The firearms world is fascinating to me, and has been since I was a kid reading Guns & Ammo magazine in the 1980s. Now I’m a part of the industry, I review guns for a living. Still, I find that I’m unable to predict trends. Who knew the 10mm would see a resurgence? Not me. The sudden surge in popularity of the 5.7x28mm took me by surprise, also. The same goes for appendix carry. Demand for expensive, high-end double-stack 1911s has seeped from the competition scene to the mainstream, and I never saw that coming.
Watchtower Firearms might be a new name for you, and while this veteran-owned company launched in 2023, it was built on an existing foundation: F-1 Firearms. Located in Spring, Texas, it was named after Operation Watchtower, the codename for the Battle of Guadalcanal during World War II. Founder and CEO Jason Colosky is a second-generation Recon Marine, so he has an affinity for honoring military history. Watchtower Firearms now sells a number of different AR-15-based rifles, pistols and suppressors, but the Apache is the brand’s only handgun, and it’s a very high-end compensated double-stack 1911. The name pays tribute to Operation Apache Snow, or what most people know as the Battle of Hamburger Hill.
Between the slide and the length of the compensator, this gun has the same overall length as a 5-inch Government Model, but it’s chambered in 9mm and fed by large-capacity magazines. One flush-fit 17- and one extended 20-round SV/STI-pattern stainless-steel magazine are included.
The Apache is a unique, full-size handgun. It’s advertised as a “competition pistol,” but with the current interest in comp’d, high-capacity 1911s, I imagine that few people will carry this gun. It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that Watchtower follows up this model with a compact carry version. I’ve carried double-stack 1911s this big before — both in .45 ACP and 10mm — but I’m weird. For most, the Apache is going to be relegated to the range, although it would make one heck of a home-defense gun with the 20-round magazine inserted and a SureFire X300 light clamped to the frame rail.
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If you’re new to high-cap 1911s, allow me to explain how a pistol with a frame the same width as a standard eight-shot .45 can hold so much ammo without feeling like a brick. The old-school 1911 has a metal framework, and then grips are attached to the outside of that frame to give it girth and contour. The grip section of the Apache is polymer, but in this case, it’s a 3D-printed carbon-fiber composite, one designed in-house by Watchtower’s engineering department. As this design eliminates traditional grip panels, there’s room to accept a thicker magazine within the grip while having the same exterior dimensions. (Although, it is wider at the front and back.) The polymer grip is fastened to the steel frame at the top of the grip and the front of the triggerguard. The 4140 stainless-steel frame, on which the slide rides, is the serialized part. The modular structure means a shooter can replace the grip with a hex wrench and no paperwork. The “grip” is just a module.
As of this writing, there are two versions of the Apache, the only difference being color. Both feature a “graphite” Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) coating on the slide and frame, but Guns & Ammo’s test sample features copper accents. The other version has black accents. PVD is one of those modern “wonder coatings” that is eminently corrosion-resistant. It feels slick to the touch.
Cycling the slide by hand, the Apache yields a smooth operation. Say it’s “like butter,” or “like oil on glass,” use whatever analogy you want, they’re all apt. A lot of this is due to the fit and finish of the parts, handwork done in-house — but it’s also the PVD coating. There is a little bit of play between the slide and frame, but absolutely none between the barrel and slide. Ideally, for an accurate and reliable gun, it’ll still run reliably even if it gets a bit dirty.
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The graphite color of the PVD looks amazing; I hope that Mark Fingar’s photography shows it off well. The color is like a shiny steel finished in pewter gray. It almost makes the gun too pretty, but the great quality about PVD that it’s durable. It has to be, because the Apache is built to run.
Up top is a 41/4-inch tri-topped slide. It has deeply aggressive and distinctive serrations, front and back. The top of the slide also has stylish serrations between the front sight and ejection port. At the front of the slide is a dovetailed steel front sight with a green fiber-optic insert. There is a slide cut for mounting optics, and you have the option of an optics plate or an adjustable rear sight on a base that fills the optics cut. The plate accepts optics with an RMR/SRO footprint, and it has an integral serrated blade rear sight. I tested it with a Trijicon SRO, and with the optic mounted the sights were tall enough that I could just see the top of them through the window.
Forward of the slide is a single-port compensator. It marries with the front of the slide very well, and is mounted at the end of a 4.6-inch Clark/Para-pattern ramped bull barrel, which is made of 416R stainless steel. Full-house USPSA Open Division raceguns have long, multi-port compensators that completely eliminate muzzle rise. That’s not what we have with the Apache, but it can still fit into holsters designed for 5-inch-barreled 1911s with full-length frame rails.
Compensators are the new hotness. They are a fascinating mix of science and technology. The port diverts expanding gases upward to counter muzzle rise. Because gases are shoving the muzzle down instead of back, there is less force acting on your slide. Hence, a lighter recoil spring. Watchtower provides 7-, 8-, and 9-pound recoil springs with the Apache, so you can tailor it to your preferred ammunition. The 8-pound spring is installed at the factory in a Dawson Precision Tool-Less recoil system. The recoil spring plug has an integral spring-loaded pivoting lever that allows you to capture the spring and remove the assembly from the gun during fieldstripping without tools.
If you want the gun to fit into standard holsters, the compensator can only be so big; single-port compensators like what you see on the Apache are the most effective. I’ve known Shay Akai of Akai Custom Guns forever, and when I spoke to him about some gun tech, he gave me a huge education on comps.
