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Pretty much sums it up. Jeff Cooper did great things for the gun culture and for personal defense. This doesn't mean that he couldn't get some things wrong. The 1911 was a great gun for its day. It is a classic, but even classics will be improved on. John Moses Browning was a genius, and if you look at a Glock with a little care, you see a John Moses Browning design brought up to speed with modern materials and improvements from what we have learned over the last 100 years.
1 posted on 12/23/2010 5:29:20 AM PST by marktwain
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To: marktwain
To 1911 aficionados: Please note that I posted the above article, I did not write it. It makes a reasoned case.
2 posted on 12/23/2010 5:31:00 AM PST by marktwain
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To: marktwain

I have a Kimber with a red lazer built in.
At a reasonable distance I put a hollow point on that dot.
Love my Kimber


3 posted on 12/23/2010 5:31:50 AM PST by Joe Boucher
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To: marktwain
The 1911 has a flawless pedigree. It was designed specifically to kill muslims.

I needn't say more.

4 posted on 12/23/2010 5:32:28 AM PST by null and void (We are now in day 700 of our national holiday from reality. - 0bama really isn't one of US.)
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To: marktwain
What other 100-year old design is still in daily use?

The M-2 Browning for one.

L

5 posted on 12/23/2010 5:33:03 AM PST by Lurker (The avalanche has begun. The pebbles no longer have a vote.)
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To: marktwain
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?

My DA revolver.

6 posted on 12/23/2010 5:33:06 AM PST by Mr. Mojo
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To: marktwain

Please, a 1911 needs tools to disassemble? Lost me right there. Anyone that one and cannot field strip a 1911 in 20 seconds flat with their bare hands has no business owning one.


7 posted on 12/23/2010 5:33:46 AM PST by mad_as_he$$ (V for Vendetta.)
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To: marktwain
It’s a 100-year old design. So what. So is the M-2 .50 caliber. I suppose that sucks, too.

It needs tools to disassemble. Maybe if you consider a paper clip a 'tool'. You can detail strip a 1911 quite handily with nothing but your hands and a paper clip.

It has unreliable magazines. Define 'unreliable'.

It is finicky about ammo. Maybe at one time it was. Mine eats everthing from 230 gr ball to 185 grain hp's without so much as a hiccup.

And, as a single-action pistol, it is unsafe for 95% of its users to carry. Really. Does this author mean that 95% of the people who carried this weapon for almost 6 decades were in mortal peril? If he does, he's a fool.

L

11 posted on 12/23/2010 5:37:41 AM PST by Lurker (The avalanche has begun. The pebbles no longer have a vote.)
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To: marktwain
The 1911 does have a high learning curve and requires much longer training time to master, but for older folks like me that were trained on that type of pistol I will accept no substitute. Personally I am far more adept with a 1911 than every other type combined as I used to shoot competition with one.

For the new “I want it now kids of today” the premise is viable. In the hands of the fully trained a 1911 is dangerous.

The SA gun use I think will go down with us old folks, as well as any notion of freedom.

13 posted on 12/23/2010 5:40:20 AM PST by fuzzybutt (Democrat Lawyers are the root of all evil.)
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To: marktwain
Pretty generalized article. The differences between my Springfield and my Kimber are like night and day.
14 posted on 12/23/2010 5:41:13 AM PST by Shellback Chuck
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To: marktwain
For personal defense, try the Taurus Judge: see ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jl-ZIo-Wztc

16 posted on 12/23/2010 5:41:52 AM PST by JoeGar
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To: marktwain
What other 100-year old design is still in daily use?

Not quite 100 years, but the M2 .50 cal machine gun has been in use for over 90, and still does quite well.
17 posted on 12/23/2010 5:42:11 AM PST by OCCASparky (Obama--Playing a West Wing fantasy in a '24' world.)
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To: marktwain
When the diverse population decides to riot after the economy melts down, this 1911 owner will get some real use out of an obsolete weapon and it will do its job reliably. I also have a Krag 30-40 that will be impressed into service.
18 posted on 12/23/2010 5:42:11 AM PST by vetvetdoug
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To: marktwain

The author is wrong. The 1911 is the epitomy of pistol design and mechanics. It was tried and tested through two World Wars and numerous smaller ones and remains the best choice for reliability and sheer stopping power. I keep mine ready in my bed stand at night in the event that an intruder might one day break in and threaten me and my family. I wouldn’t have anything else.


