1911

[DHart]

thinktwice said:

But still I have never owned a high end custom 1911 like a Wilson, Ed Brown, or any of the others. So it's hard to understand how a Wilson could shoot and feel any better than some of the ones I own, but from what I understand it's a very very big difference. I really really want one. I have never had the money, and still don't but I have been contemplating selling a few of my other 1911's to purchase one. I would love to have one bad, but like I have told others I always regret letting any of my pistols go, even to up-grade. So maybe some others on here can convince me to sell a few, and get one custom made Wilson or something.

thinktwice... having had somewhere around 35 or so 1911's at one point, many customs, and a number of high dollar brands, my experience is that I'm just as happy with some of my lightly customized Colts. like this one



as I've been with any of the uber-dollar custom jobs.

Of course, they're all nice and each have their own unique characteristics which are cool. But its a very rare individual who can regularly shoot more than a few pistols to the point of achieving true bonding and mastery with the weapon. The more you have, the less most of them ever get shot. More isn't better, it's kind of gluttonous, actually. Now that I've scaled back to a dozen or so 1911's, I could still scale back some more, though I'm not exactly motivated to do so, and few see much use.

So... for those who might wish for a large collection of 1911's, or to own $2500+ 1911's, my experience has taught me that having a few good quality 1911's that you shoot often and know exceptionally well is BETTER than amassing dozens of them or spending thousands on an individual pistol. Sure, the $2500+ 1911's are nice guns, cool to "show off" and get some ooohs and ahhhhs, but they don't necessarily bring much more satisfaction than a nicely put together $1200 1911 that you shoot very often and are bonded with. Even with a home range where shooting was quick and convenient for me, most of my guns saw little use - because there were so many.

At this point I could scale back to just two or three 1911's (the above Colt Series 70 being one of them), along with my other modern pistols, and be perfectly content. Less IS more!

[bac1023]

Here are a few more of mine...



ATI FX45








Remington Rand USGI








Charles Daly EFS

[bac1023]

Firestorm DLX








Fusion Commander Elite








Para GI Expert

[bac1023]

Les Baer SRP








Les Baer Concept V








Pistol Dynamics Signature

[bac1023]

Ithaca 1911A1








Para 1911 Limited








Unertl DLX

[bac1023]

Sig STX








Norinco 1911A1








Auto Ordnance GI

[Tucker 1371]

Well I think I've figured out why decent 1911s are a PITA to find at my LGSs... DHart and bac1023 bought them all

Very nice collections y'all!

[thinktwice]

DHart, I have to say your post does make since. Maybe I can just hold off on selling any of my production guns, instead of shelling out $2500.00- $3000.00 on a high end custom. Thanks

[DHart]

DHart, I have to say your post does make since. Maybe I can just hold off on selling any of my production guns, instead of shelling out $2500.00- $3000.00 on a high end custom. Thanks

Hey man... you're welcome. The holy grail of 1911's isn't having a lot of them, or even having an uber-expensive elite brand name model. Nice thing is you don't have to spend all that money to find this out.

The better grade, well-established brand, production models can be awesome guns indeed. Colt is making superb 1911's these days and is one of my favorite 1911 makers. Settle in on one or two solid production models and become one with them. This way you will know the weapon so intimately that full trust in reliability and true confident accuracy will be assured.

The more guns you own, the less you can know reliability and attain superb accuracy on most of them. As the old saying goes, "beware the man who only owns 1 gun, for he probably knows how to shoot it exceptionally well!"

You may find, after much use, that doing a tweak or mod here or there is helpful, but you don't need to make changes and expensive customization "just because you can". Leaving well enough alone until you're certain a change is needed is the way to go. And will save you a lot of money.

Many a 1911 owner has undertaken numerous tweaks and mods because they thought that was "the thing to do" - it's easy to believe that to be the case when you see all the products out there for changing and modding a 1911. Often, however, they wind up with a gun that has lost it's reliability and, if permanently changed, has probably lost it's original value (in addition to the upgrade costs) as well.

I would avoid the bottom tier of very inexpensive 1911's and step up to buy a better-grade production level gun to start with and then master it. Interestingly, I often preferred shooting and carrying my Colts even with Wilsons and Browns in the safe ready to go. Those are certainly nice guns, but I honestly don't feel the money is that well spent on them. Just my personal view and others may differ.

[bac1023]

I hear what you're saying.

However, I'm more a collector than I am a shooter. I have a few carry guns that I feel very comfortable and proficient with. After that, I'm a collector, with occasional recreational shooting. I don't feel any need to be proficient with all my stuff. In fact, I own many firearms I never even shot. Again, I'm a collector first and foremost.

To be honest, I'm mostly a collector of non-1911 autos and revolvers. They make up the majority of my inventory, but I have amassed some 1911s over the years.

I carry a Kimber Pro CDP (not pictured) most of the time. Sometimes I carry my Glock 33 or Glock 19. I do get a good deal of practice time with these pistols.

[DHart]

bac1023... Sounds like we have a lot in common. I was a shooter who happened to become a collector just because I found so many guns I wanted to have. At one point I realized that there was no way I could know and be proficient with all the guns I had. Quite a few 1911's, but many more S&W revolvers. Over the last couple of years I've thinned the 1911's somewhat and thinned the revolver herd quite a bit. Still have another dozen or so I could happily live without and will probably sell this year. I'm at that stage in life where I want to get rid of stuff more than I want to accumulate stuff! Got too much stuff... But I've made excellent headway recently in getting rid of a lifetimes worth of stuff. Now I like to travel most of the year, so having a lot of stuff has become unimportant.

[bac1023]

Originally Posted by DHart

bac1023... Sounds like we have a lot in common. I was a shooter who happened to become a collector just because I found so many guns I wanted to have. At one point I realized that there was no way I could know and be proficient with all the guns I had. Quite a few 1911's, but many more S&W revolvers. Over the last couple of years I've thinned the 1911's somewhat and thinned the revolver herd quite a bit. Still have another dozen or so I could happily live without and will probably sell this year. I'm at that stage in life where I want to get rid of stuff more than I want to accumulate stuff! Got too much stuff... But I've made excellent headway recently in getting rid of a lifetimes worth of stuff. Now I like to travel most of the year, so having a lot of stuff has become unimportant.

Sounds good.

I'm not at that stage yet, but I'm sure I will be at some point later in life. It certainly makes sense.

[Texshooter]

1 reason - I shoot it better than any pistol I have ever owned.

Other things I like - fits my hand, good caliber, straight back trigger pull, at least 2 affirmative safeties, looks classy, has served our Republic heroically.

JMB.

[bikerbill]

Ergonomics ... big bullet ... reasonable recoil ... accurate ... IMHO best handgun ever ...

[reticle]