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Old July 21, 2012, 01:30 PM   #126
Powderman
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Why, yes it is.

I love the horsey.....
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Old July 21, 2012, 02:03 PM   #127
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The 1911 is a true born and bread combat pistol so the question IMHO is foolish.... If you have a solid, reliable 1911 then I dont see what the problem is.. Many very popular brands have no real history and tradition and people carry them... So why not 100 years of history.

That said you get what you pay for in a 1911 or any other gun...

Do I carry a 1911.. no.. Would I? Sure
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Old July 21, 2012, 02:10 PM   #128
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Until they come up with a way I can rationally conceal carry a shotgun with combination buckshot/birdshot loads I have and will continue to trust my life to a 1911.
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Old July 21, 2012, 03:36 PM   #129
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Would you trust your life to a 1911?

Nope. I’ve had three Colt Gold Cups and now it’s down to only one. Broke many a magazine by fracturing the weld at the floor plate, ammo would suddenly be on the ground. Played with the extractor by bending it and taking a Dremel to it. Dremeled the two-piece feed ramp too. I believe the issue is the design not workmanship or material. I’ve had Colt Gold Cups that were non symmetrical in terms of machining of the flat area of the dust cover that was obvious with the naked eye comparing right to left sides of the pistol. Even the Phyton I have has non-symmetry at the trigger guard, again comparing right to left sides. Aesthetics only perhaps but I don’t like it.

Issues with the 1911 date back to at least Jeff Cooper’s time when he pointed out when the staked plunger tube becomes unglued. The plunger tube houses the spring loaded pins for the takedown lever and safety located at the top of the left grip panel.

My choice for a 45ACP is the S&W 745. Never had a need or desire to take a Dremel to any of my 745’s. As some would say my S&W’s would eat virtually anything and not complain/hiccup. Like many auto-loaders the 745 appears to take after the Browning Hi-Power with no barrel bushing, plunger tube or welded magazine floor plate.

Personally I group the 1911 with P-08 Luger, aesthetically appealing and interesting design but not very practical for actual use.

Edit:
Something’s I should have mentioned or clarified. I have taken a Dremel to my some of my 745’s not because of reliability issues but because of preference. Some material at the top of the trigger where it engages the trigger bar is removed to shorten the free play of the trigger, this free play is the movement of the trigger before the trigger actually moves the sear. This usually requires a fair amount of material removal. Another area of slight material removal is at the hammer spur because of its sharp edges. I only used the emery embedded rubber wheel of the Dremel manually without the power tool of the Dremel.

The trigger of the 745 is unusual it that it has absolutely no interaction with the safety on the slide. The hammer can be dropped with the safety on, kinda funky and something to keep in mind. Trigger bar is dual sided giving no feel of flex at all. Trigger has two adjustments, backlash adjustment screw is mounted on the frame and is clearly visible. Trigger position screw is within the frame out of view, it positions the trigger relative to the frame or trigger guard. Free play has no adjustment is the reason for the above material removal, this adjustment, obviously, is a one-way street. Remove too much and the trigger needs to be replaced. I’m conservative by keeping reliability in mind.

Spring rates are all stock. The hammer of the 745 appears to have less mass than a 1911 giving it a fast lock time and because of this I would reduce the main spring (hammer spring) little if at all.

Many later design pistols require a lot of trigger free play because it’s needed to move the firing pin block/lock.

The 1911 are a very interesting platform from its temperamental ness to the shear variation of aftermarket magazine designs and accessories. It has been a learning experience.

Last edited by 745SW; July 25, 2012 at 11:31 AM.
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Old July 22, 2012, 06:01 AM   #130
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Nope. I’ve had three Colt Gold Cups and now it’s down to only one. Broke many a magazine by fracturing the weld at the floor plate, ammo would suddenly be on the ground. Played with the extractor by bending it and taking a Dremel to it. Dremeled the two-piece feed ramp too. I believe the issue is the design not workmanship or material.
I work on 1911's. I find that the issue in many cases is people taking Dremels to critical components, etc. When IPSC became popular, I saw some mags fail because they were simply junk or from slamming mags in too hard. The 1911 does require excellent magazines to run well with SWC's or JHP's. Which mags are 'excellent' is probably another topic, but the CMC Powermag is the best 8 round mag I've found.
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Old July 22, 2012, 07:15 AM   #131
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Saving lives since 1911...
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Old July 22, 2012, 11:53 AM   #132
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I had a springfield 1911a1 millspec that gave me nothing but trouble. FT fire and light primer strikes were common.. Ontop of that they made the design of the fraking firing pin unique so MFing mill-spec firingpins from a former military pistol would not work in it... I never was able to get it working and traded it off.

