The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Down Range Cafe => Topic started by: jaybet on April 24, 2007, 04:46:43 PM
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Hi guys,
I'm new to the forum, but I'd like to ask some advice.
My next pistol I'm hoping will be a 1911 model of some kind. I've looked at some nice old "worked" Colts, the Sig SWR, Kimber, Springfield, etc.
I'm not going to carry the piece, just try to hit the bullseye with as many rounds as I can squeeze out of my budget every week. Can anyone steer me toward a model/brand that has most of the great attributes: accuracy, reliability, etc etc, without the Kimber (or even worse) custom prices?
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This is what we like to technically refer to as A BIG CAN OF WORMS!
Are you kidding? Wars have been fought over that question...
All that said (and I'm fully prepared to duck)
1) S&W Sacandium-frame/Commader-sized...best out-of-the-box 1911 I ever owned.
2) Detonics 9-11 full-size or CombatMaster itsy bitsy
3) Current SIGARMS Revolutions, esp the aluminum-framed Commander-sized guns
4) STI Trojan
And down in the bargain basement:
1) Taurus...the absolute hands down best buy for the dollar 1911 out there... mine shoots like a house afire...
2) STI Spartan...I've only handled and shot the factory guns and don't own one personally, but hey, STI knows how to make a 1911
Okay, go ahead and start throwing stone...Don Mr. Revolver" Worsham first!
BTW, Wayne Novak just agreed to do one of his full-house custom 1911s for DOWN RANGE Giveaway Gun...that baby will be an heirloom!
Michael B
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Thanks Michael- mostly stuff I don't know much about, so that gives me more research to do, which is sort of fun...
Maybe I need to win that Wayne Novak.
A can of worms is highly valued in some circles.
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Okay, go ahead and start throwing stone...Don Mr. Revolver" Worsham first!
BTW, Wayne Novak just agreed to do one of his full-house custom 1911s for DOWN RANGE Giveaway Gun...that baby will be an heirloom!
I own one of the best ever 1911s, Wilson Combat CQB Compact. I've shot most of the others (never a SIG yet, hmm). I want a Taurus bad (to go with my revolvers!!!). ;D
Does Taurus make a compact yet?
update: I just read about the Novak giveaway. I'll take it. Sounds nice!
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That's the great thing about 1911's, if you pick a good platform, all of the above are a great starting place. Anything that does'nt agree with you can be changed. Kind of like a small block chevrolet. The 1911 is the only gun I know of that in the end, may not have a single part it started with. Another good thing is all those spare parts can be built into another one. Example, I bought a Caspian wide body frame about 1990, then bought a SA 1991 a1 in 9mm, took the slide assembly, mounted bomar sights and put it on the wide body frame. Later took the SA lower and found a Colt siide in 45 acp, installed bomars and a Kart barrel, that's now my bulls eye gun. I keep buying parts, now I have 8 complete 1911's and 2 in progress, a Les Bauer matched slide and frame and something I always liked the looks of, a Safari Arms Matchmaster, stainless slide and frame. Throw in a .22 conversion kit and well, you see where I'm going. Don't worry Don, my first love has always been revolvers. At our club we used to have match called the BRT, stood for BIG ROUND THINGS, to our bottom feeder friends.
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[size=14pt]Wow... free association. I thought maybe a forum on firearms would be more directed toward the "bang bang" of the whole thing.
I personally have never entered a contest I thought I'd win (at least where there was no opportunity to physically kick everyone elses tail) but it's fun to dream and plan what to do with the spoils.
I really thought I'd win that 1911 with the blue grips...although I planned on changing them. A royal blue pistol is a little...well, you know....
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I carry a Springfield GI. It's a pretty good pistol for the cost, but I should have paid extra to get the Mil Specs. I have a Colt Gold Cup it is my favorite pistol, but because the beaver tail I don't like carrying it.
If you have a small fortune I would get a Wilson Combat CBQ or a Les Baer
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I carry a Springfield GI. It's a pretty good pistol for the cost, but I should have paid extra to get the Mil Specs.
Dakotaranger, what are the differences between the GI and Mil Spec, is it the sights? I shot a friends Springfield a couple of three years ago (he doesn't shoot much) but I can't recall which one he had (but I'm thinking GI). I liked it. The trigger was way different from my Wilson but you can get use to any trigger. For the money you can't go wrong with a Springfield GI.
