Opinions on Citadel 1911A1 Compact

[Snowman]

Hello All. I recently saw a Citadel Compact 1911A1 at the local Cabela's. I've been thinking about a compact 1911 for CCW. How do these pistols rate? Accuracy. Compared to Rock Island? Where are they made? Average Price? They look fairly well built. Thanks for any help.

[ret_marine2003]

CAI used to wholesale those.
It seems to me that they were considered about as good as all of the other low end 1911A1 copies that were available when they were introduced on the market.

Average price is most likely available by looking at online auction selling prices.

I do not believe these or many of the other copies are completely USGI compatible.

[jjk308]

The Citadels are made by Howa, a japanese company. My experience with their products has been excellent. They make an outstanding rifle, the Howa 1500/ Weatherby Vanguard, and my Vanguard in 300 Wby mag shot 1.5 inch groups right out of the box, on the first batches of my handloads, no load development needed.

And almost all the 1911 copies are USGI compatible, except where tighter tolerances for accuracy require hand fitting instead of the usual GI sloppy drop in parts.

One big exception are the fortunately deceased Llamas where most stuff just doesn't fit, and the Ballister-Molinas/Rigauds which are not really 1911's, just use the barrel/recoil spring group and magazines.

[Snowman]

Hello. Thanks for the replies. I saw this pistol and thought that it would make a nice "truck gun" or inexpensive CCW piece. I like the Springfield compact but I don't like the price.

[beasleydano]

The 1911 pistols imported & sold By CAI are made by Shooters Arms in The Phillipines. This is not the same manufacturer. Citadel is not made by Howa of Japan. Citadel is made by Armscor of the Phillipines for Legacy Sports using the Citadel rollmark. Legacy also imports Howa. Citadels are warranted by Armscor & service is provided by Advanced Tactical/Armscor USA, Pahrump, NV. I have 1911 pistols made by Armscor with different rollmarks such as Armscor, Rock Island Armory, Citadel, Charles Daly, High Standard. They are all quality guns at reasonable prices and great shooters.

[Snowman]

Hello Beasleydano. Thanks for the info and the pics. The compact looks the the one that I saw at Cabela's. I appreciate the help. My wallet might be a little lighter in the near future.

[beasleydano]

The Rock Island Armory Compact Tactical & High Standard Crusader Compact are also made by Armscor & are very similar. The Citadel has nicer rosewood double diamond checkered grips (RIA has smooth wood grips, High Standard has checkered wood grips) & comes with 2 mags (RIA & High Standard come with 1 mag).

[jjk308]

Looks like I was mislead by a vendor screw-up. For some reason this wa sthe only website that came up on my multiple engine search that had a manufacturers name:
http://www.snipercountrypx.com/pc-51...act-45acp.aspx

[ret_marine2003]

I saw one of these this evening at MC Sports.

It honestly does not look much more refined than what CAI sells or sold.

The price on the one I saw was just under $350 and it did not look like there was much interest.

There was a RIA model above it for $309.