1911's vs. other semi-automatics

[chamberc]

I like my Browning Hi Power, better!

John Browning designed the 1911, then he figured out what he did wrong and designed the Browning Hi Power

I have to agree... I sold my Springfield 1911 and still love my .40 Hi-Power. However, I'm rapidly becoming very fond of my .40 XDM as well.

1911's are great too... we're lucky we have so many pistols to choose from (for now anyway).

[A-R]

Only NDs I've had in my 12 years of handgun ownership have been with my Mustang and a Kimber, both 1911 pattern firearms.

Austinrealtor, care to share the event of the ND on the Colt Mustang? I have its bigger brother, and I might be able to learn something from your experience, and perhaps avoid a similar occurrence.

Yeah, lesson is don't dry fire with a loaded chamber

Actually could've happened with any semi-auto. Had been dry firing, put a mag in and was gonna pull one more dry fire before racking the slide and setting the gun on the bedside table. Brain-farted and didn't realize that the slide was back when I inserted the mag and all in one motion without thinking my muscle memory had flipped the slide release and chambered a round. Put a hole through both sides of a sheetrock wall, the side panel of a cheap-o Wal Mart particle board entertainment center, and stopped when it hit the metal casing of my Kenwood stereo (that stereo still plays by the way, never missed a beat, just has a nice big dent on the right side). No one got hurt (thank God) except my ears. This happened during the first year I owned any handgun. Was living alone. Was young, stupid etc.

The Kimber was much more recently. Had been shooting my Glock and a few others at range a while. Buddy lets me try his Kimber. Fired 8 rounds no problem (blew the center X out of the bullseye at 10 yards on first three shots - those guns are SWEET shooters). Then we all start doing "raise, aim, fire" drills. Did this two or three mags worth with Glocks. Then, trying it for first time with Kimber, popped off the first round into the dirt in front of shooting bench on the "raise" portion. Taught me a valuable lesson I would not have likely learned if just using my Glock. I had been putting trigger finger inside the trigger guard on the draw or "raise" portion of the drill, before acquiring site picture. With the stiffer Glock trigger, this wasn't a problem. But with the hair trigger on that Kimber ... BANG! So lesson there, kids, is keep your finger out of the trigger guard until you're ready to fire.

At least I remembered one of the 4 rules, like having gun pointed down range when doing something stupid with your trigger finger

I always mention that my only two NDs are with 1911 style pistols because, having owned/carried a Glock now for 11-plus years and never having a single mishap, find this is a ready made answer for all the "Glock leg" and "Glocks are inherently dangerous" chatter. Not saying 1911s are inherently more dangerous, just that NDs can happen with any gun if you're stupid (as I was).

"Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterward."

[joe817]

Thank you for sharing sir. Mucho appreciated.

[ChuckW]

My experience with 1911s is that the fit with my hand is better and the trigger pull is crisper and cleaner than it is with other popular SAs. Trigger work by a gunsmith might take care of the latter problem but, right-out-of-the box, I find that the 1911 trigger just feels better.

[Mike from Texas]

Heck I thought everyone knew.

[rm9792]

thanks mark . sounds like it's kind of "old school" , which is cool at times.

My problem with the 1911, is...(Puts on flak jacket)
Unless you drop some serious Cash, alot of the guns out there are crap.
Kimber makes a fine 1911, but they can run for 2k! When you can buy a Glock for 350-500, heck you could probably get 6 glocks for the price of a Kimber if you haggle with your dealer.

Have to disagree here. You can drop $365+tax on a High Standard or Rock Island and they will fire every time and be way more accurate than needed for CCW right out the box. I personally have Springfields, kimbers, Colts and full house customs but have no qualms about grabbing a RIA if necessary. You can go $6k+ just as easily though...No other gun i know of can have that much spent on it or customizing done. As far as hand size goes the 1911 with slimline grips is easily held by a child.

[dicion]

That about sums it up right there.

[ghostrider]

Yes, it used to be that you bought a brand new 1911 and the first thing you did was ship it to a gunsmith to get it working. That should no longer be the case. And frankly, with some mechanical ability and sufficient knowledge of the 1911 design its not hard to do your own work. dThere is a plethora of 1911 gunsmithing information available and an entire industry of quality aftermarket parts available, though with a quality 1911 even that shouldn't be necessary. I have a 70's series commander that will feed empty .45ACP cases reliably.

[ghostrider]

>what is it about the 1911's that you guys like so much ?