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I've always meant to pick up a GI 1911, maybe the Auto Ordnance WW2...
http://www.auto-ordnance.com/ao_1911pkz_f.html
...and go retro for awhile. I have my father's 1911A1 Remington Rand he carried in the Pacific, but I'm loath to put a lot of rounds through it (I have shot it...he carried it for years). I thought it might be fun to get the AO and a bunch of 7 round magazines, shoot a few USPSA match stages, then go back and shoot the same stages with one of my trick 1911s. Just curious.
I've been in a retro-1911 mood lately. I've thought of building a Jeff Cooper Special, a two-tone LW Commander with S&W revolver sights and ivory grips like the Colonel carried and all of us shot (sans ivory grips, back in the day. I've also got most of the parts for a 10mm 1911 somewhere down in the gun room (been collecting them for more than a decade)...maybe it's tiem to morph them into a real gun. Besides, I have never owned a 10mm anything, although I've shot a few.
BTW, I will be attending the Cooper Memorial down at Whittington week after next...I'm driving down with old friend Col. Bob Brown from SOLDIER OF FORTUNE Magazine, which ought to be a hoot. I love it when Bob starts a conversation with something like, "So I'm sitting in this crappy ex-pat bar in Thailand when this spook who used to run native shooters up in Cambodia offers to buy me a drink..."
Michael B
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Sounds like fun drive ahead of you MB.
I have always been a 'retro' 1911 kinda guy (except they weren't retro when I first had one ;) )
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IMHO the only thing good about a "new-retro" 1911 is the frame. Give the rest to the gunsmith and hope he knocks off some cash from the bill when he builds/converts that "newretro" into a "newcustom". And if i have any input its going to end up a bowling pin gun! ;D
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Hey theres a lot of cool in retro guns, first the cost. Theres a lot of way cool in middle of the road 1911's now to, most come with all the bells and whistles, maybe not fitted as well as custom, but the price is pretty right on them. I'll tell you a story, a fellow shooter at one of our local matches asked me before the match, to look at a gun he had for sale. After the match he showed me this 1911 that was a total put together. It had an Essex SS frame, a GI barrel, GI slide, true 1911 safety, lanyard mainspring housing, plastic grips etc.. and he asked me what it was worth. I said well it's a put together out of parts gun, maybe 100.00 - 150.00 pistol. He then said, would you give a 100.00 for it. I said let me shoot it. It did go bang whenever it fully chambered a round, 60% of the time, and it hit 6"'s low, grouped about 8"'s @ 25 yards. So I bought it. I took all the extra parts I had ( accumulated over the years ) ordered a new barrel bushing, fitted it, polished the feed ramp, peened the slide rails on the frame, did a trigger job, checkered the frame, filed the the mainspring housing to flat and checkered it. Installed some fixed MGW sights. Installed some Colt factory grips left over from a previous build, a Wilson plastic under the grip magazine well, fitted a S&A beavertail grip safety ( won in a tournament) and went to shoot it, well very satisfied, not a tack driver but 3"s at 25 yard, it now shoots to point of aim, and my total investment is 176.00 and sweat equity, it's not real pretty, the frame looks good, but the GI slide shows my torch marks from soldering the front sight, I call it my econo gun, and when I shoot it in tactical matches I have a built in excuse, what do you expect from a 176.00 pistol? I've turned down 3 times my investment. Also the trigger came out very good, not just good, so i use this pistol for my Ciener .22 conversion as well. Gotta love 1911's.
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+1 on the scandium SW 1911. I have owned a bunch of 1911s, and this one is by far the best out of the box 1911 i have seen.
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I like my $300 Rock Island Armory 1911. Lots of people say it's no good cause it's cheap and write it off just cause of the low price. Well, I'll bet none of them ever owned one! It's a good 1911. My Rock Island is More Reliable than my dad's Kimber Ultra Carry. And les than half the price of it to boot!
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Walter45auto, I will agree I also have a RIA, great shooter and accurate as any.
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Also have a RIA. Only problem I had was with Wolf 45 ACP ammo - Extractor would not seat properly on the wolf case groove as it is actually more narrow that other 45 ACP ammo. Ordered a variable 18.5 lb Wolff variable recoil spring this week. Will also paint the front sight for better visibility.
Friend has a Kimber Carry Pro and is very happy with it - seems very similar to the S&W Scandium 1911 in weight, reliability.........
Have a Ruger P97. It eats everything! Grip is not quite to my liking - will be slipping an bicycle inner tube section over the grip to see if that helps.
Inner tube pieces work well on polymer grips - takes effort and trial and error but cheap. Give it a try.