The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Handguns => Topic started by: Fox_Hound on October 14, 2008, 05:50:57 PM
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After much meditation and forethought, I have decided that I am in the market for a 1911. I am looking for a Government size (as in 5 in. barrel) in .45 ACP (what else?) preferably in an all steel model. Will be used for concealed carry as well as general shooting and home defense. I have a budget of anywhere from about $800 to $1000 fazools and I would like a little advice on getting the most bang (sorry about the pun, really I am) for my fazool, err, buck. So, let the opinions fly! What do you guys think? Best 1911 for under a grand? I would really like to know...\
~Fox
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There are dozens of 1911 pistols from all different manufacturers for well under 1000 bucks. Take your pick!
I'm limited on what I can buy in MA but still had several different models to choose from and settled on a Para LTC. It's a commander size 4.25 barrel but its far more accurate than it needs to be. I picked it up for a little over 700 bucks with tax.
Go inexpensive with a Colt or Springfield A1 and build it up or start at about 700 or 800 and trick out a nice one. You have more than enough money. For carry, a steel 1911 with a 5" barrel will weigh about 40 oz or 2-1/2 pounds unloaded add another 4 oz for the weight of the ammo. That's a lot of weight...
Good luck and good shooting.
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What happened to the Rock Islands for sale at SARCO??
I cannot locate their page any more!
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I recently bought a almost NIB colt 70 seriers for $450.
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Rock Island is a solid choice if you can find one.
Haz...I e-mailed RI and they said that because of supplier problems they had to take their 1911's out of production FTTB. They don't know when they will be back up. They even removed them from their web site.
Richard
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Rock Island is a solid choice if you can find one.
Haz...I e-mailed RI and they said that because of supplier problems they had to take their 1911's out of production FTTB. They don't know when they will be back up. They even removed them from their web site.
Richard
DANG! Wouldn't ya know!
I saw a couple on GunsAmerica for 400.
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$1,000 burning a hole in your pocket?
Go buy yourself two Glocks...... Full size .45 and subcompact 9mm....... No need to thank me!
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Foxhound you have many options in that price range, Kimber's, Para's, Colt, Springfield, Sti spartan, Rock Island and even more. In that price range, I like the Para Ordnance for 2 reasons, they all come with ramped barrels. ( an integral feed ramp built into the barrel ) This is not a deal maker, as the 1911 in .45 acp will work with ball ammo, and some will feed hollow points without modification, but I make extra money, polishing and altering feed ramps for those that don't, also an integral feed ramp usually supports the head of the case better, for higher pressures, again not a deal maker or breaker. 2nd, it comes in single or double stack configuration, so you can carry 6 to 14 rounds, depending on which you chose. Retail can be upwards of 900-1000 bucks, but they usually go for less. Now if you can latch onto any of these aforementioned models with the features you like for 600-800 bucks, you have money left over for extra mags, holsters and ammo. Single stack mags go for 10 - 25 bucks apiece, the double stacks can go for 30 -50 bucks apiece.
I hope this helps.
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+1 on the Para!
I can feed mine anything and it keeps on shooting!
Watch Todd Jarrett go through 1000 rounds of .45 ACP with a stock Para SSP for about 700 bucks. His video is on the DRTV video link, it's quite a show and if they were loading the mags faster he'd have done it in under ten minutes...
http://www.para-usa.com/new/product_pistol.php?id=68 (http://www.para-usa.com/new/product_pistol.php?id=68)
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Thanks for the info guys! At the moment I'm leaning towards a Para or a Sig. MB, if you are out there, I would really love to hear your opinion on this!
~Fox
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Not trying to sway you one way or the other, your choice.
I did a little research on the Sig 1911 line of guns and found that they buy Caspian slides and frames and fine tune them with aftermarket parts from top suppliers. They are well made from the reviews I found and well worth the money! I understand that their master pistolsmith is well known though his name doesn't come to mind. They actually have a "Siggy" look to them.
I think Jaybethel has one!
Tim
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Yeah, I LOVE the looks on the Sig 1911 line. Classic enough for the purists, new enough to look racy. I really like them. I have heard a few complain about reliability issues with the Sigs. It's between Sig and Para for me at this point. But I mean hey, there both great guns.
~Fox
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I think Jaybethel has one!
Tim
YUP!!! It's my favorite gun too. By my experience with this thing, I love it, it looks good, feels good shoots good...I can't shoot anything more accurately...
I am not familiar with Paras, but my Sig 1911 is a nice piece. Anyone who has ever fired it has raved over the (factory) trigger.
