Show your 1911.

Didn't realize their QC went to shit. That's a shame.

 

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I hope one day to at least own one 1911 for the safe
And one for carry
And one for the nightstand
And one for the truck

 

Anybody know of a 7" barrel 1911? Or would you just order a 7" barrel? And slide as well?

 

why would you want a seven inch barrel??? most common are 5'', 4'', and 3''

 

No one makes a 7" barrel 1911. The government model is 5" and you can get long slide models with a 6" barrel. The only thing it's really good for is longer sight radius for slightly increased accuracy but if ur a decent shot anyways it won't matter.

 

OK I see. Well my friend just wanted a 7" Just checking around. Thanks.

 

Being a kimber owner for 3 years now with no failure to feeds or ejection failures on the gun. I'm interested in what "reliability" issues you are referring to when it comes to Kimber. I've actually never heard of S&W being the best out of the box 1911 for some time now. SA and Kimber have retained that title for the better part of the last decade. And I know a lot of 1911 enthusiasts. I just didn't like the stiffness and ruff edges on the SA vs the Kimber when I bought mine. Kimber just seemed to pay more attention to detail out of the box than the others I test fired.

And the warranty thing is total BS, I don't know why they still put out there. I know several people that sent their kimbers into the shop for some warranty work and adjustments well after their warranty was up with out paying a dime and not being the original owner.

Besides who buys a gun based on the warranty? I didn't buy my truck based on a warranty, but because they have a good name. If you base everything off of warranties, then we should all be driving Hyundai or Chevy, because they have better warranties than Toyota. However, that's because they need it when stuff breaks all the time. Kimber is one of the best when it comes to 1911's and one of the top selling 1911's out there. LAPD SWAT uses them as their primary side arm so they have to be doing something right.

Edit:
I should probably say I have 1.5K rounds through my kimber since I owned it and it's only been cleaned 3-4 times.

 

Hell the 1911 I acquired saw duty in WWII. It needed some work and now basically shoots like a champ. Won't shoot JHP worth a damn without more work, but I don't care about that.

 

When I mention reliability, I'm referring to failure to feed (FTF) and failure to eject (FTE) issues. I know there are many happy Kimber owners out there who have never had any issues, however, I've personally heard enough owners complain about later production Kimbers that I'd never want to own one.

As for the S&W, who said they were the best out of the box? I specifically said they are "among the most reliable sub $1K 1911's out there". I'm referring to production 1911's that can be had for under a grand and that run flawlessly, with no break in period.

Kimbers are nice looking 1911's with a price point that appeals to the average gun buyer and that's why they are so popular. However, they are hardly one of the best 1911's out there. Ed Brown, Les Baer, and Dan Wesson easily surpass Kimber in quality.

As for the LAPD SWAT using Kimber 1911's, their pistols are all custom built and hand-fitted to their department's specifications by Kimber's Custom Shop. The general public can't buy the same models they use as they aren't offered for sale.

 

This is important to remember. Like I said, the majority of production 1911s will need some degree of work to make them function and feel how you want them. You can't say just because a law enforcement agency uses the 1911 platform that it's super reliable. As ASH said, they are all custom, hand built and fitted guns. The difference between a production 1911 and hand built custom 1911 is like comparing a Volkswagon to a Porsche.

 

http://chltex.com/images/2.jpg

Kimber Covert 5" barell

 

I know of several people who have Kimbers and I have not heard of any complaints. I personally have owned several Colt 1911's. The one I have now is a 70's series I bought used and had it nickle plated. And it's not just a gun safe queen I shoot it rather often and even carry it sometimes in a shoulder rig if I am going to be weasring a jacket, but not to often due to the size and weight. I will try to post some pics later. By the way how do I post so my pic will come up fullsize and not as a thumbnail?

 

If I only had the money...

 

Here is my Colt 80 Series 4500 rounds and still going strong



I looked at a Springfield TRP the other day. Uber nice gun. My next will be a Wilson CQB or Les Baer TR Commanche though.

 

I must have misunderstood you when you said reliable. But in general when people talk about reliability it usually goes hand in hand with quality and being the best. I would agree with you that S&W, Kimber and SA are not the best in class or even the most reliable. Nighthawk I think has held that title for some time now. But Wilson and the other high end models in the above mentioned makers would be the "best" as well. I've also never heard of S&W not needing a break in period like Kimber, SA, Nighthawk and Wilson combat ect. Why is S&W excluded from the rest of the group?