So ya, Im hesitant to try the 1911 coolaid again.. People keep saying how there reliable, prove it.. I can not take parts from 1 1911 and transfere them to another, but i can take 2 xds or 2 glocks apart and 100% of the parts are interchangeable with no fitting or filing.

If it want a Good reliable single action that is accurate for target practice or competition then im going with the premium competition lineup from EAA or CZ. Proven guns from both manufactures.
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Old July 22, 2012, 12:09 PM   #133
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1. The original spec firing pin is known as a "series 70" pin. Newer 1911's have a clearance cut for the firing pin safety.
2. If you had a problem with the firing pin or light strikes, you should have called Springfield Armory. They have repaired an M1A for me--twice--and I am not the original owner. At Camp Perry they rebuilt a troublesome lower frame to a 1911 for me and only charged me $10.00--I was not the original owner, and it wasn't even a Springfield Armory gun! They have the best customer service that I have ever encountered.

More than likely it was the firing pin block that was mis-sized. The 1911 has the strongest firing pin strike of any handgun out there--the thing will cap off a brick if you can get it to chamber.

As far as switching parts between pistols, remember one thing--Drop in parts sometimes do NOT simply drop in.
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Old July 22, 2012, 12:23 PM   #134
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My brother shot an armed robber with his Colt Government.
Worked just fine when needed.
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Old July 22, 2012, 01:44 PM   #135
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A 1911 that has been assembled correctly will be just as reliable as any other modern firearm. One that's been the victim of corner cutting or poorly thought-out design changes may not be. Unfortunately there are a lot from the latter category out there.
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Old July 22, 2012, 01:53 PM   #136
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Quote:
1. The original spec firing pin is known as a "series 70" pin. Newer 1911's have a clearance cut for the firing pin safety.
Only 1911's that have A firing pin safety use a modified firing pin.

Springfield Armory doesn't use a firing pin safety, they use a lightweight .38 Super sized firing pin in combination with a heavier than stock firing pin spring to pass drop tests in order to be sold in places like California.

Quote:
I can not take parts from 1 1911 and transfere them to another, but i can take 2 xds or 2 glocks apart and 100% of the parts are interchangeable with no fitting or filing.
You can't take parts from an XD and stick them in a Glock either. Not every manufacturer's 1911 is exactly the same as every other manufacturer's 1911. If you had two Springfields you could have swapped firing pins, or you could have just used the lifetime warranty on a malfunctioning handgun.
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Old July 22, 2012, 01:59 PM   #137
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I own (5) 1911 pistols that are as optimally reliable as any of my other semiauto pistols.

A couple of them (older Colts) required some minor attention before they reached that point, but then the state-of-the-art for magazines and hollowpoint ammunition that would reliably feed in 1911's was less well developed in the 70's & 80's.

My last couple of 1911's (Colt XSE Government & SW1911SC 5") have reliably fed, fired, extracted & ejected using a variety of hollowpoint ammunition (and a few different magazine designs) from the very first magazine load. They've continued to do so for several years.

I just helped another instructor become familiar with his first 1911-syle pistol, a 5" SW1911 Enhanced Model, the other day. It fed our current duty hollowpoint (230gr BJHP/Golden Sabre) just fine. It exhibited optimal reliability, very good practical accuracy and had a surprisingly nice stock trigger. He was using the OEM 8-rd magazines supplied with the gun, some Wolff (ACT-Mag) 7-rd magazines and a couple of McCormick Powermags. I wouldn't change anything about it before carrying it as an off-duty & retirement weapon. Nice.
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Old July 22, 2012, 02:21 PM   #138
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A $1,500+ 1911, proven through a lot of rounds, sure.

Off the shelf/out of the box? No, I would not. Not even a Wilson.
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Old July 22, 2012, 05:41 PM   #139
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I don't trust my life to anything with a manual safety. It has nothing to do with the guns and everything to do with how I'm trained. If I bought a 1911 today it would be quite a while before I would feel comfortable carrying it.

As for 1911's, I think they are dependable for self defense in the 4 inch and up barrel lengths. I have not owned a 1911 in a while but the next time I buy one, I'll go in expecting it might need a little tweaking to run the way I like. That's just been my experience with the mid price ranged 1911's. I know there are plenty of people that get RIA's that run like revolvers out of the box and Kimbers that don't miss a beat. However, if I was buying either, I'd expect to at least have to buy different mags or hand the feed ramp polished. That's just been my experience and seems to be widely accepted among the 1911 community. Maybe I'm wrong about that last part..

