Ed Brown 1911's

[Tamara]

...and I don't give a rat's what Ed puts on the slide.

See? "Executive Elite"... That's a fine and distinguished name for a bucks-up semicustom 1911.

Nice gun!

[SecondsCount]

Ed Brown makes good stuff.

A friend has a Kobra Carry and an Executive Elite. The EE is a really nice gun and runs like a swiss watch.

Like anything these days, shoot it hard before trusting it.

[1911Nut]

I have an Ed Brown SF 1911 pistol. It came from Brown with a gold bead front sight, a "clean" slide (no "Special Forces" engraving), VZ grips, a 10-8 Performance rear sight, ambi thumb safety, recessed slide stop, flush barrel crown, and Gen III blue finish.

I have owned, carried, trained, and competed with 1911 pistols since 1978. I own several, made by Wilson Combat, STI, Colt, Dan Wesson, Smith & Wesson, and Springfield (even owned a long slide AMT once!). The Ed Brown is by far the most accurate and reliable pistol I have ever had the pleasure of owning. If I could only have one pistol, this would be my choice. Never had a malfunction with it, and it gets shot a lot, including regular competition in IDPA matches. I use 8-round CMC Power mags exclusively with this pistol.

The finish is worn off in some places from holster wear, but I have never had anything go wrong with it and intend to keep it forever. Highly recommended, and couldn't comment on Ed Brown service and support, as I have never had to use them!

[Bohiem]

Would you carry a self defense gun that might work? How about one that would probably work? How about one that has failed repeatedly?

Ed Brown is living on not up to their reputation.

I purchased a custom handgun from Ed Brown in spite of repeated unsatisfactory contacts with customer service. I received the gun after their guaranteed 90 day delivery period had expired.

I fired exactly 5 rounds of Federal ammunition and then the slide jammed part way open and could not be moved in either direction.

I had to track my returned gun through FedEx to determine that Ed Brown had had the defective gun for over a week.

I requested the name and contact information to whom I should direct any future correspondence. None was ever provided.

I looked up the names of company officers and directors as registered with the Missouri Secretary of State and contacted them in hopes that one or more of them would respond according to the principles that established Ed Browns reputation for quality and service. None did.

Ed browns official position was: “Sorry to hear about this, it is usually a result of little to no lubrication. You should use plenty of lubrication on a new gun, as per the owner's manual.”

This type of jamming is apparently a know problem “ it is usually a result of little to no lubrication” for which Ed Brown has a ready response consisting of blaming the owner ” You should use plenty of lubrication on a new gun, as per the owner's manual” emphasis added.

The gun was cleaned to remove manufacturing residue and lubricated to the point of dripping when I first received it. I am an engineer with years of experience working with and around machinists and I have taken an armors course specifically on the 1911 handgun.

They made the gun work, probably by hitting it with a hammer, and sent it back.

Less than one year later the same gun started failing to eject the used cartridge and then failing to feed the new round.

Ed Brown’s position is for a $99.00 service charge they will inspect and evaluate it and let me know what further charges will be involved under my “lifetime warranty”.

The gun has catastrophically failed twice in under a year. It has other issues as well. The guide rod fails to stay tight even with blue thread locker, same with the grip screws. Mating surfaces are uneven as shown by carbon deposits after firing. In general the gun was poorly made and has been unreliable.

Customer Service told me, during their sales pitch, that if I found an Ed Brown in a trash can they would honor their lifetime warranty and repair it. This is considerably different from my experience and I now know why it would be in the trash can.

I again contacted Registered Agent: William Edward Brown, Jr. Who again failed to even acknowledge receipt. Ed Brown did however disable my, and presumably anyone else’s they feel may make negative comments, ability to post the above information as a review on their website.

[Wingate's Hairbrush]

Would you carry a self defense gun that might work? How about one that would probably work? How about one that has failed repeatedly?

Ed Brown is living on not up to their reputation....

Bummer of an experience and sorry to hear. I'm not an Ed Brown guy, but have nothing against them either. Generally speaking, you don't hear things this extreme in the negative about their products or their customer service, but shit does happen with any manufacturer.

Out of curiosity -- which model and caliber? What lube did you use after the initial cleaning before the (presumably galling) slide jam occurred? And how many rounds between getting the gun back and experiencing the feed and extraction issues?

All academic, probably, but interesting...

My advice is you post this at 1911Addicts; you might also try the Ed Brown subforum at 1911Forum where an Ed Brown rep does monitor and post, but generally complaint threads aren't tolerated there.

[Bohiem]

Thanks for your interest.

Commander size custom design 45 acp

Hoppes Synthetic

~2,000 all either Federal, Remington or Winchester

Note also the evidence of improper mating of machined surfaces.

I have tried unsuccessfully to deal with Ed Brown directly before posting. Now when I have spare computer time I am searching out forums and spreading the word. As you say, it is academic but I feel I am doing what I can.

[Jim Watson]

I suggest you consult a gunsmith.
It may gall you to have to pay to have an expensive major big name product brought up to spec, but that appears your only productive option.
Complaining on the gunboards isn't going to help, Ed doesn't care, you're not going to pester him into serious "customer service" and you are not going to run off a significant amount of business.

[HopetonBrown]

My Ed Brown sucked, and dealing with them sucked. I don't miss hassling with 1911s any more.

[theJanitor]

Complaining on the gunboards isn't going to help...

Yup. And I hope @Bohiem didn’t sign up to just complain

[JTQ]

Yup. And I hope @Bohiem didn’t sign up to just complain

I does look like it though, resurrecting a seven year old thread to voice a complaint. I have noticed at least one other forum where he's recently registered and made the same post.

...you might also try the Ed Brown subforum at 1911Forum where an Ed Brown rep does monitor and post, but generally complaint threads aren't tolerated there.

True.