Agreed, but the basic platform had to meet a criteria that others didn't or couldn't based on the cost. The base of some product has to be strong enough for you to customize it; otherwise it wouldn't matter what brand they went with, it would have just been a fully customized 1911. I read an article a year ago in American Handgunner about a group of Marines that were testing 1911 and they custom built everything from different manufacturers. LAPD SWAT didn't do this, they started with a base 1911 and then added custom features for the job they wanted the gun to do.

So my Kimber isn't functional because I haven't dropped $500 for upgrades? I don't get what your trying to say. I don't think that majority of 1911 will need customization for them to work right, or they wouldn't be sold. The difference between a production 1911 and a custom built 1911 from Kimber is like a Porsche 911 off the show room vs a Porsche 911 custom built for the track. You have to start with a reliable base in order to sup it up. But the base car/pistol is still the same.

 

I shoot IDPA/IPSC matches in which the majority of competitors shoot 1911s. These guys shoot thousands of rounds a month. Ask anyone of them and they'll tell you they had to do something to their production guns to make them run perfectly. I never said you needed $500 in upgrades. It could be as simple as filing and tweaking the extractor and polishing the throat and barrel hood. I replaced all the internals in mine because MIM parts do not hold up to the amount of shooting I do. I also wanted to reduce the trigger weight by about 5 lbs. I'm simply saying as a general rule, compared to other production guns like Glocks, Sigs, Berettas, HKs, etc., 1911s will need more TLC. Go take 5 Glocks off the shelf and 5 production 1911s of the shelf and see which chokes first.

PS: The 1911 is my favorite handgun, not bashing it in anyway, just stating my experience.

 

I wouldn't hold SA (unless you're talking about their Professional model) and Kimber in the same regard as Nighthawk (NH) and Wilson. NH, Wilson, Les Baer, and Ed Brown 1911's are at the top of the 1911 class (unless you go full custom from a master 1911 gunsmith).

I think the reason you haven't heard about S&W being known as being reliable out of the box and requiring no break-in period is because they're not that common. S&W is pretty new to the 1911 game but the consensus I hear time and again on various gun forums (m1911.org, Sigforum.com, THR.org, AR15.com, Calguns.net, etc.) from those that do own them is that they just work.

Most importantly, this is my personal experience as well. I'm on my 2nd S&W and I've owned two SA 1911's (GI and Loaded). Both SA's needed and break-in period within the first 500 rounds but neither of my S&W's did (going on 3K+ plus rounds in each).

 

I too shoot IDPA (when I have the time) and I think your are misrepresenting the majority of 1911 shooters in this category. Guys that put thousands of round down range a month are usually highly modified or custom stock 1911. In order to be competitive in the single stack 1911 category, you have to have a modified gun because the rest of the field does. 1911's are the foundation for many of the competitions like IDPA, IPSC USPSA and others as you stated. But almost all of these guys that are shooting a 1911s in IDPA ect. are shooting hand reloads that are only filled with enough powder to cycle the gun so as to reduce recoil and reduce target acquisition time. Thus the need for a functional gun is increased and out of the box 1911 would not function properly with these loads.

I took what you said, when you mentioned needing work as modification that require money. So then what you are saying is that anyone can buy a standard 1911 and put some "work" into it to make it work better. I'm just stating that in my experience, granted this is my first 1911, I didn't need to do anything to the internal workings of the gun and I have run several rapid fire strings through as often as I can with out a misfire, FF or FE.

When I compare the above mentioned manufacturers, I was referring to their higher end guns. Not just the base model of each lol.

That is just really cool if you don't need to break in a S&W. Do you have any idea why they don't require this? I know my Kimber took about 350 rounds before it was dead on. But after that I have never had a straighter shooting pistol in all my life. I know I'm younger, but I've been shooting guns for over a decade and have shot tons of pistols. I own quiet a few as well, so it's not like I don't know what I'm talking about or have little experience with them.

 

well guys thanks for all the great info everyone has thrown out. I will be going to pick up whichever gun i decide sometime next week so alittle more deciding....

 

I think S&W did an excellent job on implementing the external extractor in their 1911 platform. They're really robust and eject shells consistently well. As far as their barrels are concerened, my guess is they're not as tight as some of the other manufacturers, which allows for easier feeding while not sacrificing too much accuracy.