What is your idea of high Quality 1911?

Gunflint1 · Feb 19, 2022

Their are so many new 45acp 1911's to choose from today, ranging from $500- $5000+. What's your idea of a "Reliable Quality" out of the box 1911?

rmac · Feb 19, 2022

With proper lubrication good magazines and ammo any of them.

Fred_G · Feb 19, 2022

Hard to compare $500 guns and $5000 guns. I would decide what features you want on a 1911. I like a lot of Rugers and Springfields, but many don't have front strap checkering, kinda a deal breaker for me. Other folks don't care, or don't even want FSC... As far as "out of the box reliability", in my personal experience, RIA and Wilson Combat were totally reliable. I never carried the RIA, sold it shortly after buying it, but put at least 1k rounds through it, no issues. WC guns were shot more and carried, zero issues.

Springfield Range Officer was reliable, but I wanted FSC, and had some stuff done to it while it was at the 'smiths.
Dan Wesson, needed the chamber reamed slightly, totally reliable now.
Kimber, no issues, but I had to send the slide off to have the extra firing pin safety removed, my sight pusher would not budge the sight.

Not a 1911 'expert' but that has been my experience with them so far.

joepistol · Feb 19, 2022

The Bul Armory Commander in 9mm I purchased recently has to be the best out- of -the- box 1911 , for the price I've owned.
All SS construction, FSC, even getting to like the bull barrel it has... for < $ 1 K
Only change I may do is a fiber optic front site..but I'm doing fine with the oem sight, so it may not happen.

as for being reliable, even my RIA 1911's are very reliable, though not of the same material & build quality as
the Dan Wesson, Springfield, & Colt 1911's I've owned.

Gunflint1 · Feb 19, 2022

Fred_G said:
Hard to compare $500 guns and $5000 guns. I would decide what features you want on a 1911. I like a lot of Rugers and Springfields, but many don't have front strap checkering, kinda a deal breaker for me. Other folks don't care, or don't even want FSC... As far as "out of the box reliability", in my personal experience, RIA and Wilson Combat were totally reliable. I never carried the RIA, sold it shortly after buying it, but put at least 1k rounds through it, no issues. WC guns were shot more and carried, zero issues.

Springfield Range Officer was reliable, but I wanted FSC, and had some stuff done to it while it was at the 'smiths.
Dan Wesson, needed the chamber reamed slightly, totally reliable now.
Kimber, no issues, but I had to send the slide off to have the extra firing pin safety removed, my sight pusher would not budge the sight.

Not a 1911 'expert' but that has been my experience with them so far.

Let's make it easy...For the Money?

Babboonbobo · Feb 19, 2022

For the money my favorite out of the box reliable commander size 1911s are my GI no names.
My first and still 100% completely reliable after 7 years is my Kimber custom II full size.

HooDoo Man · Feb 19, 2022

For quality and the money all around for a dependable and accurate 1911 Les Baer is the best bet. One step up Wilson. One step down Springfield. And a lot in between. Tough call.

Gunflint1 · Feb 19, 2022

Gunflint1 said:
Let's make it easy...For the Money?

I have to admit ..For todays money the Springfield Range Officer is hard one to beat. Les Baer makes a fine 1911, but for the money?? I have seen tests where(what I call) expensive $2500 1911's didn't make the cut, yet $700-900 did. It proves it's not how deep your pockets in order to buy a fine quality 1911. My personal preference is any 1911 Made in the USA. It's a matter of choice, that's what makes us Americans.

CECannonJr · Feb 19, 2022

Gunflint1 said:
I have to admit ..For todays money the Springfield Range Officer is hard one to beat. Les Baer makes a fine 1911, but for the money?? I have seen tests where(what I call) expensive $2500 1911's didn't make the cut, yet $700-900 did. It proves it's not how deep your pockets in order to buy a fine quality 1911. My personal preference is any 1911 Made in the USA. It's a matter of choice, that's what makes us Americans.

I agree with your Made in USA preference. I don't tell others that they are wrong, but a 1911 made elsewhere just doesn't seem right to me. I tend to shy away from those.

Gunflint1 · Feb 19, 2022

CECannonJr said:
I agree with your Made in USA preference. I don't tell others that they are wrong, but a 1911 made elsewhere just doesn't seem right to me. I tend to shy away from those.

HooDoo Man · Feb 19, 2022

I'll change the premise a little bit. I've done the LB, Wilson and Springer route. I wanted to try the Nighthawk 1911's but I'm too damn old to wait a year plus for the one to spend 4K on. So, I'll stick with what I have. Or readily(sometimes) available. Besides $4K makes me nervous. I can't shoot that good.