Does that make the 1911 unreliable in my eyes? No. Because that certainly can't be applied to every 1911 out there and is solely based on my opinion and what I read. I personally like to do little more than clean a new gun before I hit the range, but I'm also a bit lazy and not the least bit mechanically inclined. The next time I do buy a 1911, I plan to do it right and look for a DW or Colt.
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Old July 22, 2012, 08:42 PM   #140
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Quote:
I don't trust my life to anything with a manual safety.
That apply to long guns as well?
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Old July 22, 2012, 08:53 PM   #141
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Originally Posted by Striker1 View Post
That apply to long guns as well?
That's a good catch striker.

The answer is no. Every rifle I've ever owned has a manual safety so going for the safety on a rifle is instinctual for me. However, with handguns it's always almost been DA revolvers or autos.
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Old July 22, 2012, 09:30 PM   #142
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I hear ya! No sense trying to undo years of muscle memory if you don't have to.
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Old July 23, 2012, 10:13 AM   #143
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I've wondered myself if starting out with my striker fired guns with no safety if the 1911 safety will give me issues.
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Old July 23, 2012, 10:33 AM   #144
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I trust all of my guns. Otherwise they'd be gone. My most often carried gun is a .357 snub. But there's a loaded Dan Wesson Vbob ready in my nightsatand.
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Old July 23, 2012, 11:26 AM   #145
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The real question is "Do you trust yourself to operate a firearm?" or "Do I trust myself to operate a particular handgun?". It is after all a person who does the shooting and operates the weapon. The person's skills and knowledge determine the outcome.

"A mans' got to know his limitations", the fictional Harry Callahan once said. If you want to run guns you should take the time to learn. If you don't know how to run a particular gun, like a 1911 or an M9, and you want to run them, take the time to learn or deal with something else.

When a fella says "1911s are dangerous and antiquated because I might forget to disengage the thumb safety," he's making more of a statement about himself than the gun.

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Old July 23, 2012, 11:31 AM   #146
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I can not take parts from 1 1911 and transfere them to another, but i can take 2 xds or 2 glocks apart and 100% of the parts are interchangeable with no fitting or filing.
Um I don't think a Glock slide will work on a XD
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Old July 25, 2012, 07:12 PM   #147
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Would you trust your life to a 1911?

Nope again. I have the desire to stir the pot some. The 1911 is a classic, meaning there is no comparatively continual refinement. There have been attempts like the collet type bushing of the Colt series 70 Gold Cup and Government models. Kimber changed to an external extractor. Neither of these changes remain, the makers reverted back to the previous designs. The scope of the aftermarket is second to non-except perhaps Glock.

Generally the best magazines for a pistol are OEM (original equipment manufacturer), that’s true with Glock and virtually everyone else but not the 1911. Non-OEM, aftermarket, magazines are cheaper and/or have easier availability and usually inferior build and performance but not the 1911. Parts are drop-in with little or no fitting but not the barrel bushing of the 1911.

Glock’s are, comparatively a pistol that is in continual change. Some are Phase III issues, barrel at ejection port changed for faster unlocking, I think, single pin at the locking block changed to two pins, increased case head support at the ramp for the 40 S&W, single to dual recoil springs with a captive rod, and non drop free to drop free magazines, full metal liner.

I don’t particularly like Glock’s but you’ve got to admit they changed the pistol marketplace dramatically.

The 1911 requires a good deal of familiarity by the user to trust this platform.
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Old July 25, 2012, 08:24 PM   #148
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I have the desire to stir the pot some.
You can do that. It's easier to stir things when most of what you wrote above about the 1911 is incorrect. But I figure you know that.

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Old July 25, 2012, 09:10 PM   #149
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The 1911 requires a good deal of familiarity by the user to trust this platform.
And so does a Glock...for that matter so does any firearm.
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Old July 25, 2012, 11:53 PM   #150
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Originally Posted by Striker1 View Post
And so does a Glock...for that matter so does any firearm.
That's true, but if you took 15 Glocks and 15 1911s (let's say $1,000 models, so 2x a Glock's cost) and put them on the firing line all day, which is more likely to jam/feed wrong, etc?

It's true that the 1911 has a lovely trigger, and shoots like a beauty, but shootability is second to a single thing in a combat firearm: dead nuts reliability.

Even the most well-maintained 1911 still has way more parts to have issues with. Safeties (grip and manual), springs, bushing, guide rod (two pieces if G.I.), etc. A Glock or other combat polymer has four - frame rails. slide, barrel, recoil spring assembly.

There's just more to go wrong on the excellent (but old) 1911.

I'd happily be corrected by any who disagree with me. I truly enjoy modern pistols and 1911s both, so I welcome a healthy debate to give me more stuff to consider.
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