TSD 1911 CO2 NBB

Seeing that I needed a reliable affordable sidearm I dived into the realm of the unknown. Gas pistols… I searched everywhere for a high-quality and affordable CO2 pistol. Then I saw it. The pistol I was looking for, a affordable CO2 NBB (non-blowback) sidearm. The TSD 1911 fits this bill perfectly.

Basic Information

Quick Stats: TSD 1911 CO2 NBB
Mag Capacity- 15
Power Source- CO2
Hop-Up- None
Velocity- 380-400 with .20’s.

Product Description/first Impressions:
The gun is shipped to you in a black case which, has "egg" foam on the inside, seeing that no damage will come to the gun.

Although the gun is plastic it feels very much like metal and has a good weight and balance.

NOTE: If you want the directions on how to operate the gun they will be under the foam.

Externals
The TSD 1911 utilizes a flat matte black finish throughout the body of the gun and a orange tip on the end.
The slide features the traditional warning on the right side. The handle itself is slightly loose because of the CO2 compartment inside. It also has a tactical rail underneath the gun for anyone who would like to put a laser or a light on the gun.

As you can see there is a visible seam running down the underside of the gun. Mounted atop the frame are the weapons sights. The front is fixed, while the rear is also fixed. There is a white dot on the forward sight to help you aim. Moving rearward on the frame we come to the trigger which is nothing special, just a black trigger, but for 50$ what could you expect? Further back is the magazine release, it sticks out maybe an eighth of an inch from the frame and is checkered. Because the gun is a NBB the slide is not functional.

The front and rear of the pistol grip are in a checkered texture, which helps to provide a solid grip. The grip panels, which are made from plastic, aid in giving you a steady and firm grip on the pistol. They also have the small textured checkering, which means you won't be dropping this gun on accident any time soon. The bottom of the pistol grip is, quite obviously, the magazine well. Again there isn't anything special going on here. Finally, we come to the hammer which is about as simple as it gets, a piece of black, non-movable plastic.

The magazine seems to be constructed from all metal components, except for the follower and feed lips. The CO2 does not go into the magazine. The magazine is single stack, and holds 15 rounds. There is a large hole in the center of the magazine, just above where the follower stops when it is locked into place at the bottom of the mag. This hole can cause a BB to slide forward, and jam into the hole; thus locking the follower down and preventing the magazine from feeding.

Power/Magazines
The gun runs on a 12-gram CO2 cartridge and uses about 100-150 shots before running out making it very long lasting gas gun.

Performance Characteristics:
Slide the pistol grip back and insert a 12 gram CO2 cartridge, twist it up to break the seal and your ready to go. Next insert the magazine into the gun. Pop off the safety and your ready to go.

You are finally ready to send some plastic downrange. Simply grasp the pistol, flip off the safety, and pull the trigger. The trigger pull is very heavy. I would say you could empty a mag in 10-20 seconds. The pistol is an admirable performer, but the non-adjustable hop-up is not the best. Velocity is right around 350-390fps with .20’s, being even higher with a fresh CO2 cartridge.
Accuracy is okay for a gun at this price. When using .20’s it travels straight for about 30-60 feet then curves downward. As long as you aim for this you should be fine, if not, you are going to be hitting your enemies’ feet.

Fuel economy is remarkable, about 100-150 shots per cartridge. The nice thing is you only need to go to wal-mart to get the 12-gram CO2 cartridges.

The TSD 1911 is a nice pistol, but I have a few concerns that I will address.
The few problems that arise tend to be small. For example the grip is hard to slide back when trying to get access to the CO2 compartment when first using. After a few attempts you will get used to it. When the grip is in normal position it has a slight wobble due the CO2 compartment inside of it. It has a non-adjustable hop-up, which makes aiming the gun a little bit harder than I would like. The gun feels great in your hands and the performance is definitely there.

Accessories/Modifications
Because of the rail on the underneath you can fit lasers and lights.

Skirmish Results
This gun served as a main gun in a small skirmish and preformed very well. Shooting in nice bursts and proving to be a fine airsoft weapon. I am sure it will fit my needs as my sidearm.

Poor Man's Chrono and 50' feet (about 17 yards) target results.
In both of these tests I will be using TSD Tactical .20 bb's. Please ignore the non-black bb holes due to they were the result of a new CO2 cartridge and not shooting accurately. If you count the bb holes (the black marks) you will only find 7 but I wrote a "2" by where I think I hit the target twice in the same spot. Very accurate for a pistol in my book. I was on my second mag after putting in a fresh CO2 cartridge.

These next pictures are from my poor man's chrono. As you can see the gun is very powerful due to the fact that it was only on it's third mag (about 30 shots into the CO2 cartridge). I am using a coke zero can. It went through both sides, through the bottom leaving a dent in the top of the can, and through the top of the can leaving a dent in the bottom. According to the poor man's this leaves the FPS at around: 500-520 which seems off so I would say after a few more mags it would be more around 380-400. Still a very nice FPS rating.

Conclusion:
Pros

-Solid plastic
-Textured grip feels great
-Tactical rail
-Looks great
-Uses affordable yet powerful CO2 cartridges
-Solid feel and weight.

Cons

-Bb’s curve down after 30-60 feet
-Slight grip wobble
-Non-adjustable hop-up
-Visible Seam on the bottom of the gun

Conclusion:

Overall I would give this gun a 8 out of 10. It feels great, is very affordable and makes a great NBB sidearm. Being a sniper I bought this gun for a nice semi-auto sidearm. Does it do this task? Yes. If you are in the market for your first gas gun, get this. You won’t go wrong.