“In general, and all things being equal, big ports are better than small ports,” Akai said, “no matter how many there are. As the bullet passes through, the flat back of the bullet creates a vacuum force. The bullet pulls gases behind it. Large ports break that seal and divert gases better than small ports. Those big comps you see on competition guns will reduce muzzle rise 80 percent or more. Generally, ‘carry-comps’ will reduce muzzle rise 15 to 30 percent.”
Compensators are more popular than ever because so many shooters want a red dot sight mounted to their pistol. The biggest problem for people using optics is losing track of dot sight as it moves out of the optic’s window during recoil. Compensators keep the muzzle flatter, reducing the chance you’ll lose the dot.
The Apache sports a full-length frame. The front of it and the compensator are cut at a slight angle, which I think looks great and is better than a straight and vertical front end. The full-length rail has five slots for mounting a light if you want, but that long frame also adds weight out where it will do the most to reduce the effects of recoil. With the flush magazine inserted and no optic on the plate, G&A’s Watchtower weighed 40.8 ounces — empty.
The beavertail grip safety has a graphite PVD finish, but all the other parts have a copper PVD finish. It’s a nice color contrast, which includes the recoil spring plug, the firing pin block, and the extractor. The thumb safety is extended and bilateral, and it clicks nicely both up and down. The checkered magazine release is a tiny bit extended, but it’s not oversized.
The trigger is a unique piece with a flat face. It is technically a medium-length trigger made of aluminum, but with the flat face I think the center of the trigger is nearly the same distance from the frame as the center of a long-curved trigger. The trigger on the Apache was advertised as being between 3 and 4 pounds; our sample was excellent; just a tiny bit of takeup before a crisp 31/4-pound break. From personal experience, I know that after one to 2,000 rounds, the trigger pull will likely drop another quarter pound.
If you’re thinking that a 31/4-pound trigger is “too light” to carry, well, that’s a topic for a future issue. Allow me to point out the obvious: Lighter trigger pulls allow us to shoot faster and more accurately, which seems to me a characteristic that’s as important for self-defense as competition. As long as the gun is mechanically sound, and you’ve internalized the “Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on the target” gun safety rule, a 1911 with a manual thumb safety and grip safety levers is mechanically safer from misadventure when drawing/reholstering than a striker-fired pistol with no external safety besides that the lever in the trigger. That’s something to keep in mind, especially if you’re carrying appendix and pointing that gun at the most valuable real estate you possess.
The original SV/STI frames that the Apache was derived from had a few more corners than what’s on the Apache. Watchtower has done an excellent job combining the texture with the beveled edges. The texturing may not look like much, small raised diamonds, but it’s nicely aggressive. The harder you grip, the more the texture digs in.
At the bottom of the grip frame, you’ll notice an aluminum magazine well with the copper finish. On the inside, the lines of the funnel blend well with the angles inside the polymer grip. This so-called “tactical” magwell isn’t as large as some seen on Open raceguns. The polymer frame has a bit of a flare and a funnel, and I could easily see Watchtower leaving it unchanged in future carry models.
As this is more of a competition pistol than an EDC pistol, when I headed to the range I brought some dedicated competition ammunition in addition to defensive hollowpoints to see just how flat the Apache’s muzzle would lay when shooting proper Minor Power Factor loads.
The loads you prefer in a traditional pistol might not be the ones you like in a comp’d gun. Pressure is what compensators like, so you may find a light bullet traveling at +P velocities keeps the muzzle as flat as a standard pressure 147-grainer. I tested the Apache with all of it, and it was very happy; it ate through everything. The gun was completely reliable with soft full-metal-jacket (FMJ) competition ammo, and +P jacketed hollowpoints (JHP). The only issue was that after a short while, the follower of the 20-round magazine didn’t lock the slide back, but many know this is actually common with wide-body 1911s.
On a target 10 yards away, with most ammunition, the front sight rose about 10 inches in recoil before dropping right back down. To me, this meant recoil and muzzle rise were minimal. The dot was just barely leaving the window with each shot, at least with my grip.
High-capacity 1911s have been prevalent in competition circles since they were introduced more than 30 years ago. Initially, they were only available as frame kits, which meant you’d need a gunsmith to build up a gun; that tempered interest. For decades, high-capacity 1911s were a niche item, mostly ignored by the mainstream gun-owning public. Now, they are no longer niche. I don’t know if STI/Staccato’s PR campaign through the 2000s was the sole reason for this, or if it was simply the most successful design, but mainstream interest has piqued. The Watchtower Apache was designed to capitalize on this interest, built to run out of the box, and it does, all while looking better than the competition.
Watchtower Firearms Apache
- Type: Recoil operated, single-action, semiautomatic
- Cartridge: 9mm
- Capacity: 17+1 and 20+1 rds.
- Barrel: 4.6 in., 416R, threaded
- Length: 8.6 in.
- Height: 5.6 in.
- Width: 1.4 in.
- Weight: 2 lbs., 8.8 oz.
- Slide: PVD (frame, slide, barrel)
- Frame: Carbon fiber, composite
- Sights: Fiber optic (front), notch (rear); optic ready
- Trigger: 3 lbs., 4 oz. (tested)
- Safety: Grip safety, thumb safety
- MSRP: $3,990 ($4,540 with optic)
- Manufacturer: Watchtower Firearms, 832-299-6100, watchtowerfirearms.com
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