A Springfield 1911 and a River Bottom Boar

(Or How I Almost Peed in my Pants One Thursday Morning!)

By Denny L. Vasquez

 

Finally, my long awaited Springfield Armory Professional model 1911 in .45acp had arrived! This is the same model that the FBI SWAT Operators chose for their teams to use and I had been trying to get my hands on one ever since they had first been introduced to the civilian market. Yes, I have a problem. You see, I am a 1911holic. Just like the proverbial V-10 Ford F-350 that can’t drive past a service station without stopping to fill up, I can’t walk past a 1911 style pistol without wanting to pick it up and run a few rounds through it. I know that it is a horrible addiction to have but unlike alcoholics, they don’t have an AA for 1911holics. So I manage the best I can without trying to let it get the best of me. Fortunately for me there are a lot of us in this country and I have lots of support for my habit.

 

When I first laid my hands on this blued beauty I knew I wanted to take a different approach to my article than the traditional product evaluation or accuracy testing approach that most other writers have been doing these last few decades, until it makes one nauseous. After all how many times can we read about how great this Springfield is or how accurate that Kimber is until all of the articles start running together?

Unfortunately, many of those involved in today’s law enforcement efforts only shoot their service pistols during their qualification courses each year. That usually totals out to less than 100 rounds a year. Not much of a test of the pistol’s functionality and reliability. On the other hand competitive shooters often shoot thousands of rounds through their guns each year.

 

This also is not applicable to most working guns situations as the average shooter will never shoot that many rounds through their pistols in a lifetime. So I had to find a viable real world situation to test not only the functionality and reliability of the pistol but as many different carry methods as I could. After talking over my options with several of my friends I settled upon putting this “Professional” model pistol through its paces as a hunting piece from the stand point of how would the gun work as a sidearm for a hunting guide, rancher, cowboy, etc. in the field.

After making several inquires among those whom I know that own hunting ranches an opportunity presented itself that would allow me to test the worthiness of the pistol for ranch use. It came via an offer from Dusty Phillips, who owns River Bottom Outfitters near Bryan/College Station, Texas (979-229-4850). Dusty offered me the opportunity of pursuing one of the feral boars “with a bad attitude” that inhabit the Brazos River bottoms near Bryan/College Station, Texas.

The area around Bryan/College Station is hilly like that of the famed Texas hill country, but it does not have the rocks, cedars and cactus. Instead it has the huge, tall trees of the east Texas big thicket and lush vegetation that one would expect to find in a damp river bottom in this part of the state. In fact the vegetation is so thick in places that you can’t see more than 10 feet into it, a perfect place to pursue feral boars.

Waiting for the sun rise on the first really cool day of the year, October 6th, 2005, I appreciated the fact that the high today was only forecast to reach 79 degrees. A much better temperature range for hunting hogs then the scorching heat we had experienced back in April for my hunt with Hornady ammunition near Tilden, Texas. This area had not seen any rain to speak of recently so the ground would be dry and solid, even in the areas closest to the river. This meant that the hogs would be concentrating around the few remaining areas of moisture that were hidden in the thick vegetation found along the river bottoms, thus providing good locations to set up an ambush on an unsuspecting boar.

My son, future son-in-law (who was out on his first ever hunting adventure) and two of his friends decided to accompany me. This worked out well for this old man because as I mentioned the area we would be hunting is so thick in places that a big old boar could pass by within a few yards of us and we would never catch a glimpse of him. (After all someone needed to carry my hog out when I harvested it didn’t they? And who better then four 20+ year old youngsters to do just that!) My hunt was scheduled to begin at daybreak so we arrived at Dusty’s lodge in time to make introductions and get ready.

With the sun coming up over the trees that lined the river banks we slowly began our search for a good trophy sized boar. As we descended into the river bottoms, Dusty warned us to make as little noise as possible. The plan was for Dusty and I to make our way along one of the numerous game trails in hopes of surprising one of the boars in his bed or on his way there. The others would stay back about 50 yards so that they would be out of danger when the action started.

