IGX

What are the general thoughts on the newer .45 platforms like Ruger and Sig?

I have owned and loved both brands..have never shot a decently tight springfield or but have always found the 1911 enjoyable. It's a bit of a morass out there as to mods, bang for buck etc....whereas the build quality from the two brands I know has always been excellent.

Lie man know ledges. Keep it simple. I'm an every so often when it's warranted CC and I understand there to be a learning curve.

I guess the more salient question is...are you a bit of a queer if you just buy a not made in O'Merka 1911?

SIG USA doesn't have the greatest reputation for quality, but in that price range they should be fine. With a gun that requires that much hand-fitting, something can always go wrong on the sub-$900 guns, but dealing with a big company like Ruger or Sig means the problems will get fixed.

The Colt Rail Gun is a nice 1911 for ~$1100, IIRC. Above that you've got the $1300 Springfield TRP, and then the Dan Wesson line from CZ.

Alternately, just say fuck it and buy a HK45.

Or a Glock or Springfield XD.

I really liked my friend's XD, more than my 1911 and it's a good one.

Springfield Armory "loaded" model would be my choice of 1911.

However, I prefer the Glock 19.

-Stan

For me it's the platform not the round.

There are better guns, my Sig is an outstanding pistol for what it is. I have enjoyed even less well made pistols...Just feel incomplete w/o a 1911.

Blaidd Drwg wrote:For me it's the platform not the round.

There are better guns, my Sig is an outstanding pistol for what it is. I have enjoyed even less well made pistols...Just feel incomplete w/o a 1911.

Understood.

For most of us, unless the firearm has serious reliability or accuracy issues, only a really good shooter has physical skills more consistent than the mechanics of the firearm.

Before someone gets custom work done on a firearm I always ask them if they can out shoot it. Most say no. Most want a mechanical solution to a training problem.

All of the above is just a long-winded way of saying for most recreational shooters a modern firearm produced by a company with a good reputation, of which Sig and Ruger are, should serve your needs well.

-Stan

In that case I'd go with a current production Colt Series 70 - $800-900 last I checked, American production, good parts and well put together. The only downside is that the sights are very basic GIs but if this is more for fun than self-defense, might as well pick up a classic.

When you're ready to part with more change, ship it to the Springfield Custom Shop and spend $600-700 on new sights and a trigger job (though my S70 had a nice trigger out of the box - had to sell it in tough times but I aim to get another).

Blaidd Drwg wrote:For me it's the platform not the round.

There are better guns, my Sig is an outstanding pistol for what it is. I have enjoyed even less well made pistols...Just feel incomplete w/o a 1911.

Back when I bought Sig, it always had a made in West Germany roll mark. IMO-anything made at Sig's NH USA factory is suspect. However, they will honor their warranty and you can ship it back to them free of chanrge as mnay times as you'd like. However, most of the horror stories are confined to their rifles.

Remington 1911 have had good reviews
Ruger's 1911 has a great rep also; but I'm not into matte stainless look.
Colt- No one ever lost money on a Colt. People will pay a premium for the prancing pony.

My (2) 1911s are Norincos= Best 1911 frame every produced. I have one that is GI stock w/ a trigger job and a match brade barrel and bushing. The other is currently in a state of being heavily modifed; kind of a pay as you go system.

I love my Springfield National Match 1911. That's my baby.

Just feel incomplete w/o a 1911.

John Browning made other great pistols....

tough old man wrote:

Just feel incomplete w/o a 1911.

John Browning made other great pistols....

One of my favorite shooting pistols was actually a towelhead knock off of the hi-power. Enjoyed that gun quite a bit but have always as had a hankering for the 1911.

Springfield Armoury Mil-Spec.

Like other folks, I will say that for a carry gun I would rather have my Glock 19, or even M&P with the DCAEK trigger in it.

That said, I assume you asked because you want 'a 1911.'

I love my Springfield Loaded Long Slide and Operator. I have a Rock Island match that is a great gun. All of them a pain in the ass to carry/conceal, though. [should go without saying for the LS]

I have owned *TWO* of the Sig Scorpions with the flat trigger, and both of them had a shitty, gritty, 8# trigger pull out of the box. (one was promptly returned, the second one I sold to a friend who actually wanted it) Anyway, that's bullshit, because of all the 'issues' a 1911 brings to the table, the ability to have that super-crisp, light-but-not-unsafe, short single action trigger is what it makes it still the most bad-ass of handguns.

SO, while I have other Sigs I like, I do not recommend their 1911s.

My brother has the Ruger, and while I have not shot it I have dry-fired it about two dozen times, and the trigger is worlds better than the crappy Sigs, and it has pretty nice fit and finish for the price point. Again, though, like others said I would pony up a little bit more cash (though not much, in the case of the Sig) and spring for this honey:

Blade, this thread could quickly devolve into a kookyballz long cycle or Obamacare shitfest however I have had my fascination with this gun as well. Much like motorcycles and women, just one 1911 won't do. I would recommend looking into your soul and deciding exactly want you want to do with this gun then you can go a couple of different routes. If you want a flawless performer that never fails to cycle, is accurate, and you can carry then you can buy a relatively cheap basic 1911 and send it off to about a half dozen different custom gunsmiths and after 6 months to a year have a perfect gun for around 1500.00 or so give or take a few hundy. Or you can go with something already customized and accurized right out of the box. Les Baer, Wilson Combat, Ed Brown etc. although they can get real pricy. I bought a mil spec Les Baer for bullseye shooting that will put 5 rounds through a quarter at 50 yards. It is flawless in its operation but no frills.

