Wilson Combat’s Division 77: Project One 

Photos by Sabastian Mann

In 1977, a competitive handgun shooter from Berryville, Arkansas — who just happened to be a watchmaker by trade — started building custom 1911 handguns. Bill Wilson was a good jeweler and a good shooter, and he became one of the most recognized and best modifiers of the 1911 platform.

Wilson said in an interview in 2020, “As I became a high-level competitor, I needed a better pistol, and when guns from the top pistolsmiths of the day did not satisfy me, I used my jewelry and watchmaking skills to work on 1911s.”

And Wilson did make them better. In fact, his 1911s were so much better that they became highly sought after.

Wilson said, “My goal was always to build the best product I could, charge what I had to in order to make a living, and to take care of my customers with a forever customer satisfaction policy. I knew if I did this, everything else would work out fine.”

Now, almost 50 years later, Wilson transformed the little gun customizing shop in the back of a jewelry store into one of the largest and most respected custom firearms manufacturing company in the world.

Bill is no longer at the helm of Wilson Combat, he’s handed the reins of the company over to Cam Ankele. Wilson spends his time on his ranch in Texas, hunting, conducting R&D, and providing technical guidance for Wilson Combat. Ankele, on the other hand, is hard at work to elevate Wilson Combat to even greater heights, and one of the projects he has inspired is Division 77.

Division 77 has a very specific mission: to offer a revolutionary gun series that provides Wilson Combat’s R&D division with the latitude to push boundaries, while also paying homage to the standards Wilson pioneered with 1911 design in 1977. You could look at Division 77 as the Skunkworks of Wilson Combat, and the P1 — Project One — pistol is the first Division 77 gun.

SPECS:

Wilson Combat Division 77 Project One

• Caliber: 9mm Luger
• Capacity: 18+1
• Barrel Length: 5 inches
• Weight: 33.8 ounces (unloaded)
• Overall Length: 8.7 inches
• Height: 5.5 inches
• MSRP: $3,995 ($4,295 with box)

Shooting Results

FEATURES & DETAILS

The foundation for the new D77 P1 pistol is Wilson Combat’s EDC X9 2.0 pistol. The P1 elevates the EDC X9 to make it what some would consider the ultimate combination of capacity, speed, accuracy, and reliability. With the P1, there are four noteworthy innovations, and the first is recoil control. 

Wilson Combat used an all-new Dynamic Recoil Analysis System (DRAS), which is a state-of-the-art testing device designed to measure and analyze pistol recoil with unprecedented exactness to help them tune the recoil impulse of the P1. As opposed to peak recoil measurement, this system relies on 2,000 pressure data points within a 350-millisecond window. The data it provides represents a true recoil pressure curve. Compared to the standard EDC X9, Wilson says the P1 reduces the recoil impulse by an astounding 42 percent. This substantial recoil reduction comes from a proprietary barrel and slide porting system.

The next innovation is a new optics cut on the slide. This cut utilizes an all-new and extremely innovative pin system that allows shooters to seamlessly mount any reflex sight with an RMR, RMSc, or DeltaPoint Pro footprint. The cut is also at the rear of the slide for unobstructed chamber access and optimally positions SROs and longer reflex sights. The pistol ships with a plate that has an integrated Wilson Combat Battlesight rear sight. Remove this plate with two screws and then the reflex sight mounts directly to the slide. Small metal disks/pins allow this cut to interface with the various sight footprints.

Next up is Wilson Combat’s Advanced “RPG” Guide Rod, which is a longer, one-piece guide rod that enhances reliability and ease of use. Its smaller diameter and tapered profile let it tilt out of the slide to make takedown and reassembly easier. The longer shaft of the guide rod increases recoil spring reliability and life.

And, finally, Wilson Combat has crafted an integral big-mouth magwell to the compact-sized Aluminum X-Frame, and then they added reliability enhanced frame rails and an accessory/light rail. The gaping magwell/grip extension accepts an 18-round magazine with a newly configured base pad that has precisely machined grooves on both sides to help conduct faster and smoother magazine changes. Altogether, the magwell and magazines will help you reload the P1 in competition or in other high-stress situations … faster.

Everything else about the P1 is much the same as the EDC X9 2.0. Except — Wilson Combat finishes the P1 with black Armor-Tuff, and the barrel, barrel link, link pin, slide stop, magazine release, grip screws, and ambidextrous thumb safety all have a copper PVD coating. This makes for an attractive contrast that creates a pistol that’s as beautiful as it is functional.

ON THE RANGE

To evaluate the P1 and work with the new mounting system with the little metal disks that interface with the slide and the reflex sight, a Trijicon RMR was mounted. This system is ingenious, because it’s hillbilly simple and allows you to choose between a wide variety of reflex sights. Even while zeroing the sight, it was easy to see how comfortable the P1 was to shoot. Granted, a 33-ounce 9mm pistol isn’t known for abusive recoil, but shooting the P1 was like shooting a 33-ounce .380 Auto.

Five loads were evaluated in the P1 for precision from the bench at 15 yards. It included a mix of practice and carry ammunition. Overall, the pistol averaged 0.85 inch for (15) five-shot groups from a sandbag rest. Wilson Combat guarantees 1 inch or better groups at 25 yards, and there’s little doubt that in the right hands — and in good weather — this pistol is fully capable of delivering on that promise.

This range session occurred in the middle of an arctic blast. In total, 400 rounds were fired of various munitions through the P1, and it didn’t experience a single stoppage.

There was also a bit of distance shooting with the P1 with the Trijicon RMR sight installed. Silhouette targets at 100 yards weren’t a problem, and about half the time it was ringing an 8-inch steel plate at that distance. But for most of the test-fire process, the RMR was removed and the P1 was fired with the open sights. The P1 managed the best scores on the Forty-Five Drill and Step Back Drill, which are standard evaluation drills for handguns, compared to any handgun I’ve ever tested.

WHAT‘S IN THE BOX?

You can purchase the P1 at the base price of $3,995, which is only $688 more than their standard EDC X9 2.0 pistol. However, the first 100 come with a challenge coin and commemorative custom box, and it’ll cost you an additional $300.

Admittedly, the challenge coin isn’t worth $300, but the box is. This small metal box measures only 7.5 by 9 inches, and it contains the pistol, three magazines, optics mounting plate, and reflex sight mounting pins. Magnets integral to the box hold the magazines and accessories in place. It’s one of the coolest accessories ever supplied with any firearm, and — honestly — if you can afford the P1, you can likely afford the box to go with it.

LOOSE ROUNDS

If there’s one complaint, it’s that there’s no provision for co-witnessing sights when running a Trijicon RMR. Of course, selecting a reflex sight like the SIG Sauer RomeoZero with an integral rear sight notch or Leupold DeltaPoint Pro with adjustable iron sight solves that.

The P1 holds 18+1 rounds and the large magwell and magazine base plates make it easy/fast to load. It offers dime-splitting precision and gives you the option of fixed sights and a wide variety of reflex sight options. It’s fast, easy to field strip and assemble, comfortable to shoot, and you can hammer the hell out of a target with minimal muzzle rise.

It’s also a damned fine-looking pistol, and while looks don’t make a pistol perform any better, they do enhance pride of ownership.

Sure, you could also buy a box of Glocks for the price of the P1, but you can’t do the things you can do with a P1 with just any Glock pistol. Wilson Combat has elevated the bar with the P1. What do you want to see next in their Division 77 line?