Actually, I'm not making his point. The pistol was not the problem, my handling of it was. That didn't and doesn't make the pistol unreliable. The thing is, if I use those same techniques that cause problems in my 1911 in any other pistol, similar problems ensue. Saying I have to do my part by not limp-wristing it, and using my whole hand to shoot is not the same as saying a precise grip is required.Liberty wrote:I think your making Stupids point for him though. If one has to rely on ball ammunition and precise grip then it cant be counted as an uber reliable. I don't think there are many folks that would concider ball ammunition a good general purpose defencive round.Mithras61 wrote:I've been shooting 1911s for most of my life, and the times when I had problems with jamming, failing to eject or failing to go into battery turned out to be me not doing my part right (like not holding the grip firmly enough, limp wristing, etc.). The design is one of the most reliable around (especially with ball ammo), IMHO.Stupid wrote:Speaking of reliability, avoid any 1911 style gun. Glock, HK, Sig and Beretta all make great firearms. Before I got into them, I thought jamming was of norm with auto-pistols - yeah, i had a Colt 1991A1.
I know many folks have found a particular 1911 and ammo combination reliable enough to trust their lives on, I don't think it can be concidered in the same class as a Glock 9, Rugger P series, or CZs as far as reliability goes. In fact I don't think any gun falls in the same class as Glock when it comes to it reputation for reliability. BTW: I don't particularly like like Glocks and don't own one.
I will admit revolvers don't have that issue, and I also noted that they had a higher reliability.
As to the number of people who consider ball ammo a good defensive round, I would point out that it is the round selected by the US military prior to the Geneva convention restrictions on ammo, and that poking a .45" diameter hole in someone's torso or head is likely to put them in a hospital or morgue.
I choose hollowpoint because it has less tendency to overpenetrate as much as for reliability or stopping ability. I've tried most of the major brands and some more unusual ones of hollow points and some various other styles as well in my 1911 and never had a problem with any of them that was mechanical or ammo specific in nature, so in MY 1911, I would happily carry any commercial ammo (hollow point, ball, wadcutter or whatever) with confidence. I consider that pistol to be 100% reliable. I'll admit I've only put about 4000 rounds through it so far, but the only issues I've had had to do with my mishandling of it, not the mechanics of pistol & ammo (e.g. - no rounds jamming on the feed ramp, no failure to extract/eject because of mechanical or ammunition, no issues with brass splitting or head separation, etc.).