Sig GSR Vs S&W 1911

[Unbreakable]

It has come down to these two models pretty much. Any advice on which would be the better weapon. Any horror stories about either? Any glowing reviews? Pros or Cons. I personally like the external extractor on both and that is one reason why they are the winners in my book. I know that is a curse word in the 1911 world so spare me the stern talking to. Just want to know about a comparison of the just these two weapons. What do you guys think.

[Shadi Khalil]

Check out the Sig forums, alot on the GSR there. I havent heard a peep of anything bad about the Smiths. For that reason I find them very interesting.

[sloo50]

My GSR runs like a top. No complaints

Wes

[azredhawk44]

My GSR Revolution was a lemon out of the box.

The retailer (Scottsdale Gun Club) misrepresented themselves as a factory authorized service center and attempted to fix the gun themselves.

The gun came back to me after about 2 weeks in shop with a gritty, nasty trigger and still failed to feed reliably.

I called Sig in New Hampshire and got an RMA, but also discovered the SGC did in fact lie to me, as they are definitely not a Sig authorized service center.

Sig ended up fixing my gun to satisfaction and I still own the weapon. It feeds ball ammunition perfectly, and the only hollowpoints I have had a problem with are Gold Dots... Hornady XTP's work wonderfully.

That being said, if I had it all to do over again and my money back... I'd just get a Colt. Not a Springer/Kimber/S&W/Spartan or anything else; just a Colt.

ETA: I do carry the Sig GSR sometimes. Walking the dog, hikes in the desert... stuff like that. And it does nightstand duty. At this point it is very accurate, very comfortable and familiar to shoot, and very reliable with ball or XTP hollowpoints. I prefer carrying the SP101 or Redhawk, but the GSR gets the nod maybe 20% of the time.
http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p17/azredhawk44/P1010038.jpg

[MLeake]

I was having a lot of FTRB issues with my GSR C3 when I first bought it. We're talking at least one FTRB every other magazine. Changed magazines, but that didn't help. Had the ramp polished. That didn't help.

Ended up changing lubes, on advice of a guy at Gander Mountain in Knoxville. He recommended Hot Sauce, which is a fishing reel lube that you can find in most places that sell tackle. Apparently, the 1911 crowd discovered the stuff a long time ago, because when I mentioned it to people a while later, I got a lot of nods and "oh, yeah, good idea" type responses.

Since switching to the Hot Sauce lube, I haven't had a single FTRB. This was well over 1000 rounds ago.

As an experiment, I haven't cleaned the pistol for the last 500 rounds. Still no issues. In theory, the lube adheres to surfaces and forms a bond with the metal, so by lubing the rails, it creates a teflon like slip between frame and slide. That seems to be what is happening here.

However it works, though, it works.

I've gone from wanting to sell or trade the C3 to viewing it as my favorite shooter.

[B.N.Real]

Hot Sauce-Gander Mountain-got it.

Thanks MLeake.

[dairycreek]

Had a GSR and it was an unmitigated disaster! It was purchased NIB and when I took it out of the box for the first time the front sight fell off. It never was reliable and after several returns to SIG service I gave up.

Bought a new S&W 1911 three years ago and have just never, never, never had any kind of a problem.

Based on personal experience - S&W 1911:p

[DMK]

I asked this question a while ago and got the same responses. My plan is to get an S&W 1911PD, then a Sig C3 GSR. The C3 is really sexy, but I want to make sure I have something to shoot while I'm waiting on that lifetime Sig factory service. :\

[MLeake]

If you do get a C3, Andrews Leather in Alachua, FL makes holsters for it. I like his stuff, have MacDaniel holsters for both my C3 and my P220. Recommend the thumb-break option for the C3. Runs $75-80.

He usually has the leather pre-molded for Sig, since he owns a few, so there is usually no wait. He is also a very pleasant guy to shoot the bull with.

www.andrewsleather.com

PS I make occasional pitches for Andrews Leather, and Hot Sauce for that matter, because the products work well for me. I am not in sales, and I have no personal stake in either product, but I do recommend them.

Cheers.

[oldcspsarge]

The S&W is a better buy and fits all standard colt 1911 holsters...the SIG with the SIGized slide does not. I thing the SIG grip safety is ugly and cheap.

[Webleymkv]

I got my SW1911 used from Gander Mountain. The gun fed JHP flawlessly but choked on FMJ (I know, it just didn't make any sense). Soooo, I took her back to Gander Mountain who sent it off to S&W. Two weeks later it came back and not only didn't it jam anymore, but the nice folks at S&W even replaced the buggered up grip screws with some nice allen-head ones.:D

[mnlitig8r]

If you go with the S&W make sure you get the $100 rebate form off the S&W website. I was shopping 1911's a few weeks ago and chose the S&W over the Springfields, Sigs and Kimbers. It's a great gun!

[RsqVet]

I personally like the components and most models of the GSR better than the S+W offerings, and think that the GSR on avarage is a bit tighter gun than the S+W. However sig does not have their act together 100% on the GSR... even the GSR Revolution which was the re-branding required by the fact that the first go at the GSR was rather problem prone.

I owned a revolution and in the course of 8 weeks of shooting and a few thousand rounds the series 80 parts jamed due to clearance / burr issues and the plunger tube loosened up. I gave up on it after sig fixed it and bought a couple of Ed Brown 1911's with which I have had total satisfaction. The sig issues many would consider minor but I have a short tolerance in terms of failures of guns so I chose not to see what broke next. Oh and did I mention that every one of the Sig 1911 mags developed cracked feed lips. To sig's defense they were made by another company.

When my sig worked it feed everything well and was scary accurate. Got me hooked on the 1911 though I rapidly moved on from that gun, kind of funny in a way.

I can not claim ignorance of the original GSR's reputation prior to when I made my purchase, however the "revolution" thing got me and I figured the kinks had been ironed out. Now is seems not as there are a fair number of problem reports with revolution guns as well.

It's a sad thing that Sig stumbled so bad out the gate on the GSR as it could be a great gun, heck mine was nearly as tight and accurate as the Brown I now shoot. At the price point they are at the could clean up if they had their act together.

S+W on the other hand one rarely hears any complaints about...

So if I were you and all other things were equal I'd go S+w

[fastbolt]

I can't speak to the reiteration of the GSR.

I'd like to think Sig got it right the second time around and addressed the issues from the first attempt. Always nice to see another good quality 1911-type pistol available on the market.

I only know one fellow who bought one of the first production models. He returned it to Sig for problems and said he spoke to a nice fellow back at the factory about it. He was told that they couldn't get his to function to their satisfaction and they offered to replace it. He said they agreed to exchange it for a P220 (which has worked out well for him).

Last time I spoke to a Sig LE rep and asked how the new ones were doing, he pretty much said that they had high hopes for it.

The SW1911 seems to have done rather well, notwithstanding a few teething pains which S&W seems to have quickly addressed and resolved.

After handling and shooting examples of various production periods I finally decided to order one for myself. I've been very satisfied with mine (SW1911SC 5").