Cabot Precision 1911s – Lefty Too! – SHOT Show 2013

Cabot Guns
https://cabotgun.com/

By Brian Jensen

I saw something incredible today when I met Cabot Guns CEO Robert A. Bianchin. His company may not be a household name among gun enthusiasts, yet, but this niche manufacturer builds some of the finest 1911s I have ever held.

These are not old-school 1911s you shoot every weekend, or toss into the back of your trunk irreverently. They’d handle it and be utterly reliable, but you just wouldn’t do that to these handguns.

These are, as Bianchin put it, a functioning piece of precision art. These 1911s are developed and made by engineers, to critical tolerances, using standards typically reserved for the aerospace industry or in a nuclear lab…I’m not kidding. They are also utterly reliable.

It might help to go into the background of Cabot Guns, which only started 20 months ago. In 2008, when the financial crash hit, the employees and engineers of Penn United Technologies (a scientific engineering/high-tech manufacturing company), needed a project to boost morale. They decided to develop a pistol from the original designs. The only logical choice was the 1911 because, well, it’s America and it’s a 1911–need I say more?

So what happens when a bunch of aerospace and nuclear engineers get together with machinists from the same areas of expertise to create a 1911? You get a pistol scientifically engineered to incredible tolerances and specificity. These are not hand-fitted guns. At these tolerances you can take the parts from one gun, put them on another, and the fit and function is perfect. So no “fitting” is necessary. Needless to say, it wasn’t long until Cabot Guns became a portion of Penn United.

I can honestly say, I have never seen any pistol that combines this level of research, attention to detail and artistry. Beyond that, these guns are buffed to an almost absurd shine. I don’t remember ever seeing such a perfectly polished and blued surface. The company employs two professional hand polishers, who are more like artists. A Cabot 1911 usually takes four months to complete, and 70 specialists are involved in the process. Tool-and-die journeymen are important members of this team, as are professional shooters, engineers and others who continue to develop new ideas.

Bianchin showed me one of his prouder achievements, a knurled trigger face that was done using special systems and tools designed by Cabot personnel. He said, “I call it the Dare Me Pattern, because I dare anyone else to copy it.” After seeing his company’s progress in the last five years, he is excited to see where it goes in the next five.

Needless to say, the price tag on something like this is hefty, $5,000 to $10,000 a pistol. But this gun feeds thriving niches among 1911 enthusiasts, people who value high precision, or high-end collectors.
I will say, I have never seen anything their equal, and hope to someday own one. It would be a great family heirloom, a piece of art passed on by generations. And that’s just the way Bianchin likes it.