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Thread: Eight hour (!) P&S Modcast on nothing but 1911s

  1. #31
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    Quote Originally Posted by Coal Dragger View Post
    I didn’t hear any bad mouthing of Bill or Ryan Wilson.

    I knew a fellow Marine in the reserves who worked at Wilson Combat in the early 2000’s, he had no kind words for Bill Wilson at all.
    It was definitely implied. Not them personally, but Wilson mags and pistols. Wilson’s assembly line process let’s them crank out pistols very fast, unlike other high end 1911 production shops. Also they are a major mag manufacturer using plastic followers.

    All I have to say is kudos to Wilson. They understood that scaling production without losing quality is how you turn a profit. I don’t knock them for that.

    There was a lot of knowledge dropped in the podcast but there is definitely some bias as well.

    Let’s take a look at why - Chambers worked under Marvel, whom gave Nighthawk rights to build some of his models/use his signature features. Chambers also developed some red dot mounting solution and it seems Nighthawk is now doing that. They all run in the same crew so it’s no surprise they all endorse it. Also note, there’s nothing wrong with that, as that is the nature of this business.

    Re: plastic followers

    Just about every major manufacturer uses plastic followers these days. Big whoop. Wilson mags work.
    Last edited by beschatten; 02-09-19 at 05:05.

  2. #32
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    Awright lemme put on my Colt LE 1911 armorer cap here for a second. Okay I know it says “Please be patient. I have autism” but bear with me.

    Nothing they said wasn’t true and Colt makes “acceptable” 1911s. Like.... okay like a chubby, not fat, but chubby girl with a good attitude. You have to work with her to get her where you want. New barrel, maybe new trigger but a fixer upper.

    You see... 1911s still require that personal touch. And if you want a really good one, someone is going to have had to put a little time in on it. You aren’t paying for the metal. You are paying for the time. MIM bs aside, tolerances matter.

    Dan Wesson is absolutely worth the price as are NC, WC, and all.

    Now a Colt again can be great if you want to invest your own time or someone else’s.

    I have a Kimber that initially had some flaws but I had it factory converted to an internal extractor, removed the FLGR, and replaced some stuff with the Bulletproof WC parts. It’s not bad but it was a journey and I shan’t part with it. Break in is real in this case and WWB does the trick splendidly. It will eat GDHP like a champ and I would carry it. No hesitation.

    Even LAV said, you kinda have to be your own armorer and this is true. Scant trigger is real. You can bulge your frame or peen it if you let Jesus take the wheel on fitting.

    The main issue with Kimber is that they fit too tight sometimes. I personally (and again, not an SME just a guy who been to a few classes) prefer a 1911 with a little rattle to it.

    The 1911 was a counter to the Mauser and a way to get .45 in the hands of soldiers. It was ahead of its time in engineering. It is obsolete in the sense of a modern fighting pistol but obsolete in the sense of a bolt gun. You can blueprint them and tweak a lot more accuracy and light trigger than ANY more modern gun save for a super slicked Beretta 92.

    I have on the PPC circuit seen dudes crushing it with Colt Gold Cups rebarreled to 9mm. They can run toe to toe with all but the very best PPC revolvers.

    All that said, tolerance and fit matters and for what people want out of a 1911 that adds cost.

    The contemporary cold war 1911 wasn’t perfect and relied on hardball. If you want more than that, again. Time and money.

    1911s also rusted shut in a lot of holsters. There is a reason why some went with revolvers.

    Per magazines they were built around the mags they were designed for. I still have bring backs my dad had since the 60s that were likely made in the 40s. A little WD40 or CLP and they look new.

    You can’t be thinking its like a Glock that you can do whatever with. And you can’t be afraid to gut it and replace a firing pin, extractor, spring, leaf, sear, etc.

    You also have to know what you are doing as cocking it up can leave you with an unsafe gun or an accidental machine pistol.

    It’s not, per modern standards, a starter gun. You don’t shoot a 1911 until you accept that it will eventually fail. And you either have to fix it or get someone else to fix it.

    Nothing they said was wrong. It’s reality. It’s also why you can’t go to Ford and demand a Model T. Sure, Ford COULD make one but it would take time, knowledge, and peculiar skills.

    Like there are libraries of required reading. The 1911 book Midway sells. I have two copies. The Pat Sweeney books. Colt Armorer’s guide. And that is not even going to make you a master armorer whereupon having jigs and micrometers come to play.

    Colt does make excellent frames and if you wanna play with it as is knowing what you are getting as a toy; fine. But really, they make great frames that haven’t changed. Series 80 and Swartz safeties exist for drop safety but do add more BS to deal with. S70 is easier but WILL discharge on a drop from waist high. Saw a live demo with a blank and safety on.

    Anyways I consider myself a total layperson but this is worth the time to listen to.

  3. #33
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    Quote Originally Posted by beschatten View Post
    It was definitely implied. Not them personally, but Wilson mags and pistols. Wilson’s assembly line process let’s them crank out pistols very fast, unlike other high end 1911 production shops. Also they are a major mag manufacturer using plastic followers.

    All I have to say is kudos to Wilson. They understood that scaling production without losing quality is how you turn a profit. I don’t knock them for that.

    There was a lot of knowledge dropped in the podcast but there is definitely some bias as well.

    Let’s take a look at why - Chambers worked under Marvel, whom gave Nighthawk rights to build some of his models/use his signature features. Chambers also developed some red dot mounting solution and it seems Nighthawk is now doing that. They all run in the same crew so it’s no surprise they all endorse it. Also note, there’s nothing wrong with that, as that is the nature of this business.

    Re: plastic followers

    Just about every major manufacturer uses plastic followers these days. Big whoop. Wilson mags work.
    My experience with the Wilson mags has been mixed, I run a few of them in an old Kimber Super Match II. This particular pistol is around 2002 manufacturing date, not sure where that puts it in quality among Kimbers, but it has been a good pistol. Currently around 25K rounds on it.

    The Wilson mags are the older 8 round models, so not the latest design. They are OK, and lock back the slide well, but don’t feed some ammunition as reliably as my McCormick magazines. Overall the McCormick magazines are more reliable in this pistol, but the gun was pretty much made to run McCormick mags.

    Should I buy more magazines in the future I will probably get more McCormick’s for that pistol.

    The Wilson Combat pistols as far as I can tell are excellent, I’ve never met anyone who owned one who didn’t like it. I would expect that a Wilson pistol runs Wilson mags like a champ, being as they’re designed to work together. I wish they’d offer an EDC X9 with an optic mount, I’d buy one right now.

    Even my friend who worked there loved the guns, regardless of production process, he just didn’t like Bill Wilson. This might have been around the time Bill was getting a divorce, I think his current wife may be his second. So Bill’s personal life might have been making him cranky at work at that time.

  4. #34
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    I keep USGI mags on hand including 7 or so legit Vietnam bringbacks.

    7 rounds, yeah, but have yet to have a problem. Quality mags of course.

    That said, I likewise have 47Ds that never gave me an issue.

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