Thread: buying a 1911?

So tomorrow I'm going shopping for a 1911. Ive never owned a 1911 before so I don't really have alot of experience with them, but they have always been a favorite of mine ever since I was a child. Im looking at getting a brand new Kimber Stainless II I saw about a week ago, but I want to know what some other suggestions might be. Stainless is a must. What do you guys/gals think? My budget is $850

Springfield makes a great 1911. They have plenty models to choose from and Ive never heard a bad thing about springfield 1911s. Sig sauer makes another great 1911. They seem to be in the higher end of the 1911 market but you can still get them at affordable prices. Ruger has their new 1911 out and I've heard good reviews on them also.

I'm not really a fan of colt or kimber 1911s. Not to say that they aren't good guns but colts seem overrated to me for the going price and kimbers have had alot of problems in the past. Again, not to say that all kimbers have problems (they are VERY good looking 1911s and have been tempted many times to buy one) but for the price they go for I'm just not willing to take a chance.

Regardless on what 1911 you buy, colt, kimber, springer, ect, ect, I would like to hear your opinion on it after you've put plenty rounds downrange.

I would stay away from Kimber. Used to be good brand, now all I hear is bad things about them.

Springfield TRP is great 1911 to start with.

I'll throw $0.02 into the mix- in your price range look at Springfield and STI for best bang for your buck. But if you're not sure on a 1911 I'd say pick up a used or new Rock Island or similiar (Armscor manufactured guns). you can find one for $3-400 range and they're great entry guns. I wouldn't keep it as a gun to sink money into as you won't get it back- but for a feeler into the addiction that is the 1911 it's not a bad way to start!!

I would stay away from Kimber. Used to be good brand, now all I hear is bad things about them.

Pure manure, disregard.

I'll throw $0.02 into the mix- in your price range look at Springfield and STI for best bang for your buck. But if you're not sure on a 1911 I'd say pick up a used or new Rock Island or similiar (Armscor manufactured guns). you can find one for $3-400 range and they're great entry guns. I wouldn't keep it as a gun to sink money into as you won't get it back- but for a feeler into the addiction that is the 1911 it's not a bad way to start!!

This is everything you need to know at this point in your search.

Springfield Range Officer- brand new around here they go for $699. Hard to beat for a very good 1911.
You'll soon learn that the 1911 is probably the most popular handgun to discuss differences about. This gun is made in about 5,000 combinations, from barrels, safetys, metals, calibers, etc. Whenever I talk about the 1911 with other gun friends, everyone always has a brand preference and a reason.
I love Springfield and dislike Kimber. Good luck

I've been doing my research too, it's my next 1911. My plan is to go with a Springfield Loaded. Night Sights, lots of good features, good reputation, and good warranty, for $799 new at Fisherman's. I've had 2 Kimbers, a TLE II and a Pro Carry II, both were great guns, never a problem. I'd buy a Kimber again for a fair price. I also had a S&W, I didn't care for the external extractor, just not "classic" 1911 to me. STIs come with plastic parts, including a trigger and main spring housing (not all models), I won't buy a 1911 with even a trace of plastic, other than the grips. The Colts I've looked at are nice, but don't impress me more than the Sringfield Loaded. Also, the Springfield Loaded in stainless looks amazing!

I'm no Kimber fan at all. Look hard at the Springfield Loaded or Range Officer.

ETA: loaded gets you FCS, Night sights . RO gets you no FCS and a target rear sight, as well as SA claims (can't remember if same guaranty on it) the same accuracy as TRP and Trophy Match line.

OP said his budget is $850. Springfield TRP Stainless is a great 1911 but lists for $1777 and sells for about $1500. Springfield Range Officer is within his budget, as is the Remington R1, the new Ruger 1911, but he said Stainless is a must. The Kimber Stainless II is available for $819-$839. Sure, I'd rather buy a two-grand semi-custom, but there are several really good 1911's available within his budget without going into used guns. Kimber makes some fine guns; some people like Chevy and hate Ford, some like Dodge and hate Chevy and Ford. I'd say try as many as you can and buy the one you like.

Sadly there's not a production 1911 that I would trust my life with out of the box, without first having it looked over and tuned for reliability...most are junk.

Watch out for the models with all the bells & whistles, they look good...but there's another side to things once you look under the hood.

I pack a 1911 everyday, and own nothing else.

Sadly there's not a production 1911 that I would trust my life with out of the box, without first having it looked over and tuned for reliability...most are junk.

The OP wants solid advise to help with his first 1911 purchase and you barf this out?
Rightly so, it looks like he is sharp enough to give your advise the weight it deserves.

