About Masters of Accuracy
Mark Brand once built upscale speedboats and race cars before transitioning to firearms with Les Baer Custom. After founding and running the AR department at Les Baer for many years, Brand branched off on his own. It seems he found his niche when he started Masters of Accuracy and began making his own custom firearms with a focus on high-end 1911s.
The Supreme Commanders we’re examining today were made exclusively for Guns.com, so you won’t be able to find MOA pistols with these grips anywhere else. Each .45 ACP pistol includes two eight-round Wilson Combat magazines and a soft carrying case.
It’s the strict tolerances that set these guns apart from the high-end 1911 pack. If you’re not familiar with the term “hard lockup,” these Masters of Accuracy pistols provide a perfect example.
Hard Lockup
Hard lockup describes the mechanical bind between the barrel, the slide stop, the frame and slide fitment, and the barrel bushing. When these components function together perfectly and leave no room for play in the action, meaning when you press on the barrel it doesn’t move – not even slightly – then you have hard lockup.
This is important because the slightest movement of the barrel can affect shot placement. If the barrel comes to rest in the exact same position every time it’s fired, the round will go in the exact same place every time. All the parts of the action must lock together tightly to hold the barrel perfectly in place, so when you hold a 1911 with true hard lockup, you can know it’s been designed and built with exceptional care.
Case in point: these Masters of Accuracy 1911s. We go into more detail on how the slide stop pin, barrel bushing, and slide-to-frame fitment play into hard lockup in the above video.
MOA Supreme Commanders
These Masters of Accuracy Supreme Commander 1911s feature Novak sights with a fiber-optic rear and blacked-out front, a setup I like for its simplicity and ease of use. The 20 LPI slide cuts almost grab your hand, ensuring a solid grip. The Fred Kart barrel is basically the gold standard of 1911 barrels.
The No. 14 model has a polished grip made of rare Amboyna burl wood, while the No. 15 wears a maple burl and epoxy grip. Both make beautiful accents to these high-end handguns. Despite the smooth grip panels, the fine 25 LPI checkering along the front and backstraps provides a secure handhold.
The frames both wear MOA’s in-house blued finish. All edges are beveled for a snag-free draw, while all flat surfaces are blended and flat-plated by hand for a mirror flat finish, according to MOA.
Controls are crisp, with one of the most positive safety levers I’ve felt. The trigger, as expected on a firearm with this price tag, is excellent. It feels like breaking a glass rod. There’s almost zero take-up before a clean break with an instant reset.
Not only are these handsome pistols with stunning exotic grips, they pass every hard lockup test we could throw at them. There’s simply nothing loose inside these guns.
Summary
These pistols define the phrase, “you get what you pay for.” They’re certainly not for everyone, but if you are in the market for a custom 1911 that can hold its own on the competition line and look sharp in a display case, you might want to check these out.
It’s clear when handling these firearms that they’re made with outstanding attention to detail and precision. The proof is in the pudding, so to speak, so if you get a chance to take one of these to the range, don’t sit on it. As always, remember no matter how expensive the gun, practice is what makes a perfect shot. So, pick up some ammo, get some training in, and enjoy exercising your Second Amendment rights this Fourth of July weekend.
