Springfield Armory Ronin 1911 10mm Auto Pistol: Review

I sure hope readers don’t get tired of me reviewing new 10mm Auto pistols—because I never get tired of shooting them. I’ve had the opportunity to do that at least once a year for the last five years or so, and I am pleased that so many new 10mm guns have been offered up by the industry. As Neil Diamond wrote and the Monkees made famous: “I’m a believer.” In the 10mm Auto’s effectiveness, that is.

The newest 10mm Auto I have the pleasure of reporting on is the full-size Ronin 1911 from Springfield Armory. We’ve covered other Ronin 1911s in Shooting Times, so readers should already be aware of the platform. But for anyone who isn’t, the Ronin is a straightforward 1911. It comes in a two-tone finish with a blued carbon-steel slide and a satin stainless-steel frame. It has an extended manual thumb safety; a grooved slide stop; and a grooved, standard-size magazine release button on the left side of the frame. The grip safety is a beavertail with memory bump, and the mainspring housing is flat and checkered.

The Ronin 10mm also has a skeletonized hammer, a skeletonized trigger with four holes, checkered laminate wood grip panels, and fixed sights. The rear sight is Springfield’s Tactical Rack style with two white dots on the horizontally striated black face. The front sight has a red fiber-optic rod inserted in it, and extra red and green fibers are provided. Sight radius is 6.6 inches, and both sights are dovetailed into the slide. The slide is rounded and smooth on top. And it has grasping grooves at the front and the rear.

The barrel is 5.0 inches long, ramped, and with a fully supported chamber. The muzzle is precision crowned. The Ronin uses a traditional barrel bushing and a standard recoil spring guide rod assembly. Magazine capacity is eight rounds, and our gun came with two steel magazines, replete with bumper pads. The pistol also comes with a zippered soft case, an operator’s manual, and a padlock-style cable lock.

As you can see from the accompanying shooting-results chart, the Ronin 10mm performed very well at the range. I fired six factory loads at 25 yards from a sandbag benchrest, and the overall average accuracy was 2.47 inches. That’s for three, five-shot groups with each load. The best accuracy was achieved with the Barnes VOR-TX 155-grain XPB load, and it averaged 1.66 inches.

Trigger pull averaged 4 pounds, 8 ounces for a series of 10 measurements on my RCBS trigger pull scale. It was crisp with just a hint of take-up that just about every Model 1911 has. The sights were very easy to see and quick to acquire outside in bright daylight as well as indoors. I am fortunate to have indoor lights attached to my chronograph, so I do all of my velocity measuring inside, which also affords me the opportunity to evaluate sight acquisition in a variety of light conditions.

The 5.0-inch-barreled 10mm Ronin 1911 is a handgun that takes care of just about any handgunning task that presents itself. It’s great for self-defense. It is equally good for hunting anything up to and including big game. And it is plain fun to shoot—with any 10mm factory load, ranging from the softer-shooting Barnes VOR-TX ammo up to and including the hard-thumping Federal Trophy Bonded and HSM Bear loadings.

Springfield has put a lot of thought and effort into the Ronin platform, and all that work really shows. It performs well, and with an MSRP of $849, it is comfortably priced. In my book, it’s a good buy.

Springfield Armory Ronin 1911 Specifications

• Manufacturer: Springfield Armory, springfield-armory.com
• Type: Recoil-operated autoloader
• Caliber: 10mm Auto
• Magazine Capacity: 8 rounds
• Barrel: 5.0 in.
• Overall Length: 8.6 in.
• Width: 1.30 in.
• Height: 5.5 in.
• Weight, Empty: 40 oz.
• Grips: Checkered wood laminate
• Finish: Two-tone; blued slide, satin stainless frame
• Sights: Tactical Rack white-dot rear, fiber-optic front
• Trigger: 4.5-lb. pull (as tested)
• Safety: Extended thumb safety, beavertail grip safety
• MSRP: $849