As the title says, tell who and why, Think this will make for interesting reading, Thanks
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As the title says, tell who and why, Think this will make for interesting reading, Thanks
OK my top 10. 1. Colt historical 2. Springfield High quality for the money 3. Nighthawk Because I want one 4. Wilson you get what you pay for. 5. Les Baer damn fine pistols 6. Brown quality 7. Dan Wesson fine quality pistols 8. Remington If they are as good as there bolt rifles. 9.STI Good pistols 10. Para I like the 1 I have.
Is this Top 10 we like the best or Top 10 that are the best?
It can be both or one or the other, mine is both because I can't afford 4 2000 to 3500 dollar pistols, even though I would like too.
Dave Berryhill is number 1 in my book.
MEUSOC Replica
Springfield
Kimber
Remington
Rock Island
Wilson
due to colt suspending sales to the general public several years ago, colt is not an option, at least to me anyway.
I can't add to 10:no:
SA (custom shop)
Wilson
Baer
Colt (because they're Colt)
Tim from Black Ops Precision (Custom)
Wilson Combat
Ed Brown
Nighthawk
Baer
Colt
Springfield
I own and shoot a Colt. I sold a Nighthawk. I owned a Kimber 8 years ago and sold it after watching several fail on the SWAT range. MIM parts and the external extractor on the TLE Kimber were a joke as far as a 1911 of any quality. For the Cost Springfield is much better.
My opinion. There really are not 10 best. More like 5 or 6. There are some other small quality Custom shops out there.
Fusion Firearms should be in there.
agree with tacmedic.
Problems out of the box .
extractor so tight it could not overide recoil spring to chamber next rd.
took apart. safety broke.
after spending $ 450.00 on all new bullet proof internals from wilson combat 120.00 on WC dvd's. And a extra $80.00 for the two safety's I messed up because it was my first time.
I would not part with it now.
functions flawlessly.
I've got 2 1/2 groups at 25yds resting of course.
Just a little over 800. rds. And no problems.
So if your thinking( KIMBER, REMEMBER) you'll need to spend a extra 600.00 on good internals; and pay a good gunsmith to put it together for you.I dont know what that would cost since I did it myself.But I spent a extra 80.00 just for mistakes.
Go with SA.Good choice.If you can affford it go Wilson Combat.
Had one in 1992 best gun I've ever owned.
Hope this helps ; and you dont have to learn from your mistakes.
Dave Berryhill isn't a manufacturer. I do like his builds a lot though. Too bad he doesn't build the MEUSOC replica anymore.
I heard/read/saw plenty of rumors about that several times over the years (first in 1989) and don't remember it ever actually happening.
Ones you can readily buy are:
Ed Brown
Les Baer
Nighthawk
Dan Wesson
Wilson
Springfield
Colt
Sorry, that's only 7...there aren't 10. I'd say the best bang for your buck is Dan Wesson then Les Baer.
This is a bit misleading...you had to replace all the internals because the extractor was tight? Which internals failed? Wilson did not make complete Wilson named guns till the 1996A1 in 1996 as far as I know...and Kimber made those frames and slides for them. You may have had a Colt or something that was rebuilt/customized from Wilson however. And the internals in the 1996A1 and other early Wilsons were MIM too.
I'm not completely sure that I would list Dan Wesson on here. I like their guns, but when I tried to buy a VBOB last year, I went to 8 different stores and handled at least 12 guns and all except for one of them was "riding the link" and had poor-very poor barrel lockup. If it was a $600 gun, that's not unheard of, but $1500 should buy more.
Note: This is pretty subjective, but I'm combining manufacturers and 1911 custom makers. The idea being, these are the "top 10 sources" I'd choose for getting a 1911, regardless whether production or custom made. Not in any particular order, but these are the 10 that I prefer the most, I don't necessarily think these are the "best" in the sense that they'd beat all others in absolute quality. There are many other good custom makers who could have been in this list who build stuff of equal quality, but some of those I omitted build very high-priced, "pretty" 1911's for instance, which I am less interested in.
