A few years back.... I got OUT of the 1911 game. Sold my 1911s (two of them) and made enough to buy two glocks, another AR, 1000 rounds of ammo, AND pay for a class (Fighting Pistol). I came to the realization that IF my glocks broke... as an armorer, I can fix them. Easily. 1911s, not so much. So i did this for logistics reasons. But damn, I miss that Les Baer TRS. I'm seriously considering getting back into 1911s. I may just buy one (famous last words), gear it out, and carry that thing. Nothing else like them.
"It is only the warrior who chooses pacifism. All others are condemned to it."
"Malo periculosam, libertatem quam quietam servitutem."
Dangerous Freedom over Peaceful Slavery.
I got into firearms later in life. Never owned a 1911, any hammer fired pistol, or any handgun chambered in anything except 9mm…until recently.
I recently bought a Beretta M9, Sig P226, and a Springfield GI 1911 chambered in .45 ACP. Been enjoying the hell out of shooting all three in addition to a collection of polymer 9mm handguns.
So it’s interesting that old school firearms folks are selling metal hammer fired guns and moving on, while at the same time I’m just discovering that side of the handgun world.
And that may happen, but honestly, not sure I see the value in some of these $3000, $4000, $5000 1911s being sold by boutique brands. If I do get another 1911, it will probably be in 9mm (now that my first was .45 ACP) and something $1000 or less.
I honestly like the cheapo parkerized GI model. 🙂
I'm a romantic. I've come to realize and accept this fact after a lifetime of thinking of myself as highly pragmatic, rational, unemotional. LOL - no. How delusional I was! And surely still am.
I came into this (gun) world a 1911, .45ACP, .308 and .38-in-the-boot kinda guy, and now 20+ years later, I am a solidly Glock, 9mm, and 5.56 kinda guy. Transitioning from aesthetically based guns to practicality based guns was an important step in my transition from someone with his heads in the clouds to someone at least a little better grounded. My 1911s were "nice," and I got lots of compliments on them, but after years of diligent maintenance, expensive repairs and upgrades, constantly cycling through magazine springs believing they wear out fast and were the most likely cause of my frequent loading malfunctions, I bought a USP45 on heavy discount at a gun show circa 2004ish, and boy did my whole attitude toward shooting change. Here was a 45ACP with 13 rounds instead of 8, little maintenance required, near perfect reliability and function... I couldn't deny the practicality anymore, could no longer deny that most of my opinions on guns in general came from an old school - an anachronistic school. Probably largely as a result of being a Clinton-era infantryman, where all of the more senior NCOs hailed previous glory days, did not really understand the weapon platforms they were shooting (at least not nearly at the technical level of understanding the internet and subsequent human intellectual interconnectivity affords today), and the criticisms of the M9 and M16s - which we still thought were manufactured by Tyco Toys - abounded. All hailed the glory days of better accuracy, reliability, and "stopping power" of the 1911 and 308 loaded rifles. It didn't help that the M16A2s we were issued were badly maintained by guys who didn't know a goddamn thing about maintaining them, and seemingly frequently malfunctioned or just plain broke. I fell into this romanticism and left the Army with it.
These days, I don't own a steel framed pistol, nor revolver, and all of the sidearms I own are 9mm for ammo compatibility. I would shoot Glock exclusively, but I have developed a fondness for the M&P9 and a time may come when I sell off my Glocks and fully commit to the M&P9 platform, for magazine compatibility as well as ammo compatibility. Likewise, as a civilian shooter, I appreciate the 5.56 and AR family of weapons in the same way I appreciate poly-framed striker-fired sidearms - light weight, reliability, high ammunition capacity, and easy shootability. You can pop off multiple rounds of 9mm and 5.56 for every 45 and 308 round fired accurately. Sure, there are plenty of shooters who can fire 45s fast and accurately, but they are the exception. More power to you, but I'll go for more holes COM over fewer but bigger holes COM. Likewise, a subcompact polymer mouse gun is a HELL of a lot more comfortable clipped to the inside of my boot than a goddamn J-frame at three times and weight and size for half the ammo capacity.
I'm still a romantic, dramatic, emotional - admitting this is requisite to existing more peacefully in this world - but all notions of traditionalism are out the window, and I am now nothing but fully pragmatic when it comes to which platforms I carry and shoot. That means polymer framed pistols and quality DI AR15 pattern sticks.
Anyway, there's my story
why so serious?
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