick causing the magazine to get cold pretty much right after the first shot. 

The things that we did like about the gun, is the feel of the pistol.  Since it was a single stack, it had a nice comfortable feel to it.  The trigger pull on the KJW 1911 single is very light, but not so light that you will end up discharging the firearm accidentally.  This allows for great accuracy since you aren't fighting the trigger to make the shot.

The KJW 1911 A1 single stack gas blow back airsoft pistol is a great gun, if you are looking for a 'PROP' or a wall hanger, but it is not a gun that I would recommend for use in a game.  You would find more reliability from a gas non blow back gun that cost $25.00 then you would find from the KJW single stack.  The selling price on this gun is right about $125.00 which again adds insult to injury.  So unless you have some spare money burning a hole in your pocket, I seriously recommend you look into a different side arm.  Your (airsoft) life may depend on it.

Here are some pics we took of the gun.

 

Click here to see a video of the KJW 1911 A1 single stack in action File size=(2.91mb) Requires QuickTime player click to download

UPDATE 01/31/05:

Okay, it appears as if we may have gotten our hands on a 'bad batch'.  After the new batch of guns came in it looks as if 'some' of the problems have been corrected or past oversights were found.  Apparently what we had 'thought' may have been a problem with an incorrect spring in the slide was in fact truth.  The spring that was in our first test gun was out of a plastic slide gun (don't know how) and now the guns will have the correct spring.  This helps in the gas issue to give the slide a bit more tension allowing the gas to propel the BB.  Another thing that was found is that the barrel and the slide were (ever so) slightly misaligned which caused the mis-feeding.  My reports is that this particular problem has yet to be fixed, but after enough rounds are run through the gun, the problem seems to correct it self by 'shaving' away... something..?!?!  I don't know, that's what I have been told.  Another point that my R&D team disclosed to me was that he used .29g aluminum coated BB's and most, if not all the problems with the gas capacity and BB rolling out of the barrel is gone.  On our original test, we used up to .28g BB's.  Now I haven't fired the gun since the first initial review so I am only relaying information given to me by our research team.  Also what has been told to us is that the Western Arms single stack mags are identical to the KJW single stack mags.  Again, I don't know if this is true, but that is what I am being told. 

So, I apologize for any 'scares' that this review may have given you.  At 858airsoft.com we attempt to give you true non-bias reviews on products as we get them.  We don't sell anything so it doesn't do us any good to make one gun sound better than the other.  We have no intentions on turning any of you 'on or off' from purchasing an airsoft gun and hope that you will only consider our reviews as another source of information.  We will only do a review on a piece of equipment that we have actually 'tested' and we then relay those findings to you.  Yes, it is a possibility that we will get a 'bad batch' from time to time... We are sure that this won't be the last.

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