Cabot Guns 'The Icon', a minimalist masterpiece
Cabot Guns 'The Icon' - a minimalist tribute to the simplicity of modern designs, this “iconic” 1911 Cabot Guns pistol is a challenge to the ability to refine an ultra-centenary design, exalting it furthermore, through simplification
"In the world of modern design, it is said that a designer's job is not complete when there is nothing left to add, but instead, when there is nothing left to take away."
With this quote, the Pennsylvania-based Cabot Gun Company introduces the true nature and spirit behind one of its latest “beyond custom” 1911 pistol creations: The Icon.
Described as a tribute to modern art, modern design and simplicity, The Icon by Cabot Guns appears to be an interesting piece of conversation – and food for thought – more than the average Cabot’s pistol: how much can a century-old handgun design be simplified without distorting its true nature? How essential can it be made without giving up on the quality, aesthetics and functionality that the Cabot Guns name is known for?
Quite the challenge, one may say; but Cabot Guns tackled it head-on, and the result is a fully functional and yet remarkably simple product that manages to even be easier on the buyer’s pockets than many other handguns from the same maker. Sure, we’re still talking about thousands of dollars, but that’s because The Icon is an artistic homage, something that’s minimalist, but never cheap.
What strikes out in The Icon is the construction: this pistol is fully manufactured out of US-sourced 416 billet steel, with the only exception among all components being the Cabot Guns Icon trigger made out of aircraft-grade aluminum. As usual, Cabot Guns perfectly blends the passion and creativity of master gunsmiths with state-of-the-art technology by manufacturing the components through 9-axis CNC machines.
The frame does without any modern bell and whistle in the purest minimalist spirit, and only features controls on the left side – more specifically a serrated thumb safety and Cabot’s own Idiot Scratch Proof slide stop. A countersunk and recessed slide stop notch prevents failures to lock.
The grip features Cabot’s unique rhombus-cut front strap checkering and a likewise 24 LPI rhombus-checkered main spring housing. Even the grip panels are machined out of stainless steel, and finished in the monochrome.
The magazine well is beveled for quicker reload; The Icon pistol feeds through 1911-type single-stack, 8-rounds magazines and is available in .45 ACP and 9mm variants.
The slide is astoundingly plain: flat top, with no front or rear slide serrations nor any marking of sort, it sports a lowered and flared ejection port, a Cabot ACE rear sight and a reverse dovetail front sight, fitted from the front of the pistol: the bushing completely covers the mount point, leaving no unsightly dovetail along the side. No dot on the sights – front or rear.
The signature feature of the slide of the Cabot Guns “The Icon” pistol is located on the rear portion, and on the left side only: a single cylindrical bulge dubbed the Cabot Icon Racking Button, it’s not really a button as much as a gripping point – the only one available – for manual cocking.
An interesting design choice, bound to raise more than an eyebrow for certain, but definitely the ultimate embodiement to the minimalist principles of modern art inspiring The Icon.
Cabot Guns makes The Icon pistol available in a 5-inch barrel Government version and a 4.25-inch barrel Commander Carry version. Both feature a reverse crown, National Match grade barrel and a full-length guide rod with an engraved star at the front on the Government model only.
The Icon pistol is a completely monochrome creation, sporting a full matte grey/white finish, and is sold inside a Black Box lockable aluminum case manufactured by Technoframes of Italy, along with two spare magazines and not much else. The list of accessories and options is also quite poor, with the Cabot Guns Alligator being the only entry. As the Cabot Guns company puts it: “None, it’s perfect and we’re not changing a damn thing!”.
With The Icon, Cabot Guns demonstrates – maybe once and for all – that less can be better, and that not all works of art must be overly elaborate to be appealing: the essentials, “the bare necessities”, do have their own appeal.
Cabot Guns 'The Icon' - Specifications
The Icon
Semi-automatic pistol
.45 ACP
Semi-automatic, locked breech, tilting barrel (Colt/Browning system)
Single Action
8 rounds
127 mm / 5” (Government size)
107,95 mm / 4.¼” (Commander Carry size)
6 grooves, LH, 1 turn in 16”
Reverse-dovetailed fixed front sight, Cabot ACE fixed rear sight
21,89 cm / 8.62” (Government size)
19,55 cm / 7.7” (Commander Carry size)
1,065 kg / 37.6 oz (Government size)
1760 gr / 27 oz. (Commander Carry size)
Entirely manufactured out of 416 billet stainless steel, with matte grey finish.
Aluminum Cabot Guns Icon trigger
4,995 USD (other Countries, ask your local dealer)
