There you go, different strokes for different folks.
There you go, different strokes for different folks.
Since 1985, at various times I have been issued, qualified with, or authorized to carry the Beretta 92F/M9, classic Sig P226/228 & P220, S&W 3rd gen pistols, Glock 9 mm's, S&W M&P's, various 1911’s, as well as several S&W revolvers including J, K, L , and N-frames. I also have a fair degree of experience with Browning Hi-Powers, Glock 22/23 & 21, various HK pistols. I have been certified as an armorer on several of these systems. All of these handguns had both good and bad characteristics.
A properly customized 5" steel-frame single-stack 1911 in .45 ACP is a superb, unparalleled choice for the dedicated user with a bit of gray in their hair, who grew-up using the 1911, and who is willing to spend a significant amount of money to get it properly initially set-up and considerable time to maintain it. Keep in mind with 1911 pistols that calibers other than .45 ACP and barrels shorter than 5" induce increasingly greater problems. I personally will not use any 1911 with a Schwartz firing pin safety (like on the Kimber II pistols) as I have seen high numbers of them fail; the Colt Series 80 firing pin safety is the only one I might trust for urban LE use, but they have also been known to fail in harsh environments (particularly surf zone and high dust) so I generally prefer a standard USG style 1911 pistol w/o firing pin safety. However, I personally would not choose to carry most stock or even semi-custom 1911's on duty without making sure they were set-up properly with reliable function, durable parts, and ergonomic execution.
I firmly believe that if you want a 1911 for serious use, the minimum level of quality for a duty/carry weapon is the SA Pro model (either PC9111 or PC9111LR if you want a light rail); if you’re not willing to invest that much into the weapon system, don't get a 1911... I write this after being around quite a few 1911's over the past two decades of military and LE duty, including GI, commercial Colt, SA (Milspec, Loaded, MC Oper, Professional models), Wilson, Kimber, Nighthawk, Les Baer, and Para Ord, as well as custom pistols by folks like Bill Laughridge, Wayne Novak/Joe Bonar, Ed Brown, John Jardine, Hilton Yam, Larry Vickers, and Chuck Rogers. I'd strongly recommend anyone contemplating a 1911 for serious use read all of the material on 1911's here: http://www.10-8performance.com/Articles.html.
Note--I did not find carrying a concealed 5" 1911 any harder than a 3.5 or 4" model, especially when carrying a LW 5" 1911 like the Chuck Rogers customized one shown below that I used for many years--in fact the 5" model was more secure in AIWB/IWB mode due to the longer barrel length and tended to be much more functionally reliable than the shorter 1911 types I tried:
For folks who want a .45 ACP pistol, but don't want to invest the funds and effort into getting a good 1911, they would be better served with the S&W M&P45, HK45, or 4th gen G21. After being issued, qualified on, or carrying 1911's for 25 years, in 2011 I retired the 1911's and transitioned to the M&P45 w/ambi safety and Apex duty kit.
The nice aspects of .45 ACP are that it makes large holes, can be very accurate, and offers good penetration of some intermediate barriers. Unfortunately, magazine capacity is less than ideal, .45 ACP is more expensive to practice with, and in general is harder to shoot well compared with 9 mm. .45 ACP makes the most sense in states with idiotic 10 rd magazine restrictions, in departments that give you lots of free .45 ACP ammo, or in situations where modern expanding ammunition is restricted due to asinine, illogical regulations.
Unless you live in a state with an idiotic restriction on magazine capacity, most folks would be better off with a quality 9 mm, which is why I dropped .45 ACP handguns for 2012 and am only using 9 mm...
Last edited by DocGKR; 07-14-2012 at 12:42 PM.
I like my Dan Wesson RZ-10 1911.It runs well and accurate.No BS extra FPS.If your friend gets himself a 45acp Valor he will probably be very happy.They aren't cheap but many consider them to be one of the best production 1911's available.
Just out of curiosity, does anyone have really good experience with these, German or Exeter (I believe they switched to the eternal extractor and added an LCI in Exeter). They seem to be great bargains according to the less focused forums about, and they do feel like they have potential at the LGS (not that you can tell much without putting it to real use). If they turn out to not have any major skeletons in the closet they may be something to recommend to budget minded individuals to keep them out of taurus land or other such mistakes waiting to happen, keeping in mind the attention and effort the DA/SA requires to utilize.Originally Posted by ToddG
I'm giving serious consideration to not opening threads with "1911" in the title anymore. Ironic, considering that's a '66 Colt in a Galco Royal Guard in my avatar...
Info from Bruce Gray on why he likes the 2022, it's pro's and con's:
http://sigforum.com/eve/forums/a/tpc...292#1760008292
Third post down.
Promises, promises.
Seriously, I'm formulating an actual reply!
Glock reliability update. To try to fix my wife's G3 FDE 17, I pulled the extractor out of a RTF 17, thinking since it was a pre 2011 pistol, the extractor should be fine. Short answer is that it didn't fix my wife's FDE 17, and I think it is time for it to go visit Smyrna. I sure hope they can fix it, because the pistol is very accurate and has a great trigger.
My FDE 17 is about 1,500 rounds with zero stoppages. The only other problem 17 I have, is a newish G3 OD 17, built during the Glock glory years, that occasionally didn't fully eject the last round in the magazine. I recently tried the G4 five digit ejector and after 300 rounds, or so, it seems to have fixed the problem.
It seems like my problems coincided with me telling DocGKR how reliable my Glock pistols have been -- hope he doesn't have a GJM voodoo doll with a Glock hat that he is pushing needles into.
You've got enough of a sample size to demo that no gen of any era achieived perfection actually. You still have the Brownell shipment coming to try one of those out eh?
“Remember, being healthy is basically just dying as slowly as possible,” Ricky Gervais
Yeah, but after reading a thread on M4, I am concerned what I thought was post dip may still be the dip extractors?
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