Posted on 12/23/2010 5:29:16 AM PST by marktwain
I have said it before and I will end up saying it again: the 1911 an old design that is more trouble than it is worth. I don’t say it to be confrontational, or to draw attention to myself. I say it because I see my fellow shooters mindlessly parroting the gun equivalent of Chuck Norris Facts whenever the 1911 comes up in conversation, and I just don’t get it.
I am not surprised that the 1911 is out of place in today’s world, and you shouldn’t be surprised either. What other 100-year old design is still in daily use?
In the comment section of another blog, I summarized my skepticism of the 1911′s attributes thusly:
It’s a 100-year old design. It needs tools to disassemble. It has unreliable magazines. It is finicky about ammo. And, as a single-action pistol, it is unsafe for 95% of its users to carry.
In my original complaint, I forgot to mention the issue with slide-stop failures, and the whole internal extractor/external extractor situation. Either of which would be serious enough to kill any other design’s reputation in the shooting world.
In response to some knee-jerk defenses of the 1911 from fanboys who drank too much John M. Browning Kool-Aid, who told me how all that I needed to do was buy a bunch of aftermarket parts and send the gun to a gunsmith, I added:
Why does a reliable 1911 cost so much, and need so much gunsmithing?
To be fair, I have some of the same complaints with the Walther PPK. Which is also a very old design, one which has been eclipsed by more modern designs which can do everything it does better.
I mean, is it unreasonable to expect an affordably-priced pistol for defense to reliably feed hollowpoints out of the box? What Smith&Wesson pistol of recent manufacture won’t feed hollowpoints? What about Glock? SiG? Beretta? (I know Kahrs need to have some rounds through them before they are reliable, but it says that right in the owners manual). The shooting public would not accept an unreliable gun of a more modern design. But for some reason, the 1911 gets a pass for all of its flaws. “Just use hardball” is not a valid defense of the 1911 design, nor is it a valid strategy for selecting ammunition to defend yourself.
And God help anyone who buys a used 1911. Everyone and their brother seems to think they are qualified to take a Dremel to their 1911. Guys who can’t change their own flat tire somehow have no reservations about playing doctor on their 1911. Who knows what wacky “custom” parts have been put into the gun because someone read about it on the interweb tubes?
It was the best military sidearm of its day, and for a long time afterward. I do not dispute that. But its time has long passed. And a military sidearm is not the same thing as a handgun for personal defense.
Leave aside the lack of reliability with hollowpoints, and the other problems. The 1911 is too big to conceal. And the smaller versions are less reliable due to the shorter slide-travel and a tendency to limp-wrist the gun.
Some people protest by saying that the 1911 is the best gun for defense, because the most “realistic” shooting sports are heavily populated with 1911 users. And everyone knows that you should train like you fight, so that you will fight like you train, right? Well, that would be a more convincing argument if those “realistic” shooting sports didn’t have intricate rules that somehow disqualify most non-1911 designs. Purely by coincidence, right? Sure, they come up with semi-plausible rationales for some of those rules, but there is no way to disguise the overall bias towards the 1911.
I don’t hate 1911 fans. I merely pity them, because they are victims of marketing hype and groupthink, the lemmings of the gun world. And if someone sinks thousands of dollars into a 1911 (and isn’t using it to compete for money), well they are just gullible. Like the kind of people who pay money for tapwater in a bottle.
So what if Jeff Cooper liked the only handgun in use when he was in the military? It’s not like he had a choice of other handguns to use. And, on a related note, Jeff Cooper has a reputation that exceeds his accomplishments. The best information that I can find shows that he spent the battle of Guadalcanal as the training officer on Gen. Vandegrift’s staff. Not leading a platoon. Not on the line, pulling a trigger. And his coy evasions when asked about his real-world experience with gunfighting are revealing, if one cares to view them objectively. (If you have documentation about Cooper’s real-world experience, please drop me a line. I am happy to revise my opinion.) I have no doubt that he was qualified to teach people how to shoot on a range. Beyond that, a grain of salt is required. I prefer to get my advice on defense & gunfighting from men who have actually been there & done that; Massad Ayoob, Jim Cirillo, etc. Am I a qualifications snob? No, I am an results snob.