Springfield (mainly their Pro, TRP, Operator, and custom lines)
Cylinder and Slide
Wilson
Dave Erickson
Dave Berryfield
Ed Brown
Colt
Les Baer
John Harrison
Chuck Rogers
I didnt say that I got it from wilson. Its a kimber pro carry 2.
after the extractor was tuned I just decided to change out all mim parts,with wilson combat bullet proof parts .Simply because i dont want a part to go bad ,or break like I told you the safety did when taking it out to start my parts replacement.
I would add STI and Infinity
I like the list! I would swap out Ed Brown with Paul Liebenberg of Pistol Dynamics. He is also probably the only guy that I would buy a 1911 with an external extractor from. If you stumble across a RRA they are also excellent 1911's.
If we are going to let the custom 1911 guys on the list then...
John Harrison and Larry Vickers would top my list.
I'm surprised I was the only one to mention Cylinder & Slide. Usually in 1911 discussions on forums, they are considered one of the very best, rivaling if not beating in quality the more production oriented shops.
I suppose this COULD be due to the fact that C&S is more of a custom shop. I was never really clear from the OP if it could be any 1911 maker, or if he wanted only production makers.
A single (n=1) observation on a gun with 3k rounds (a very low rnd count by 1911 standards) is more valid then the advice of those who see thousands of 1911s, build them for a living over decades, assess them, go into combat with them, put 10s of thousands of rnds through them, have forgotten more about the platform in day than you or I will ever know (e.g., Yam, LAV, Hackathorn, et al) to a man will tell you they are problematic, poor QC, not worth the $$$ etc.
Which opinion to follow? Such choices... :rolleyes:
God help me people are thick some times. :jester:
I have owned 3 different Kimbers and had issues with all of them. Currently I run a Nighthawk Custom Enforcer, and have not had one malfunction. Cost a bunch of bucks, but worth it.
Colt
RRA
Ed Brown
Nighthawk
Springfield
Wilson
STI
This is my production/semi custom list. Can't think of ten I'd spend the cash on these days except custom makers.
Out of the many I have owned, the RRA ranks with the finest semi custom 1911's. The only reason I posted was I rarely hear mention of their pistols anymore.
The RRA ar... now that is another story.
Thanks for posting this link, it's an awesome write-up of many popular 1911 brands and models, and is an excellent buyers guide!!
Since we all know how good the custom 1911s are let me stick to the big name manufacturers, in order:
Dan Wesson
Colt
Springfield Armory
....everyone else
Colt
Volkmann Custom
Ed Brown
I don't know about top 10 but the Smith & Wesson E series are sure looking nice.
1 - Colt (Or custom builds on Colt guns, Dave Barryhill, and Chuck Rogers come to mind.)
2 - Smith & Wesson
3 - Cylinder & Slide builds. (I've only shot an original Colt 1911 WWII reproduction. I was impressed.)
I can only list three, as I have almost no experience with STI, Nighthawk, Baer, Wilson, or the others.
These are just the only 1911s I've shot that have held up to high rounds counts by the guys that owned them, that I've personally shot.
There was also a lack of S&W.
FWIW - I think Star makes a good 9x19mm 1911.
Assuming we're talking about a 5" carbon steel gun 45ACP.
1. Springfield Custom (my favorite so far)
2. Les Baer (I personally hate his guns, but I do believe they build 'em to run)
3. Ed Brown
4.Wilson Combat (never had one but the internet likes 'em)
5.Nighthawk (see #4)
I can't count to ten good 1911 manufacturers. Most of 'em build guns that I consider to toys that are capable of firing live ammo.
I think that's because RRA doesn't MAKE 1911's anymore.
However, one new thing they are doing is releasing a POLYMER-based 1911. No idea if this thing is any good or will pan out, but I must confess it sure LOOKS interesting.
http://www.rockriverarms.com/index.c...ategory_id=559
That does LOOK interesting. I hope they pick up where they left off with the 1911 design and the quality with which it was made.