Gun Review: Century Arms Centurion 11 .45 ACP 1911 Pistol

It’s a strange thing to live long enough to see something that was once commonplace become…unique. Take for instance, the M1911A1 .45 ACP single-action auto pistol. When I was 19 years old that was the gun that you wanted to own and operate. 

It was at that tender young age that I attended my first professional firearms training course, a four-day, 40-hour program taught by John Farnam. Being too young to purchase a pistol, I rented one from the school for the duration.

That rental gun was a WWII surplus M1911A1 in stock configuration. If memory serves, there were 12 to 14 other guys in the class. With the exception of one student from South America who ran a .38 Special DA revolver and one guy with a stainless Smith & Wesson 659, every other person in attendance was shooting some form of 1911 .45 ACP pistol. I recall that my roommate had a stainless Colt 1911 with Pachmayr grips, the coolest of the cool at the time.  

Older folks might assume that Millennial and Gen Z gun enthusiasts are just as aware of and familiar with the M1911 as they are. From what I have seen, that’s not the case. Younger folks might recognize the silhouette of that pistol as “a .45”, but that’s generally about as far as their familiarity goes. During 2024, Student of the Gun University conducted numerous Martial Application of the Pistol courses and we had a total of one student shoot an M1911A1 style pistol (the gentlemen worked for a firearms company that makes 1911’s). 

Century Arms Centurion 11 .45 ACP 

Recently, Century Arms has begun importing what they’ve dubbed the Centurion 11 a single-action .45 ACP pistol that is, for all intents and purposes, identical to the old M1911A1 US Army pistols with the exception of the finish color and grips. 

As for specifications, the Centurion 11 has a 5-inch barrel with an overall length of 8.6 inches and an overall height of 5.31 inches. The empty weight is 35.5 ounces and it comes with one 8-round single stack magazine. 

The controls are all traditional 1911 style with a narrow grip safety and a manual “thumb” safety on the left side of the frame. You’ll recognize the hammer design as it looks like the old Colt style. As for the single-action trigger, it’s curved and has a smooth face. The slide lock and magazine release button are located in the same place that they were when John Moses Browning designed the gun more than one hundred years ago. On top of the slide you’ll find the traditional rudimentary — or Spartan, pick your adjective — iron sights.

Century Arms ships the Centurion 11 pistols in a padded plastic hard case with barrel cleaning tools, a mandatory trigger locking device and an owners manual. If this is your first M1911A1 or single action pistol, you should definitely take the time to read over the manual.   

Toting Old Slabside in 1791 Gunleather

Fortuitously, right about the same time that Century Arms announced the Centurion 11, 1791 Gunleather announced their “Military Classic” lineup for the M1911A1. They have the G.I. hip holster that we affectionately used to refer to as the “flap holster” as well as the M3 Tanker shoulder-holster. Both of these come in Classic Brown a la WWII or Stealth Black a la Cold War era. 

When I first became a Marine, the M1911A1 was still in the inventory and being issued. During my first duty assignment, I carried “old Slabside” in both the hip holster as well as a shoulder holster. It wasn’t until 1988 that the unit to which I was assigned received their new Beretta M9 pistols.

For those unfamiliar with genuine 100%  leather holsters, these Military Classics are constructed just as they might have been 50 years ago. They are not hand-boned or form fitted. When you get yours, it’s recommended that you rub it down thoroughly with some kind of leather treatment like the mink oil my dad put on my first baseball glove. Insert the gun and then leave it there so that the leather will form to it. 

Prepping for Range Time

In addition to the pistol and the two holsters from 1791 Gunleather, I wanted a second magazine so I picked one up from Ed Brown Products, a company famous for building M1911 pistols and components. As you might expect, prior to any shooting, I stripped the pistol down to remove factory/storage oil and applied Froglube to the internal parts and slide rails.

As for .45 ACP ammunition, I grabbed, with some effort (it weighed about 30 pounds), a steel can filled with a variety of .45 ACP ammunition from numerous makers. On top of the pile of loose ammo were a couple boxes of Black Hills Ammunition “HoneyBadger.” The .50 caliber OD green steel ammo can I used has been the receptacle for partial boxes of .45 ACP for literally years and years now. 

For this review I would run 230 grain “ball” ammo with steel and brass cases as well as controlled-expansion rounds from Black Hills (their JHP), Cor-Bon (told ya it has been years), Double Tap Ammo, Federal, Remington, Speer, and Winchester.   

Rounds Down Range

To be completely honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect. My nearly 40 year experience with traditional M1911A1 pistols is that, when new, they usually require a break-in period before running smoothly and reliably. Additionally, stock 1911 pistols are notoriously picky eaters and can require gunsmithing to reliably cycle a wide variety of JHP ammunition.

I started out by loading the magazines deliberately with only the 230 grain FMJ ball ammunition. After about five or six mags full without any stoppages, I decided to try out the controlled expansion rounds. Like I said before, I had a wide variety of projectiles including HydraShok, Golden Saber, Gold Dot, Ranger, and traditional 230 grain jacketed hollow point, as well as HoneyBadger FTM projectiles and some 100% copper hollow core expanding bullets.

Testing the waters, I loaded a couple of magazines with the traditional fully jacketed hollow point ammunition. Range partner Damon and Zach and I took turns shooting the gun at steel targets. No stoppages occurred. 

I was starting to get excited. I switched to just grabbing handfuls of .45 ACP from the can and stuffing the magazines full. We shot the gun with two hands, single right and single left. Still, no one had a stoppage or a jam, not even the stovepipe stoppage for which the M1911A1 is famous. Chuck Taylor would be disappointed.      

Thoughts on the Centurion 11

Even with its old school iron sights, shots on steel ½ silhouettes were simple enough from 5, 7, 10 and 15 yards. The gun is just inherently accuracy. The trigger is, shall we say, stock. That is, it’s rather stiff. If you want a crisp, smooth, 3.5 pound trigger on your M1911, you’ll need to buy an Ed Brown or a Wilson Combat (and pay 7 to 10 times as much). Or, if you’re looking for a stock gun on which to build out a slick custom 1911, this might be what you’re looking for. 

The Centurion 11 is all steel, save the polymer grips. That’s a situation that most modern handgun buyers are not accustomed to. When you hold onto this pistol, it truly feels like a gun not an airsoft replica. For those younger shooters who have never owned anything but polymer or aluminum guns, this will be a different experience for you. If you’ve never fired anything larger than a 9mm, this will certainly expose you to actual handgun recoil. 

Century Arms has the MSRP set at a mere $399.99 for the imported Centurion 11. As we should all know, that means the street price will be lower. And that means a classic, well-made, reliable M1911 is within reach for just about anyone. 

 

Specifications: Century Arms Centurion 11

Caliber: .45 acp
Action: Single-action
Capacity: 8+1
Length: 8.6 inches 
Height: 5.31 inches 
Width: 1.37 inches 
Weight: 35.5 ounces 
Barrel Length: 5.01 inches 
Made In: Turkey
MSRP: $399

 

Paul G. Markel is a combat decorated United States Marine veteran. He is also the founder of Student the Gun University and has been teaching Small Arms & Tactics to military personnel, police officers, and citizens for over three decades.