Well, I am sure that everyone knows about Murphy’s Law, what can go wrong will go wrong and there is nothing you can do to stop it. Dusty and I had been following a well used feral hog trail when we spotted a small herd of several hogs. There appeared to be about 15-20 or so in this group and there was one in particular that got our attention right away.

Dusty estimated that this black specimen would weigh in at around 250 lbs. or so. Unfortunately, because of the distance and the thick foliage we were unsure whether this was a boar of a sow that had grabbed our attention. Dusty suggested that we try a stalk in order to close the distance to see if this was a hog we wanted to harvest. Turning to the others I signaled for them to stay where they were and to be quiet as we began our stalk.

After slowly edging our way along the trail we closed the distance between us and the herd to around 50 yards or so. At this point Dusty signaled me to stay put as he tried to move a little to our left while attempting to use his binoculars to determine if the big hog was a boar or not. It was about this time that things got crazy.

I had just taken the Springfield out of my holster to make sure it was ready if I chose to call upon it to harvest the suspected boar when I heard a loud grunt off to my right, smack dab in the middle of several impenetrable looking bushes. Turning in the direction of this new disturbance I was just in time to see a very nasty looking and surprised specimen of the feral boar species as he lunged to his feet. As you know feral boars do not have the best eye sight and the wind was blowing in our faces so he had been unable to catch our scent until we were right on top of him.

Evidently this old denizen of the bottom lands had decided that we had come too close for his comfort and that we needed to be going somewhere else and quickly! So he charged us with all of the grunting, squealing, gnashing of teeth, head swinging and slobber slinging that he could muster from the grand distance of 10 or so yards. My son told me later, while trying to control his hysterical laughter that he didn’t realize I could still move that fast. He told the others, “Did ya’ll see the old man jump? I bet he easily reached a height of ten feet or more!”
Strangely enough or luckily enough, take your pick, the first Corbon 230 gr. hollow point hit this engine of destruction right in the ear canal as I was sidestepping to get out of his way. Even so he passed by me at reach out and touch me distance. This shot seemed to have no effect on him whatsoever as he let out an ear shattering squeal and began to turn back in our direction. So turning as quickly as I could my second round hit him at the base of his skull where it joins his neck and he went down and stayed down but I didn’t know it then.

Neither Dusty nor I realized that the nerve shattering action was over in a short 5-10 seconds as he was still trying to draw his pistol while attempting to put some distance between us while shouting, “Shoot him again! Shoot him again!” After slamming into one of the numerous trees in the area, while trying to put it between me and the boar, I started to put another round into him when my son James yelled that he was down. Needless to say that this was one of those “extreme pucker factor” events which we occasionally experience while enjoying our favorite pastime, hunting!

Finally realizing that it was finished, Dusty and I looked at each other and broke out in a nervous laughter, neither one of us wanting to admit that we had just had the devil scared out of us.

Later examination showed that my first round had proven fatal as it had entered through his ear canal and had destroyed the brain. Unfortunately, as with most dangerous game, the boar still retained enough adrenaline to attempt to turn it’s hunter into a victim if it had been able to reach us, thus, my subsequent follow-up shot. The old boar topped the scales at just slightly over 375lbs. and had 3 inch uppers and 4 1/2 inch lower tusks. More then enough to hurt you with my dear!

Did the Springfield prove itself as a working pistol? I think the answer to that question is a decisive yes! As to be expected, during my range sessions the 1911 proved that it could handle any quality ammo available on the market today. Out of over 2,500 rounds used to put it through its paces and to hunt with, I only had 5 FTEs, and that was with a brand of cheap foreign ammo that has a reputation for such things in almost every pistol I have used it in. Is Springfield Armory’s Professional model 1911 worth the rather hefty price they are asking for it? That is up to you to decide. Just remember that if you want a semi-custom gun with all of the bells and whistles that most custom gunsmiths charge extra for and that is extremely accurate right out of the box, then I think the answer is yes. I do know one thing for sure; Springfield is not getting this one back!