testtest

Ranking 1911's

As long as it runs reliably and is decently accurate I don’t care what the slide says.😊. Higher end have better fit finish, but the uber high end? They’re nice but frankly they tend to be overkill. If you’re a 3” shooter at 25 yards a 1” pistol isn’t going to make much difference to you. Most modern handguns will shoot better than most folks can hold.
 
Last edited:
I own Colts, S&W, SIG, and Springfield Armory 1911's and have handled many others. Over many years I have boiled it down to those 4 brands based upon personal preferences and experience with them. I am interested in a Kimber, but only the SIS model. I regard 1911's as fighting pistols and rate them for their utility as a fighting pistol. I would love to own a custom gun like the Nighthawk, but fail to see added benefit corresponding to cost. If I were still competing and running hundreds of thousands of rounds through my pistols, i would view custom guns differently. There are many variations and models within each brand. It comes down to your requirements as to barrels, sights, grips, trigger pull, and aesthetics, and how well they perform for you. And you can spend as much as you want on a 1911. Everybody has their own tastes, but in my opinion at this stage of my life, life is too short for second rate fighting guns, or ugly guns or dogs.
 
Sadly I only have two 1911's at this time, my Colt Combat Commander and my Dan Wesson. I went through a period where I would not buy a 1911 as I only buy Optic ready guns now (mostly since I cannot afford all the guns). Now that we have a lot of great optic ready 1911's I will start buying them again. Unfortunately now a Dan Wesson with Optics slide is like 3000 bucks.
 
HayesGreener said:
I own Colts, S&W, SIG, and Springfield Armory 1911's and have handled many others. Over many years I have boiled it down to those 4 brands based upon personal preferences and experience with them. I am interested in a Kimber, but only the SIS model. I regard 1911's as fighting pistols and rate them for their utility as a fighting pistol. I would love to own a custom gun like the Nighthawk, but fail to see added benefit corresponding to cost. If I were still competing and running hundreds of thousands of rounds through my pistols, i would view custom guns differently. There are many variations and models within each brand. It comes down to your requirements as to barrels, sights, grips, trigger pull, and aesthetics, and how well they perform for you. And you can spend as much as you want on a 1911. Everybody has their own tastes, but in my opinion at this stage of my life, life is too short for second rate fighting guns, or ugly guns or dogs.
Click to expand...
Well like Hays, I have owned various 1911s and I agree they are a fighting pistol. However, that being said if they can't produce a 4 inch group or better at 50 yards I am not interested in them. Not even as a truck gun. Guess I am too picky.
 
Yes I know and have seen rack grade 1911s shoot accurately much further, I still think of a standard 1911 as a 25 meter (max) gun and smaller (Officer Model) guns as 15 meter max. Its not about what they might be able to do; its more about what they are intended to do. When I lived/worked in a rural area , I ran guns that filled longer range potential. Conversely when in an urban/suburban area, I opt for guns that fill that role.

Ive currently got an Officer model itch. If I can get A zone hits on paper, then body hits under two way stress seems do-able. Without getting into a "my cartridge is better than yours" debate, I like 45acp for HAMMER like impact even with FMJ

Im confident a Rock Island and similar guns are good "duty grade" quality guns. Colt/Kimber (et al) are "better" dressed guns. Im not sure they perform significantly better; but theres a reason we strive for Rolex, and Porsche
 
Last edited:
1 DW
2 Kimber Sig
3 Springfield

Surprising league of it's own.... Fusion XP Comp

Logic on my ratings 100% based upon personal experience ownership and shooting. Have no dots using irons only on everything I shoot.

Have 5 1911's all full size 5" barrels.
DW Valor 45 in stainless, DW Specialist 9MM in duty, Sig STX 45, Kimber Rapide Scorpius 9mm and a recently acquired Emissary in 9MM. Also have a Fusion XP Comp considered a 2011 by some.

DW Quality is truly top tier for non custom manufactured (not custom shop). Fit, finish, function and triggers are excellent out of the box. DW factory 9MM 10 rd magazines will not run in any of the pistols. DW sent replacments under warranty. Same result.

Personally don't have concern about MIM parts which takes me to the next tier. For the Kimber haters, I bought the Rapide with some trepadation having read interent horror stories (oh the drama) with failures of epic proportion suggesting they are not good firearms nor did the company have good CSR. It's a good looking pistol and eyeball is part of my decision of what to buy and shoot. My sample of 1 has performed flawlessly from day 1. Quality, fit and finish are a notch below DW. Similarly the Sig is a great pistol. 12 year old pistol still tight and a great shooter. Did springs a few times then a Sig factory tune & trigger job at around 10K rounds.

Just picked up an Emissary black 9MM 5" last week. About 250 rounds through it. Quality is very good. Slide fit is OK. Lot's of wear marks / cerakote coming off slide during break in. Expecting slide gets better with break / wear in. Good shooting nice trigger. A few teething issues failure to go into battery nearly every magazine. Stock magazines don't seem well made nor do they run well. Pistol runs much better with Mec Gar 10Rd and Kimber 9Rd.

Fusion XP Comp. It's considered a "2011". No mim parts. This has been the most pleasant surprise of any firearm purchased. Pistol quality fit and finish are on par with Kimber & Sig. Slide fit is excellent. Super easy shooter. Great trigger. Smooth is the best way I can describe it. Finish on pistol and aluminum grip are also excellent. The comp makes it shoot flat with return to target fast and easy. Barrell at 4.4" shoots as accurately as the 5". Only odd to me part on the pistol is the magazine release which is plastic. Seems the logic is It is uses Glock 17 & clones magazines. The glock mags are plastic coated metal. I'm not a Glock guy but understand the factory release is plastic. I purchased 8 metal coated Mec Gar which run great in the pistol . Ordered a couple of releases for spares in case of failure. at $7 it's cheap insurance. At $1,500 MSRP a surprising buy.
 
Of ones I currently own
Best to Worst

Wilson Combat ... Have 4
Two 1911's and two EDC X9 Experiors

Dan Wesson ... Have two
Guardian in 9mm and a DWX Compact

Sig Sauer .... Have two, the C3 was my EDC for about 15 years. Other is a GSR

Kimber KDS9C, a po'mans EDC X9 Experior

Colt New Agent in 9mm, it's okay, not that reliable with SD ammo, loves ball ammo

Rock Island, 3 of them, nothing special
 
Re-run photo of my 3 1911's. Although have some trouble with iron sights really like the DW Vigil (top) and S&W 1911PD (bottom). The SA 1911 AOS Operator with Holosun EPS dot would be my primary EDC if it weren't so heavy.
_MG_0817.JPG
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top