Springfield Long Beach Operator
Background
The Long Beach Operator is a 1911-A1 model handgun from Springfield Armory that closely mimics it's parent pistol, the MC Operator. Per a request from the Long Beach, California Police Department, Springfield Armory built the Springfield Loaded Operator Long Beach Police Mod 1911, more commonly called, "the Long Beach Operator".
How the Long Beach Operator Came to Be
Long Beach Police Department placed a RFQ with Springfield Armory for several hundred custom spec'd 1911s for the entire police department. Springfield Armory designed the Long Beach Operator and started to manufacture them as quickly as possible in order to fill the order when the LBPD would later place the order. LBPD finally placed the order but lowered the quantity to 147 1911-A1 Handguns, so as to only issue them to their SWAT and Tactical Teams. Springfield Armory finished building somewhere right under 1000 of these Long Beach Operators, and after filling LBPD's order, sold off the remaining inventory on the Civilian market as a Limited Run, Loaded Operator Long Beach Police Mod. There is none and has never been any information pertaining to the LB Operator at Springfield's website,
www.springfield-armory.com, as it is not a standard production model but a limited run. It should be noted that Springfield Armory still builds the Long Beach Operator at least once every two years in quantities of less than 500 at a time, to ship to distributors. Because of this, if the LB Operator is a 1911 you want to purchase, it could take several months to find one, and if you do see one, you should purchase it right away and not pass it up, as most gun stores will have less than 10 of them on hand.
Parts and Differences
Like all Springfield model 1911s, the LB Operator is a series 70 pistol and does not feature the firing pin safety plunger in the slide, nor does it contain the extra parts on the sear/disconnector pin used to deactivate the firing pin saftey plunger. Unlike the MC Operator from which the Long Beach Operator spawned, the LB Operator is entirely coated in Springfield's propriety coating Armory Kote, in Satin Black. The entire gun is built on Carbon Steel Forgings, and contains all parts that the MC Operator does, minus the MEUSOC standard Pachmayr Gripper Wraparound Grips. The LB Operator utilizes a pair of Black G10 Grips made by 10-8 Performance. Also, unlike the MC Operator the LB Operator has an extended bolt-on magwell flaring from the bottom of the handguns grip, this helps make tactical mag changes quicker and easier for the shooter. Tijicon's Tritium Night Sights in a Novak sight are standard on the LB Operator as well as a SS Match Grade barrel and GI Guide Rod assembly. The LB Operator comes chambered only in .45ACP, like all good 1911's do. Springfield has been known to ship the LB Operator with a number of different magazines, all of which come with the rubber slam pad on the bottom due to the grips magwell. Early model LB Operators shipped with Wilson Combat 47D mags or Wilson Combat 47 mags. Most models built within the last couple years ship with 8rd nickel plated Mecgar mags.
This article is full of falsehoods. The Long beach operator came into being with a joint testing between Academy range staff and swat personel for a tactical 1911 to replace single stack and high cap para-ordinance pistols. The tested mc operator won the competition and was modified to include G10 grips, a magazine well, all black finish and a pinned ejector. This became the Long Beach version and 150 pstols were ordered for issue to new recruits and swat team members. At no time was a whole department purchase on the table. The version of this gun became popular and is still available special order from springfield armory
my Long Beach Operator came very tight slide to frame and barrel to bushing. but after about 600 rounds, it is not as tight, and zero malfunctions in those 600 rounds. racking the slide is much easier now. at first it was hard racking the slide, but that was due to the tight fit. I also needed to use a bushing wrench to move the bushing. at first that thing would not budge, but now I can use just my fingers, but I still use the wrench bc its easier. the slide to frame and barrel to bushing are hand fitted. flared magwell, but not too big as to make it like a race gun. I never did a formal accuracy test, but I can tell it is very accurate. trigger is a crisp 3 lbs 6.7 oz. it is a really great 1911 for not being a custom one. It's my favorite 1911 and my favorite semiauto handgun.
