Knowing “very little about”, wanting to go on the cheap, tells me the 1911 is not for thee OP.
Totally agree. And as BBossman said, the 1911 is a "lifestyle".
I don't want to run down the 1911 in general because I personally love the pistol. But if you think you can just buy one, shoot it, abuse it, neglect it, and never have an issue I think you're being naive. I've seen trusted high-end 1911's at the range and IDPA matches suddenly have reliability problems--either due to being in need of cleaning/lubing, worn out components or magazines, unexpected issues from being run hard, poor ammo, etc.A 1911 for personal defense is "lifestyle" , if you're not willing to spend the money, or put forth the effort in learning to lead that lifestyle, you're better served with a modern, quality semi-auto.
To me the 1911 (blessings be upon it) is a gun for someone who lives, eats, and breathes pistol maintenance. It's like an old car or a high-maintenance girlfriend: If you don't constantly take care of it, then it may fail you.
It's not a Glock.
That's just my experience. I constantly fondle 1911's at gun shows, shops, and whatnot, but I haven't owned one in over 10 years.
Sums it up for me. I CCWd a full government or officer 1911 daily for over a decade, took courses with them, competed in IDPA with them, etc. But it became clear that the polymer wonder pistols had gotten good enough (via the M&P with Apex kit) that most of the benefits of the 1911 could be had, minus the major drawbacks of the platform, and i was done with my beloved 1911s. Some of it also related to the major improvements in terminal ballistics improvements in 9mm, cost of ammo, and declining interest in cleaning and general upkeep compared to a quality polymer wonder pistol. The ergos, trigger, etc of a Glock was never going to get me to leave the 1911, but pistols like the M&P, VP9, and Walther, were game changers for me and many others: 1911 like ergo, good triggers, double stack capacity, low maintenance, etc, meant 1911 was no longer practical choice if being honest with yourself.
- Will
General Performance/Fitness Advice for all
www.BrinkZone.com
LE/Mil specific info:
https://brinkzone.com/category/swatleomilitary/
“Those who do not view armed self defense as a basic human right, ignore the mass graves of those who died on their knees at the hands of tyrants.”
I have Glock's, SIG's, Hi Powers but the only pistols I really like are 1911's. They just fit the hand well, have a nice trigger reset, and trigger pull. In fact, if all I had were 1911's- I'd feel fine with that.
I pimped my GI 1911A1 Rock Island Armory as follows
A. Wilson Combat ETM 8 round magazines
B Hogue Finger Groove Grips.
C. Front sight post painted. 'Apple Barrel Lime Tree."
Totally reliable for 400 rounds.
Pretty sure I've mentioned this pistol prior to this thread but my example of one, Colt .38 Super Auto has been very reliable with nearly zero maintenance other than oil/grease. Two 2000 round tests with no lube/cleaning in the past few years. Currently it is running with lube only since it's last cleaning 12/17. It is quite dirty and a guess at it's round count is 2000+, no issues. I load my own .38 SA and I load for reliability. I don't use it every time I use a handgun and my current competitive/training emphasis is 2 gun competition. So my AR15 is getting all the attention right now. I did use it in a rain start to finish 2 gun match where both weapons performed flawlessly and required only drying out a little more lube.
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