I paid about $760 for it and chose it with a Kimber in my other hand.
(http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll237/jaybethel/1911Good.jpg)
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Not trying to sway you one way or the other, your choice.
I did a little research on the Sig 1911 line of guns and found that they buy Caspian slides and frames and fine tune them with aftermarket parts from top suppliers. They are well made from the reviews I found and well worth the money! I understand that their master pistolsmith is well known though his name doesn't come to mind. They actually have a "Siggy" look to them.
I think Jaybethel has one!
Tim
I'm not to sure about the Caspian slides, in 05 I took a tour of the CNC dept for a job interview and they had 3 machines turning out 1911 slides, running 2 shifts.
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$1,000 burning a hole in your pocket?
Go buy yourself two Glocks...... Full size .45 and subcompact 9mm....... No need to thank me!
Man....you Glock guys. Out to conquer the world... ;)
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Man....you Glock guys. Out to conquer the world... ;)
I say, "Why buy one great gun, when for the same price you can have two great guns"..... full size .45 ACP for home defense & 10+1 9mm subcompact for concealed carry..... its a no brainer to me.......
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I'm not to sure about the Caspian slides, in 05 I took a tour of the CNC dept for a job interview and they had 3 machines turning out 1911 slides, running 2 shifts.
I defer to your knowledge on the slides Tom. I tried to find the review in Shooting Times but can't find the link. I may have misread it. I would move to NH in a heartbeat to do modeling work for Sig and I don't even own one! Now that would be a way to make even a modest living. :D
Tim
P.S. Further research confirms what Tom mentioned about the slides. The very early versions of the GSR may have had Caspian slides and extractors but no one will confirm it. Regardless, the GSR won the "Handgun of the Year" in 2004. That's enough endorsement for me, I just can't buy one in MA... :(
http://www.handgunsmag.com/featured_handguns/granite_061404/ (http://www.handgunsmag.com/featured_handguns/granite_061404/)
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My first 1911 was a used stainless Springfield I found online for $400! It came out of the box shooting well, and some VERY minor tweaking from my gunsmith (less than $100), and it still shoots like a dream. Granted, there aren't that many nice 1911s with great night sights, thyroated barrels, tweaked slides and trigger jobs on the net for under $500, but they are out there if you're determined or lucky enough.
I know that STI, Springfield, and Kimber all offer nice packages under $1000, and I wouldn't rule out the Springfield mil-spec for around $500.
Another thing to consider iw where you want to save the money. You might consider buying a much nicer 1911 in .40 or 9mm. I have Springfield Loaded 9mm that is a sweet shooter with most of the bells and whistles straight out of the box, and while it ran me around $900 when I bought it, its obviously MUCH cheaper to shoot than my .45s.
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All 3 of my .45s are high-cap Paras. They give you a lot of bang for the buck. The Limited models cost more but have a lot of custom features standard. The only non-custom pistol that would compare to it is the Taurus PT 1911 which is a lot cheaper but not as nice as the Limited Paras.
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Right now I'm looking at that Para that weighs 24 oz. in 45acp, but until the gubment bails me out, I'm out of luck. But I do own a PT1911 and a Springfield officers model. Between the two, the one I would not give up is the PT1911. Love that gun. Just my $0.02
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If I was buying now I'd go for a Para...all the ones I've had my hands on recently were really nice (and a friend of mine now runs their QC department and he knows as much about 1911s as any living human). They're innovative, routinely include features that are up-sells in other brands and have the wonderful laboratory of Todd Jarrett to beta-test ideas.
The Sigs used to be made by Caspian, but now they're all made in-house. All the later ones I shot back when Sig was still speaking to me were excellent, but be VERY careful of the early ones!
I also have a Taurus, and dang it, that thing is rock solid. Can't say a bad thing about it. It make be the best low=pirce trick with Rock Island out of the mix.
Michael B
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MB,
Have you ever heard of "American Classic"? They are selling them in the SOG magazine for the same price as RIs (which you can't get right now).
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If I was buying now I'd go for a Para...all the ones I've had my hands on recently were really nice (and a friend of mine now runs their QC department and he knows as much about 1911s as any living human). They're innovative, routinely include features that are up-sells in other brands and have the wonderful laboratory of Todd Jarrett to beta-test ideas.
The Sigs used to be made by Caspian, but now they're all made in-house. All the later ones I shot back when Sig was still speaking to me were excellent, but be VERY careful of the early ones!
I also have a Taurus, and dang it, that thing is rock solid. Can't say a bad thing about it. It make be the best low=pirce trick with Rock Island out of the mix.
