Everything is coming up 2011

While this concept was arguably covered by past designs that have been around for decades– after all, the circa 1935 Browning Hi-Power is just a redesigned 1911 with a double-stack 9mm magazine, while Ted Szabo’s Para-Ordnance of Canada was producing 14-shot 1911 doubles in the 1980s– it wasn’t until about 1993 that STI International of Georgetown, Texas introduced a competition gun platform they eventually dubbed the “2011” that would go on to make history.

Produced in a series of very spendy semi-custom models (Steel Master, 4.0 Tactical, Match Master, Apeiro, 5.0 Executive, The GM, Marauder, Rangemaster, Trubador, Perfect 10, Combat Master, Costa Carry Comp, Hextac, DVC, well, you get the idea) STI started getting so many orders for their guns from law enforcement tactical teams and savvy gun nerds that in 2019 they changed their name to Staccato and went full-bore advertising to the public.

The John Wick franchise, of course, helped with that greatly. There are even dedicated Reddit groups to the genre of pistols.

Besides Staccato’s monstrous share of the booming market, others have gotten into the game as well in the past several years.

Today, Accuracy X, BG Defense, Chambers Custom, American Tactical (FXH Moxie), Atlas Gun Works (Erebus, Hyperion), Bull Armory (SAS II TAC), Cosaint Arms (COS21 DS), EAA (Girsan MC1911S-STV), Kimber (KDS9C), Nighthawk (TRS), Rock Armory (Tac Ultra), Springfield Armory (Prodigy), Taran Tactical (Sandviper, Pitviper) and Wilson Combat (SFX9) all crank out assorted models that could be described as 2011s.

This year, there has been a lot of movement on both ends of the spectrum when it comes to these guns. One is from Florida-based Live Free Armory, whose sub-$1000 Apollo 11 is turning heads.

Another is EAA’s 2311 line which uses a modified Cosaint COS21 alloy frame with a polymer shell and slide and internals from Girsan in Turkey.

With an ask of $999, these are starting to filter out to the market in the past few weeks in 9mm (with .45 and 10mm inbound) in both 5- and 4.25-inch formats (with a 6-inch longslide promised as well.)

Early range reports are spotty, but if they can work the bugs out of these, they could be a hit.

And going for all the marbles is Cabot Firearms— the guys who make 4.5-million-dollar one-off guns out of rare meteorites.

They have established a dedicated shop in Pennsylvania to make what they call their new Insurrection pistol. A 17+1 shot 2011, it will be offered in a stainless and all-DLC finish with lots of custom detail work.

Price on the new Cabot Insurrection? Starting at $5,995 with an expected six-month wait time. While that sounds like a lot, it is still cheaper than something like an Atlas Erebus or TTI Sand Viper, which edges closer to the $7K-$8K range.

We predict that in 2024 we will probably be seeing a lot more of the same.