Springfield Armory is following up on their Ronin Operator 1911 with a new Ronin featuring a compact slide and barrel and lightweight alloy frame for everyday carry. The Ronin Operator 4.25 is offered in 9mm Luger and .45 ACP.
“Since its release earlier this year, the full-size Ronin Operator has been extremely popular due to its combination of impressive features and pricing,” says Steve Kramer, Vice President of Marketing for Springfield Armory. “The new Ronin Operator 4.25″ adds a lighter, more compact option for those who love carrying the legendary 1911.”
Like the full-size Ronin Operator pistols these are handsome and slightly understated two-tone guns with checkered wooden grips featuring the crossed cannons logo and fiber optic front and tactical ledge rear sights.
They come with modern controls including an extended beavertail grip safety with a memory button, skeletonized hammer and trigger and straight grip and mainspring housing.
The new Ronin Operator has a 4.25-inch barrel and matching slide. The barrel, slide and frame are all forged, with a carbon steel slide with a black polished blued finish, a stainless steel barrel in the white, and an aluminum frame with a Satin Aluminum Cerakote finish.
And while the slide assemblies are compact, the frames have full-size grips and standard magazine capacities, 9+1 in 9mm and 8+1 in .45. They both have an unloaded weight around 30 ounces; 29.5 in .45 and 31 in 9mm. Overall they measure in at just under 8 inches long and 5.5 inches tall.
Both versions use traditional barrel bushings with match-grade, fully supported, ramped barrels. This lends a bit of strength and helps with reliability across a wide range of ammunition.
Altogether this makes these Ronin Operator 4.25 pistols classic-looking 1911s with a good spread of contemporary features.
See Also: Springfield’s 9mm Hellcat Hits 20,000-Round Milestone Test
But probably the nicest feature isn’t on the guns, it’s the sticker that comes on them. The suggested retail price for both models is just $849. Realistically that means in-store and online pricing in the $750 range or even less.
While that only includes one stainless steel magazine with each pistol many 1911 owners and enthusiasts have a preferred style and brand of magazine so this is a tidy way to keep prices down without cutting corners on the pistols themselves.
For more information about these and other Springfield Armory rifles and pistols, head over to the Springfield Armory website.
I’M a south paw I’m sick of spending an extra 50 every time I buy a gun
Am ambi safety is a pain in the ass if you don’t like one for everyday carry. More 1911 people I shoot with have had them removed instead of bitching about not having one. Shouldn’t be a factor in the price IMHO, if you have to have one than this isn’t your gun
Round off the heel of that 9mm and that pistol would be in my safe tomorrow.
ANY QUALIFIED GUNSMITH SHOULD BE ABLE TO FIX THAT BIT OF CUSTOMIZATION FOR YOU…..
$849 affordable? Without a ambi safety? I have a 1911 I picked up for $440 that has a ambi safety.
THIS RONIN WILL BE WORKING LONG AFTER THAT $440 TUNA CAN HAS GIVEN UP THE GHOST..
Looks nice. Too bad it doesn’t come out of the box with an ambi-safety.
Why not just say it’s Commander sized?
The first part of the article says ‘compact’ frame, but is a full sized.
So it’s a Commander sized gun.