sightis visible.Thesightson
th isgunaresimplywonderfuland
madelifesimplewhenit cameto hit-
tingthingson therange.
TheKC9’sframeprovidesthe
fu ll griplengthof a 1911,although
th e Bobtailcutmakestheguna bit
easierto conceal.Boththefront-
strapandmainspringhousingare
te xturedwithEd Brown’spropri-
etarySnakeskinpattern,which
provideslotsof gripwithoutbeing
to o abrasive.Thegriptexturingis
asfunctionalas it is attractive.
A beavertailgripsafetyallowsfor
a hi ghgripand,thanksto itsraised
pad withmemorygrooves,engages
positivelywithoutanyefforton the
shooter’spart.Theextendedthumb
sa fetyallowsplentyof operating
surfacewithoutaddinganyunnec-
essarywidthto thehandgun.
Theslidestopholeon theframe
istastefullychamfered,andthe
re cessedslidestopfits flushwitha
sl ightbevelto aiditsalignmentwith
th e barrellink.
TheKC9usesa full-lengthrecoil
sp ringguiderodanda flat spring
A STANDOUT 1911
46 HANDGUNS OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2019 WWW.HANDGUNS.COM
< The rear sight has a serrated face and a ledge to allow one-hand racking,
and the front sight can easily be swapped out. The adoption of an external
extractor reduces costs.
cushioned by a polymer buffer. The
flat recoil spring allowed the gun’s
designers to put more functional
spring tension into a smaller space.
Due to the narrow slide, the half-
moon slide stop notch is a bit more
difficult than normal to see, but dis-
assembly is a simple task. The slide
is drawn to the rear, and the slide
stop is removed laterally once in the
proper position.
The slide comes off the frame
and the recoil spring assembly,
including the plug, can be removed.
The barrel link is then articulated
forward, and the barrel is removed
from the slide. Assembly is accom-
plished by reversing the procedure.
The trigger is one of those things
that separate a great gun from the
pretenders, and this one hits the
mark. The skeletonized aluminum
trigger on my test gun broke cleanly
and consistently at 4.25 pounds,
which strikes a nice balance on a
carry gun. Trigger reset was almost
imperceptibly short, allowing for
fast, precise shooting when multiple
rounds were in order.