Ok, got it out of my system.
That’s purty.
Not bad for 96 years old.
It is and I love mine, wouldn’t get rid of it ever.
Man it happens.......firearms I have sold, when active duty, to put food on the table, still haunt me somewhat yet family first is rule one as we know.
I have two P.O. Ackley rifles, one a 22-250 and the other a ‘06. Both on mauser 98 “surplus actions”. They were built for others yet came to me when those folks wanted to sell em to a then still young hunter who would use them. Those two rifles are still my go to guns for yotes and whitetail / mulies.
My favorite High Power is an old bone stock P-35 version that sings with all manner of loads be they hot corbon or ball, gold dots etc ... very good, solid reliable rig.
When I met up with Texasproud here at FR he got me interested in the BHP again and I sent a new morgan utah flavor to Cylinder and Slide and had a 2400$ gun made. Now I enjoy the cosmetics, the reliability etc yet almost fear carrying the damn thing due a possibility of “scratching it”......:o)
My 1911A1 carry and BHP carry are bone stock shy of a few mods such as larger recoil springs, and smith alexander mainspring housing mag well on the 1911 w/ buried and melted bomar sights. The BHP sports an ambi safety and rounded commander style hammer along with stippling on the front strap and back strap and novak low mounts !!
Carry loads for the BHP are 147gr OSM and the Colt is fed 230gr HydraShok. I shoot either or every thursday and in weekend competition. Yet my day to day combat tupperware in the form of a Glock 21 converted with a Guncrafters industries 50GI slide and magazine kit is my comfy no sharp edges to cut clothing or upholstery CHL rig.
Shoot em a lot and they WILL work !!......;o)
Stay safe and Merry Christmas ya’ll !
I have five 91/30s and two M44s.
They're like potato chips. You can't stop at just one.
No, I am referring to my out of the box S&W 1911 and IMO it is a lower end gun. Sweeter trigger than on any of my other guns. Breaks clean and makes for very accurate shooting. The gun points itself.
Higher end 1911's are even better, so much nowadays, the only limitation in accuracy is the shooter.
I sense 1911 envy....
I also carry a Glock in .40 that's accurate and slick.
A 1911 is like a muscle car, a Glock is like a BMW. In America, either one will do the job quickly and definitively.
Revolvers are, by their nature, more complex than semi-autos.
Why? Because of the mechanical-timing and advancement-of-the-cylinder, whereas the semi-auto is [usually] a simple ramp-feed.
My son just bought himself a Kimber .45 Warrior for Christmas. We hope to be going out back to my little shooting range to give it some exercise in the next couple of days. I don’t know anything about it but it sure fits nicely in the hand.
As for me, I’ll stick with my wheel gun - a S&W .357
Use Militec-1 and you really appreciate it.
1911 is too big, too heavy.
So is my G30 but I’d rather carry that than a 1911. Baby Glock is the way to go with the right ammo.
Inherited my dad’s 67’ A-5 Belgian Mag. Put a 24” Hastings replacement barrel in place of the 30” full choke during the steel shot years.
It is the fastest pull to shoulder swing gun I’ve ever used duck hunting and I even take the recoil rings out to shoot dove loads dove hunting. Best hunter ever.
Snub nose S & W is a great concealed weapon.
BUT the knock down power of the 45 is a great thing.
I’ve shot wild hogs here on the airport I live on with mine. Very effective even on a 400 pound mad as hell pig.
Enjoy it as it shoots better than a Colt 1911.
I know, I know.
One is a 32” goose gun that can take down medium sized trees. I also have a very nice 20 ga LW that I take out and look at and then put back.
The Japanese Browning works as well as any. It’s the shorty barrel and good for birds. I don’t mind if it gets a scrape.
thanks for sharing that story. I keep thinking I should write a book about boys and how they used to grow up.
The only time that I have EVER seen that happen was when the sear had been worked... and if you hold the trigger back in the fire position while working the slide and loading a round in the chamber, it will prevent it from firing while loading a round. I have a worked Combat Commander that will do that if you do not hold the trigger in while loading the chamber. I was taught that 40 years ago by Jim McNally (who went on to design for Glock). His son shot into the Olympic Gold in several Olympics.
LLS
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