Michael B
2 questions, your friend knows all about 1911's, does he know anything about Quality assurance ? That one was being a smart a$$ but seriously, what did you do to PO Sig ?
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My Sig GSR has been nothing but solid from the very first round. I'm probably going to get a compact SIG 1911 in the near futrure. And Sig still talks to me BTW.
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My Sig GSR has been nothing but solid from the very first round. I'm probably going to get a compact SIG 1911 in the near futrure. And Sig still talks to me BTW.
Thats great! ;D
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Thanks again for all the input guys. I'm still quite undecided about it though (I know, it's hopeless. Deep down inside, all of us know the same thing... We want ALL of them.) I'm leaning towards a Para, the Gun Rights SSP model. It's a beautiful 1911, MB reviewed it and he seemed impressed. And a portion of the money goes to securing our Second Amendment RIGHTS (which are RIGHTS not privileges, seeing as we have to fight to keep them every day makes me sick). And thanks for your input as well, MB. It's great to be able to correspond with someone on the "inside" of things.
~Fox
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Thanks again for all the input guys. I'm still quite undecided about it though (I know, it's hopeless. Deep down inside, all of us know the same thing... We want ALL of them.) I'm leaning towards a Para, the Gun Rights SSP model. It's a beautiful 1911, MB reviewed it and he seemed impressed. And a portion of the money goes to securing our Second Amendment RIGHTS (which are RIGHTS not privileges, seeing as we have to fight to keep them every day makes me sick). And thanks for your input as well, MB. It's great to be able to correspond with someone on the "inside" of things.
~Fox
I stand by my original post.......
"Lose that nickel plated sissy pistol and get yourself a Glock"
-Tommy Lee Jones in U.S. Marshals
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Tommy Lee Jones was Al Gores room mate at Harvard!
He's an actor! Liberal one at that! ;D
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I always take the advice of fictional movie characters. ;D
There will always be somone who says "Glock" when you ask what the best 1911 is. The same kind of person is on another forum and answers "Honda" if you ask what the best Polaris ATV is. And the best Chevy truck is a Toyota. ::) There's one on every forum.
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I always take the advice of fictional movie characters. ;D
There will always be somone who says "Glock" when you ask what the best 1911 is. The same kind of person is on another forum and answers "Honda" if you ask what the best Polaris ATV is. And the best Chevy truck is a Toyota. ::) There's one on every forum.
Present! ;D
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Smart donkey! ;D
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Smart donkey! ;D
;D
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In all seriousness, If I personally were to buy a 1911 for about $1,000 I would want the Kimber Warrior or Desert Warrior. For a 1911 on a tighter budget, I would go with the Taurus PT 1911
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After much meditation and forethought, I have decided that I am in the market for a 1911. I am looking for a Government size (as in 5 in. barrel) in .45 ACP (what else?) preferably in an all steel model. Will be used for concealed carry as well as general shooting and home defense. I have a budget of anywhere from about $800 to $1000 fazools and I would like a little advice on getting the most bang (sorry about the pun, really I am) for my fazool, err, buck. So, let the opinions fly! What do you guys think? Best 1911 for under a grand? I would really like to know...\
~Fox
----------------I thought and heard that Kimber was the best ACP on the market. I traded a H&K 9MM Expert pistol for a Kimber Grand Rapter. Beautiful weapon with fish looking scales instead of the regular finger groves. Went to the range with several different brands of ammo plus some target wad cutters. I was shooting from a bench & sandbag to check out how accurate the Kimber could be. I was only firing at the 25yrd range but the Kimber could do no better than 4 to 5 in. groups. It looked like I was shooting a shot gun instead of a fine 45 auto. In disgust I left the range and stopped by a local friends' gun shop. After telling him and also showing him some of the targets he laughed and said this is what you needed. He pulled his own Taurus PT1911 from under the counter and said try and shoot this. I bought more ammo (White Box) and headed back to the range. The darn Taurus PT 1911 shot circles around the Kimber and even did some 1 1/2 groups from the bench... I bought the Taurus and attempted to return the Kimber to the shop it come from. The dealer said "You didn't read the manual, did you?" The manual says not to judge the accuracy until you fire at lest 500 rounds. After about the 400 rounds the Kimber did start shooting pretty good but still couldn't beat the TAURUS PT1911. I ended up trading the Kimber Grand Raptor for a S&W M&P15T. I wouldn't part with my Taurus PT1911 it even had a better trigger than the Kimber. YOU CAN NOT GO WRONG WITH THE TAURUS AND WILL BE SAVING A HECK OF A LOT OF MONEY.!!!!!!!