Babboonbobo · Feb 19, 2022

HooDoo Man said:
I'll change the premise a little bit. I've done the LB, Wilson and Springer route. I wanted to try the Nighthawk 1911's but I'm too damn old to wait a year plus for the one to spend 4K on. So, I'll stick with what I have. Or readily(sometimes) available. Besides $4K makes me nervous. I can't shoot that good.

I have a Nighthawk Kestrel in 9mm and yes approx $4k is a lot for a firearm but you can truly "feel" the difference in quality. That is one of the finest firearms I currently own and I have at least one from each of the five top tier manufacturers, LB. GI, EB, NH, Wilson as well as a bunch of others.

Mike Galway · Feb 19, 2022

I have two Wilsons that I managed to acquire pre owned. Great guns. Both five inchers. There's a lot of good 1911's out there. I still own one Kimber, has been a great gun also. Also a five inch Citadel, trigger could be better, but it's been reliable and accurate. Having those Wilsons has set the bar high for me.

Gunflint1 · Feb 19, 2022

HooDoo Man said:
For quality and the money all around for a dependable and accurate 1911 Les Baer is the best bet. One step up Wilson. One step down Springfield. And a lot in between. Tough call.

Agreed

22ConversionUnut · Feb 20, 2022

From what I've personally looked at and shot, Dan Wesson makes the best and most affordable pistols.

Gunflint1 · Feb 20, 2022

22ConversionUnut said:
From what I've personally looked at and shot, Dan Wesson makes the best and most affordable pistols.

Had a Dan Wesson for a time. After about 20 rounds or so it would lock up. Had it to the gun shop a few times, they said the tolerances were too tight & when it heated up it would lock up. They suggested sending to sending it to DW. I just got rid of it & traded for a Les Baer, so far haven't had any issues. To my understanding this is a problem with many upper end 1911's. Tolerances being too tight.

Mike Galway · Feb 20, 2022

Gunflint1 said:
Had a Dan Wesson for a time. After about 20 rounds or so it would lock up. Had it to the gun shop a few times, they said the tolerances were too tight & when it heated up it would lock up. They suggested sending to sending it to DW. I just got rid of it & traded for a Les Baer, so far haven't had any issues. To my understanding this is a problem with many upper end 1911's. Tolerances being too tight.

All guns should work right out of the box. When a manufacturer tells me I must break in a $2,000.00 hand gun for 500 rounds, I wonder why they couldn't make it right. I've never even attempted to break in a new gun. Clean it, lube it, shoot it. I will admit, my few high end 1911's were purchased pre owned.

Gunflint1 · Feb 20, 2022

Mike Galway said:
All guns should work right out of the box. When a manufacturer tells me I must break in a $2,000.00 hand gun for 500 rounds, I wonder why they couldn't make it right. I've never even attempted to break in a new gun. Clean it, lube it, shoot it. I will admit, my few high end 1911's were purchased pre owned.

That's the way l feel..They must work out of the box. The most expensive NIB 1911 is one that fails.

Babboonbobo · Feb 20, 2022

Gunflint1 said:
Had a Dan Wesson for a time. After about 20 rounds or so it would lock up. Had it to the gun shop a few times, they said the tolerances were too tight & when it heated up it would lock up. They suggested sending to sending it to DW. I just got rid of it & traded for a Les Baer, so far haven't had any issues. To my understanding this is a problem with many upper end 1911's. Tolerances being too tight.

This is why I got rid of all my Dan Wesson's. Every one I had was in SS and that was around the time of their galling issues so I did not want to the chance and just moved on from DW.
I also had a matching pair of Les Baer Premiers one in 45 and one in 9mm (I like my guns in matching sets) they too where too tight to be 100% and I moved them forward.
I missed my LB so I ended up finding a lightweight Comanche in 45 that fits my needs.

Gunflint1 · Feb 20, 2022

Babboonbobo said:
This is why I got rid of all my Dan Wesson's. Every one I had was in SS and that was around the time of their galling issues so I did not want to the chance and just moved on from DW.
I also had a matching pair of Les Baer Premiers one in 45 and one in 9mm (I like my guns in matching sets) they too where too tight to be 100% and I moved them forward.
I missed my LB so I ended up finding a lightweight Comanche in 45 that fits my needs.
View attachment 24540

Very Nice indeed. I have three 1911's left Les Concept 5", Colt satin Commander 70 series, and a SIG RCS. The rest are gone. So far these have been very reliable, But I have to admit the Colt went to a master smith back in the early 80's for some tweaking.