Alpha American AAF 3 Double-Stack 1911: Hand-Crafted Perfection

Photos by @miss.tactical

In a landscape where the pursuit of the latest and greatest technology has become the lifeblood of society, there has emerged a desire to step back to the classic approaches to life. Whether regarding vehicles, homebuilding, or even fishing, what was old is quickly becoming new again. 

Enter Alpha American. Founded by gunsmiths with a pedigree at well-known shops, Tim and Roy have decades of experience crafting truly bespoke pistols by hand. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a better craftsman to handle your build.

In this case, the AAF doublestack 1911 sent for testing is their AAF 3. This model sports features you’d typically find on what most would deem classic 1911s, as well as modern touches. With a classic bushing design on a Nowlin match-grade barrel, the zero target Tim, the founder, sent with the pistol is a single-hole three-shot group at 15 yards with 115gr ball ammunition. 

To say this pistol is accurate is a bold understatement. It ran flawlessly for over three thousand rounds of 115gr and 124gr ammunition and maintained the expected high level of accuracy throughout. 

Built on a classic round top slide and forged frame, the weight and feel of the pistol lets you know you have an authentic piece of work. That mass of the build means recoil for a non-compensated pistol is negligible. Throughout the review process, it sported an Aimpoint P2, and it became routine, even shooting tight splits, to expect the dot not to leave the optic window. Even in one-handed strong/weak side shooting, the heft of the pistol made sure follow-up shots were remarkably repeatable. 

The rock-solid stainless steel grip gave enough grip that palm sweat didn’t become an issue, even in Arizona’s summer heat. There was no need for the notorious grip chalk, which has become popular in the world of competition. The grip safety also came pinned, becoming a well-received trend across the spectrum of double stack 1911s/2011s. 

The AAF 3 was coated in a unique Night Ops Multicam pattern, lending itself to being subtle yet standing out just enough to catch the eye of more experienced shooters. Tim even went so far as to custom engrave the mainspring housing, proving that AAF understands the desire for special touches, and he came through swimmingly.

The sighting system sports a sturdy and bright Dawson front fiber and Heine rear ledge sighting system. Tim and the crew at AAF thought through sighting systems, and their pistols are also cut for the IOS optic plates. This is one of the best sighting systems on the market, as evidenced by Agency Arms, Springfield, and Nighthawk sporting them. I quickly purchased a Nighthawk IOS plate from Eddie at Pistol Parlour in Mesa, Arizona, and it was rock solid when mounted correctly. 

In terms of maintaining zero, off a bag and tripod at 15 yards after two thousand rounds, I could still print a 5-round group that my thumbnail covered. The accuracy of this pistol is nothing short of stellar. The trigger was purposefully set at a consistent 3.5-4 lbs, so this is also a pistol that one can use safely for far more than just competition. As evidence of this, the AAF 3 was primarily run from AIWB throughout the review in a Phlster holster.

Lastly, regarding cleaning and reliability, AAF has hit a sweet balance spot here. With most custom doublestack 1911s, there is an absolute truth to having to clean them more often. They are hand-fit high-performance machines and need to be treated as such. 

The AAF 3 was cleaned around the 500-round mark throughout the review process and had zero issues with malfunctions or accuracy on that schedule. This is what one would expect from a pistol with looser tolerances and less accuracy, so it was a welcome surprise and vastly improved the shooting experience.

With a market saturated with doublestack 1911s that are all starting to look the same, the pistols from Alpha American stand apart in recognition of where they originated. Not only did the AAF 3 perform incredibly well, but it is also a working piece of art that pays homage to the generations that have come before it. It’s no exaggeration to say that this pistol was a pleasure to shoot, and with what Tim and the crew have planned, there’s only more amazing work to come.  

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