Good, solid design, that points and shoots well, is easily customizable, versatile, and durable.

And its almost as good as a HiPower
:-) :-) :-)

[The Annoyed Man]

thanks mark . sounds like it's kind of "old school" , which is cool at times.

My problem with the 1911, is...(Puts on flak jacket)
Unless you drop some serious Cash, alot of the guns out there are crap.
Kimber makes a fine 1911, but they can run for 2k! When you can buy a Glock for 350-500, heck you could probably get 6 glocks for the price of a Kimber if you haggle with your dealer.

You can also buy some old "Surplus" 1911, but unless you want to go through all the fuss cleaning them up, replacing parts ect to a point where you would put your LIFE on the line that it would work and not fail, you could have bought a glock or a XD. Of course some people see doing all that as fun, I personally dont.

If you have big hands (like me) the 1911 is great btw, if you are small of hand, it can be like handling a brick

I'm going to have to respectfully disagree on several points...

My wife, she of the small hands, shoots a 1911 just fine. A full sized 1911 is a big gun, but the width of the grips is quite narrow, so getting your hand around it is not that big of a deal.

Most of the old surplus guns are in collections now because of their value, and are not really being carried around much. Even so, buying a used 1911 does not have to be an exercise in shade-tree mechanics.

My Kimber Stainless Ultra Carry II was $929.00 NIB.

My son's Kimber Pro Raptor II was $1,150.00 NIB.

My drummer's Kimber Pro Carry was $875.00 NIB.

Oh, and I bought my Springfield Loaded Parkerized in good used condition from our member HighVelocity for $650.00. MSRP was $943.00. (Even though it was used, I never had to do a thing to it to get it to run right. It was clean from the get go, and reliable as heck.

We paid $699.00 for my son's Taurus PT1911, which shoots very well and reliably. Perhaps the Taurus name doesn't have the same cachet as the names Kimber or Springfield Armory, but they still make good, solid guns. A number of members here own Taurus 1911 pistols and are well satisfied with them. And now you're talking about a 1911 which only cost $60.00 more than my wife's Glock (see below).

And my battle worn made in 1942 Ithaca 1911A1 which was my dad's sidearm in the Marine Corps in WW2, and which still shoots absolutely reliably today, is worth more than all of them.

My wife's Glock 19 was $629.00 NIB - only $246.00 less than my drummer's Kimber.

Yes, they cost more than a Glock, but you can find Kimbers all day long for around or under $1,000.00. My wifes G19 is a great pistol, but it doesn't carry as nicely as a 1911, and it sure as heck didn't cost under $500.00. And with the alloy frames on the Kimber Carry series of pistols, they don't weigh any more - maybe even less - than a Glock. My H&K USP Compact in .40, which is approximately the same size as the G19, weighs substantially more than my Kimber UC II.

I guess my point is that, yes, you can certainly spend $2K (or much more than that) on a 1911, but you can have a very good one, in very good condition, maybe even new in the box, for under $1,000.00... ...heck, for even under $700. I'm not knocking the other guns. Even though 1911s are my favorite, I like both my wife's Glock and my H&K USP Compact. They're both great guns. They're just not 1911s.

[chabouk]

I think one point a lot of people have not mentioned is the ease of customizing the 1911. You can get a good quality pistol fairly cheaply (I love my Taurus 1911). You can get a basic military style model, like the Springfield, or you can get a fairly fancy expensive one like the Wilson versions. But no matter which one you choose, you can modify it to your hearts content.

And, you can do most of it yourself.

The 1911 is the small-block Chevy of the handgun world. (The Ruger 10/22 is the same thing in rimfires, the 870 in shotguns, and Mauser '98 rifles in centerfire.)

Yes, there are designs that are better (for some definitions of "better") out of the box, but if you have any interest at all in tinkering, then the huge variety of accessories, replacement parts, customization variations, not to mention widespread help and knowledge about them, can offset a whole lot of "better".

A Porsche might be "better" than a Chevy, but if a fuel pump conks out in East Podunk, I know which one I'd rather be driving.

[G.A. Heath]

The 1911 isn't a gun, it's a religion.

[The Annoyed Man]

The 1911 isn't a gun, it's a religion.

For me, it's a preference, and a hobby, and an interesting piece of history, etc., etc., etc., but it doesn't rise to the level of religion. God doesn't need a 1911 when He can point His finger and wipe out Sodom and Gomorrah.