21 posted on 12/23/2010 5:45:16 AM PST by Virginia Ridgerunner (Sarah Palin has crossed the Rubicon!)
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To: marktwain

I consider the 1911 design sure as old school, but so is a 1958 Corvette.

I own a Chevy truck with a 496 cubic inch technological monster that requires me to have state of the art diagnostic equipment just to find a problem.

The older Corvette I can fix without a manual, without anything other than a timing light or even a dwell meter.

Yes its classic, but it can work, doesn’t mean that something trying to emulate it cannot work better. I would trade my left nut for a customized Kimber, but I am absolutely happy with my Sig Sauer P220 .45acp.

I have Thompson .45acp built to the Colt 1911 design, shoots crappy with loose rails, the barrel lockup is wobbly and a single stack mag grip feels wrong in my hands, but it has a place. I love fat double stack mag grips, yes I know my Sig is single stack but I have aftermarket grips on it.

About the only thing I really hate on the 1911 style re-assembly is trying to compress that darn non-captive spring, someday I will convert mine.


22 posted on 12/23/2010 5:45:59 AM PST by Eye of Unk (If your enemy is quick to anger, seek to irritate him. Sun Tzu, The Art of War.)
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To: marktwain

Para-Ordnance 45 Big Hawg 14+1 works quite well for me and I've had no problems. Things have changed a lot over the years, materials get better, machining is down to a gnats ass and ammo has gotten far better. If you've got a great design, why change it?

23 posted on 12/23/2010 5:46:05 AM PST by maddog55 (OBAMA, You can't fix stupid...)
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To: marktwain

IIRC, John M. Browning designed the Hi-Power to improve on the M1911.

Yes, the 1911 is an old design, but I have an affinity for old firearms.

I own a 1911 variant. It is picky about feeding some hollow-points. It wouldn’t feed anything but FMJ until I took some super fine emery cloth to the feed ramp. That, in addition to buying good quality magazines, took care of 95% of feeding issues. Golden Sabers seem to feed best of all hollow point ammo I’ve run through it.


25 posted on 12/23/2010 5:47:21 AM PST by EricT. (Can we start hanging them yet?)
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To: marktwain
Sorry, the 1911 in it's military configuration,was made for the purpose of reliability, not for extreme accuracy as some of the pundits want.

I have a few original 1911 Colts, they have served in 2 wars, and a number of brushfires. As with ALL things mechanical, parts need to be replaced after extensive use, or wear. Any one of these would serve reliably in the personal defense role.

Are they accurate? Depending on your criteria of 'accurate. If you want a five-shot-one-hole-at-50yards-offhand-in-the-wind-on-a-foggy-day, these aren't the weapons you want. But if you want something that will work EVERY time, in a space of CQB, then I have it.

The 1911 is not for everyone, it never has been. But, if you take the time and energy to learn it's limitations and strengths, the time to learn the balance of absolute reliability over extreme accuracy, it is a system that could last another 100 years, where newer designs can only dream of that kind of pedigree.

26 posted on 12/23/2010 5:48:32 AM PST by Wizdum
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To: marktwain
What other 100-year old design is still in daily use?

Model 1894 Winchester (also a John Browing design).

And the 1896 Marlin.

Winchester Model 12 (only 98 years old, but close enough). Also a John Browing design. I'm sure there's more.

27 posted on 12/23/2010 5:49:30 AM PST by triumphant values (Never criticize that to your right.)
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To: marktwain

bogus....

my 1943 Remington Rand, eats whatever I give it...its trigger pull is superior to any striker fired toy guns....and it comes in a caliber meant to kill people, not small game.


28 posted on 12/23/2010 5:52:02 AM PST by Vaquero ("an armed society is a polite society" Robert A. Heinlein.)
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To: marktwain

The author must’ve taken alot of bad advice.


29 posted on 12/23/2010 5:52:29 AM PST by herewego ( Got .45?)
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