"Low end" M1911A1's

[dwhitehorne]

I sold a Charles Daly just like the one pictured above about a week after I bought my first Kimber. I really wished I hadn't sold it because it was a perfect plinker/range gun. I was under the impression that CD was doing away with the Empire series, I guess not. I've seen the RIA tactical (which is about the same as the Charles Daly) on Gunbroker for about 425. David

[threefeathers]

I have a bunch of 1911's and some so called low end are fine.

1. Charles Daly seems to have the 1911 down pat.
2. Taurus 1911 is just as reliable.
3. The STI Spartan has terrific reviews and I intend to get one this year.
4. My son has a Llama that never fails to fire. (but, this one is hit or miss)

[markm]

I remember looking at the Spartan a while back. I think it has a cast frame. That's what made it unacceptable to me.

The Llama's non standard 1911 parts are the downside to that pistol. Not that much of anything drops into a 1911, but the Llama is flat out non-compatible with 1911 parts. My brother in law has one. It's not a very reliable sample.

[Charles Daly]

I sold a Charles Daly just like the one pictured above about a week after I bought my first Kimber. I really wished I hadn't sold it because it was a perfect plinker/range gun. I was under the impression that CD was doing away with the Empire series, I guess not. I've seen the RIA tactical (which is about the same as the Charles Daly) on Gunbroker for about 425. David

Empire Grade, as it was used in our line of 1911's, referenced stainless steel models. Field Grade is blued steel, Empire SS.

Daly has split from Armscor, the maker of our 1911's for the past 10 years. However, there are still many in the distribution channel. Perhaps that is the story you had heard.

We are coming out with a new line of steel, stainless steel and aluminum/steel 1911's starting in October. These are coming from another country, are of higher quality than the Armscor ones, but will also carry a much higher price tag.

[exitinyourhead]

I have a springfield GI 1911, very cheap and I purchased it ONLY for a build platform for a custom combat gun in final version.

Of course I shot it and found it unbelievable that a gun company would put out a gun that wouldn't feed ANY ammunition on a somewhat reliable basis. This gun wouldn't feed some crappy reloads I had. I bought white box, it didn't like that, I bought gold dot hollow points... didn't like that and so on and so on. It would not even go through a single magazine without a failure to either eject or feed. I played around with the extractor and managed to get a little bit better reliability out if it.

I ended up exchanging the extractor for a wilson combat bulletproof and changed to wilson mags and now the gun is 3/4 reliable. I would NEVER trust this gun to do what it was supposed to do out of the box. I still won't trust it but I'm going to be replacing everything but cylinder and slide and it won't much matter in the end.

Trust me, i'm not a 1911 hater. My Colt series 80 gold cup trophy is 100% after multiple thousand rounds of shooting. I'm not a springfield hater, I have an EMP that i love to shoot and carry. It's very reliable. The springfield GI 1911 out of the box is, in my view, worse than useless. I say worse than useless because i consider my kids useless but at least i don't have to depend on them to protect myself.

If you are considering a 1911 platform on the cheap and want it to shoot bullets out the end of the barrel. I would recommend you consider another pistol.

[markm]

Of course I shot it and found it unbelievable that a gun company would put out a gun that wouldn't feed ANY ammunition on a somewhat reliable basis.

I consider Springfield Armory a Marketing Company more than a Gun company. They use the old Springfield Armory name on imported junk, and make a lot of money doing it.

[dwhitehorne]

Empire Grade, as it was used in our line of 1911's, referenced stainless steel models. Field Grade is blued steel, Empire SS.

Daly has split from Armscor, the maker of our 1911's for the past 10 years. However, there are still many in the distribution channel. Perhaps that is the story you had heard.

We are coming out with a new line of steel, stainless steel and aluminum/steel 1911's starting in October. These are coming from another country, are of higher quality than the Armscor ones, but will also carry a much higher price tag.

Sorry about the bum scoop. I had the EFS and it was a very good shooter. I had a problem with one of the Mecgar mags but once I started using Act mags it wouldn't choke on anything, unlike the Kimber I replaced it with. If the EFS is around they make good shooters with a lot of features at the price of the Springfield Mil Spec. I think I got mine in 2002 or 03 from a local dealer listed on the CD website for about 415 with the transfer fee. David

[Ross]

I'd also look at used higher-end guns as an option. I bought a Colt Stainless Enhanced GM for $500 out the door from a local gunshop. High quality, loaded with features and drives tacks.

[SWATcop556]

I consider Springfield Armory a Marketing Company more than a Gun company. They use the old Springfield Armory name on imported junk, and make a lot of money doing it.

Amen. While they still turn a good product on some things others are s**t.

[Hawgleg44]

Back when I was in my teens, my father had a SA base grade 1911, but it wasn't reliable with cast bullet reloads, and accuracy was average, at best, with a fairly rough trigger. He ended up trading it, so we were 1911-less for quite a while.

The only other lower end 1911 I've owned was a Colt Series 80 1991-A1. I wish I still had it today. Sure, it was a very basic 1911, but after I polished the feed ramp, it would feed anything I stuffed the mags with. It was suprisingly accurate, too. The only problem I ever had with it was my huge hands. Without a beavertail grip safety, I get hammer bit so badly that I'm bleeding within the first mag. So, I had to decide whether I should send the Colt off to my friend Karl Sokol at Chestnut Mountain Sports for a full custom gun, or trade it in for something with the options I wanted right from the factory. So, I decided to trade it. Big mistake.

I live in MA, where after the 10-21-98 "Consumer Protection Act" went into effect, there were no 1911's that were "compliant". The full size SS SW1911 was the first one that was finally approved, so I traded the Colt for it. The problem with the S&W was the grip safety. S&W has corrected the problems since, but on some of their early 1911's, the grip safety spring was so stiff that if you use a high grip, it was not strong enough to disable the grip safety. I ended up sending that one dwn the road, too.

Fast forward a few years, and now I traded into a Kimber Classic Stainless Target LE. It has a great slide to frame fit, outstanding trigger and very accurate. The reliability has been 100% with good mags. I had a few cheap mags left over from 1911's I had and they were not reliable. I bought some Wilson mags and the Kimber has fed thousands of ball, JHP and every shape cast bullet I've found a mould for.

Sure, the economy 1911's can sometimes be OK, but if you want to make them reliable (sometimes a problem on the cheaper 1911's) and to get the true accuracy potential out of them, you'll end up putting quite a bit of money into them. In the long run, it's less expensive to just buy a higher end 1911 to begin with.