Shapecharge wrote:Blade, this thread could quickly devolve into a kookyballz long cycle or Obamacare shitfest however I have had my fascination with this gun as well. Much like motorcycles and women, just one 1911 won't do. I would recommend looking into your soul and deciding exactly want you want to do with this gun then you can go a couple of different routes. If you want a flawless performer that never fails to cycle, is accurate, and you can carry then you can buy a relatively cheap basic 1911 and send it off to about a half dozen different custom gunsmiths and after 6 months to a year have a perfect gun for around 1500.00 or so give or take a few hundy. Or you can go with something already customized and accurized right out of the box. Les Baer, Wilson Combat, Ed Brown etc. although they can get real pricy. I bought a mil spec Les Baer for bullseye shooting that will put 5 rounds through a quarter at 50 yards. It is flawless in its operation but no frills.

I have looked in my soul and realized I just wanted an XR6 of sidearms. I don't carry anything I can't afford to "lose" without a twinge and I'm not so good a range shooter that I care about flawless.

I think a barebones Colt with the potential for upgrades after enjoying it for several jillion rounds is probably just dandy for me. I never trust a man with a stock bike, but upgrades beyond my need or talent make no sense.

I know very little about the 1911, though I too want one very badly.

FWIW, the FFL my dad goes through carries a Kimber 1911, not sure which of the various 1911's it is.

IIRC, he told me he's not a huge fan of Kimbers in general, but the one he carries is perfect for his needs, never jams etc.

I've heard not so good things about Kimbers, but a close family friend loves them and has to own 25 or so pistols (Glocks, Kimbers, Colts, not sure what else). Basically, whenever he's eligible to pick another one up, he does. Pretty sure he's got a couple 1911's, but not sure on who made them.

I'll ask him when I see him next week if you haven't already picked a direction.

I know little about semi-autos since my Dad is a revolver guy.

Kimbers are overpriced pieces of shit, though I've given up on convincing my father of this.

At last count he has a Dan Wesson, two Ed Browns, three Nighthawks and a Wilson Combat of various flavors (lately he's been on a 10mm kick, god knows why - I don't think his hands will let him shoot it), but he was still talking about getting the new Kimber something-or-other yesterday.

I have a Springfield 1911 .45acp I bought, and did the gunsmithing myself, just as a learning process. It is fun to shoot, and more accurate than I am. It was a project that was a lot of fun, and I learned a lot from it.

With that said, they have to be some of the highest margin guns out there, especially considering it is a 102 year old design that is also a fairly simple design (part of what makes it a good shooter).

People buy a base 1911 for what's basically 1.5x to 2x the price of many other handguns, then turn around and dump a bunch of money into them for trigger jobs, accurizing, tightening, etc. Or, they just spend $2k on one with all the work already done.

Since I work in the manufacturing field and am a mechanical engineer, I know a little bit about tolerances and fit. With today's automation, it really is not that hard to make a gun with certain tolerances from the start. I've considered working with some machine shops I know and milling my own 1911 frame and manufacturing a slide, just for the experience. May still do it.

I can find you a Springer "Professional" non rail gun for 2k right now if you like . That is the FBI HRT side arm .No other .45 custom has the same street cred. NONE.

milosz wrote:Kimbers are overpriced pieces of shit, though I've given up on convincing my father of this.

At last count he has a Dan Wesson, two Ed Browns, three Nighthawks and a Wilson Combat of various flavors (lately he's been on a 10mm kick, god knows why - I don't think his hands will let him shoot it), but he was still talking about getting the new Kimber something-or-other yesterday.

That's what I keep hearing, but the people who love them, really love them.

Overpriced? YES
Preference of Gunshop mall ninjas? YES
Pieces of SHIT? NO.

Kimber's success has been their undoing. They made their name selling guns that included all the "cool " features people paid big bucks for with other manufactures or paid big bucks to 1911 gunsmiths to do. All at an afforable price point.

That was the past. Today there are plenty of competitors that do what they do and in many cases, do better. At the same time, Kimber has started charging people for their logo. They've become Guccified.

I had the opportunity to shoot the Ruger SR1911 last spring and I thought it was an awesome gun, very tight, accurate and appeared to be very well made. I wouldn't hesitate to buy one if you can find one. The price is very reasonable for what you get. I've owned Colt's and the Ruger was better than either of the Colt's I've owned. I also own a Remington 1911 and am happy with that. My 1911 needs are just shooting for fun and owning a cool gun.

Mr Clean wrote:I had the opportunity to shoot the Ruger SR1911 last spring and I thought it was an awesome gun, very tight, accurate and appeared to be very well made. I wouldn't hesitate to buy one if you can find one. The price is very reasonable for what you get. I've owned Colt's and the Ruger was better than either of the Colt's I've owned. I also own a Remington 1911 and am happy with that. My 1911 needs are just shooting for fun and owning a cool gun.

The Ruger seems like a great choice for something mid-range that will hold up and, compared to a status-brand gun, you won't mind losing.

OTOH, I shot a Nighthawk 1911 in 9mm and it was stoopid how fun that gun was.