I finally got back to the range today after months of shooting inactivity. I hurt my knee late last year and between physical therapy, getting my house fixed up in order to sell, and buying a lot to build the retirement home I have been tapped out. Life has finally settled enough to start getting back into shooting.
My background is I started shooting on 1911s and Hi-Powers, then moved into HKs 7 years ago when I started taking classes and trying to improve my shooting skills. Have been shooting/carrying HKs exclusively (HK P30LS 9mm and HK45). I went away from 1911s for all the rational reasons: reliability, ease of maintenance, capacity, cost, etc.
Back to the present. Since I've been raising money to fund the retirement home, I was considering selling my two custom 1911s, since they have been nothing but safe queens. I felt I couldn't let them go in good conscious without shooting them at least once, so decided I'd make my first trip back to the range a 1911 day. I didn't bring a timer or even a holster, since this was just supposed to be a fun trip to get back into the flow.
To my surprise, the first mag at 10 yards was one ragged hole. Second mag was the same. On the third mag I went to 25 yards and everything was in center mass. 2 x rounds in the 10-ring, 2 x rounds in the 9-ring, 3 x rounds in the 8-ring, and 1 x round in the 7 ring. I was astounded. Since I hadn't shot in six months, I was just hoping they would all be on paper. My first range trips with the P30 following a 4-month and 6-month deployment were nowhere near as good. Not even close.
The rest of it went well, groups started opening up and trigger control degraded a little as the session wore on, but shooting the 1911 felt like coming home to an old friend. Press trigger, sights lifted and returned to target, press trigger again. Hands never separated on my grip. All in all I had a blast, and it reminded me why I loved the 1911 to begin with.
So, now I'm thinking to myself: Why not just dedicate myself to the 1911 and make it my primary carry gun?
While it may sound like a whim, it's something I've thought about numerous times before. My thinking is as follows:
- I shoot the 1911 better and with way less effort than other pistols. It's the pistol I'm probably most confident in being able to make hits with when firing cold or after a long interval without shooting
- it conceals better (especially the magazines) than what I normally carry; and I feel extremely safe with re-holstering a 1911 for appendix carry due to the multiple safety redundancies of the manual safety, hammer, grip safety, and half-cock notch.
- Cost is not an issue. I can afford multiple high-end guns set up the same, so rotating them out when one needs to go back to the smith for a tune-up is not a big deal. The primary 1911 I have now has extra fitted parts so a broken slide stop, firing pin stop, etc. would not take the gun out of commission.
- Ammo cost is not an issue. I can afford the higher cost of .45 ACP. Finding time to get to the range is a larger issue than affording ammo for those range trips.
- I'm familiar with the system, maintenance and detail stripping is simple and the additional maintenance burden is fine with me
- weight is not really an issue; I'm 6'5" and 230 so have never really thought the 1911 was excessively heavy when carrying
- capacity is low (9 rds of 45 Auto in the 1911 vs 16 rds of 9mm in the P30LS); but I've carried a J-frame before and never really felt under gunned. I live in a decent suburb where crime is low, but it does occur. Still, the chances of me ever needing the gun are statistically extremely low, and I'd still have 9 rds of 45 ACP on tap with 16 rds in reloads. But honestly, capacity is my main concern and primary negative for the 1911.
- I have a passion for the 1911. It keeps me interested in the pistol and makes me want to shoot it more often, so training reps would likely be more than what I am doing currently, because I enjoy the shooting sessions more.
That's about it. Figured I would see what the Pistol Forum hive-mind had to say. Anyone else considering going back to the 1911 or already made the move?
p.s. It's a thread about 1911s, so I figure I have to post the obligatory gun porn...