To the OP,
I will only speak to 1911s that I have owned and shot extensively. I have experience with Kimber's stainless Pro and Ultra Carry models along with Colt stainless models. I can tell you that in 17 years and about dozen Kimbers I have never had a bad one. All worked as designed right out of the box and I carried one every day up until about a year ago when I switched to a Colt Lightweight Officer's model, strictly for nostalgia reasons (I bought it new back in '84).

Originally Posted by wichaka

Sadly there's not a production 1911 that I would trust my life with out of the box, without first having it looked over and tuned for reliability...most are junk.

Watch out for the models with all the bells & whistles, they look good...but there's another side to things once you look under the hood.

I pack a 1911 everyday, and own nothing else.

Oh brother. And I took you as a sane 1911 person.

99.99999% of the 1911s out there are worthy of carry.Most will never have a malfunction at all.
Some of the "elites" on these boards are great to learn from but haven't carried or used a regular gun in some time....swaying their view.

There are the same kind of "elitists" on the AR forums

The 1911 is a very simplistic design and easy to make . Otherwise there wouldn't be so many makers.And they are easy to shoot. Not much recoil and easy to handle.Get it in the groove and your are good to go

i would swear some of these guys have big money in the so called "upper tier" ARs and 1911s

Oh I have had the Kimbers with absolutely no issues and now own a Sig 1911 with no issues (since I haven't shot it yet!!!)

I have a Kimber TLE-II
When I first bought it new many years ago, it was a bit tight, and I had to fire several boxes with it well oiled, oil spitting out when you fire it, during my break in period which lasted about 1 hour.

I cleaned it and lightly greased the rails and filled the lugs and it ran like a champ.

It has been used alot and has been thru various amounts of beating up, due to the lifestyle that I used to live, and today if I took it out for some range time, I would expect it to still run like a champ.

I think what ever type of 1911 you get if you maintain it properly, and feed it a diet of what ever it loves to eat, you should have a reliably tool that will last for years.

Kimbers are good if you don't mind MIM parts, for the money you can do much better. When I pay over $800 for a gun I don't want to find a plastic mainspring housing dyed to look like metal, both Colt and Kimber do that. I believe Kimber has more MIM parts than anyone else, so as far as I'm concerned they should be the cheapest guns. For under $400 you can buy a rock solid RIA off Gunbroker, and for that price I don't mind some MIM.
I've always been against MIM, being a machine shop owner/operator the process smacks of dishonesty to me, but recently I had an MIM junk part break in a gun that disabled it, a pox on gun makers who use that junk!
If you want quality buy a Dan Wesson, no MIM, period. There are other brands, high end brands like Ed Brown, Les Baer and Wilson, but all of them including the DW are well above your top.
Owning an RIA that I got for $350 I just cannot imagine paying much more than that for anything that's full of MIM, the RIA is just plain a great gun for the price. I own 2 Colts (Never again, too much MIM) a Norinco (All forged parts except the pins I believe, can't be purchased new because of Bill Clinton) an RIA and three DW's.

Since I've been called out, I'll 'barf' some more...

The problem I see with SOME folks recommending brand X 1911's in forums, they need to qualify their recommendation(s) with more information.
Saying "I own brand X, and its been great.", does nothing to help the OP... tell us why you like it.
Others will post they bought brand X, is the best thing since sliced bread, yet when pressed, they only had it a few months, and only ran a box or two of ammo thru it.
If they just said it from the beginning, it would put their experience in perspective for the OP.

Just look over many posts about 1911's. Most are about bells & whistles, and very few about an under the hood inspection.

Folks read about tight slide to frame fit from some nimrods article in a gun rag, and then demand it of their purchased 1911, yet most don't realize how very little that affects accuracy. Too much blow and show, not enough common sense.

So MOST times, when a thread gets started such as this...I usually ask, what's it going to be used for?

Casual/Occasional range time? Serious street use? Competition? , that will dictate the direction to steer folks.

For the first, most anything will do.

The second, I stand by my statement, there's not a production 1911 that I would trust my life with out of the box, without first having it looked over and tuned for reliability.

The third...again most anything will do for the beginner.

Sane 1911person??? Whatever gave you that thought? Who are the "Elites" you speak of?

I think Hilton Yam said it best about the 1911;
"It is not the same as the GI issue gun that was carefully handcrafted at the Colt factory nearly a century ago. When Colt first started producing the gun way back in the day, they were the only ones making it - their parts, their mags, ammo to their spec. The design has been around for so long that any particular 1911 is now made with parts made to various specs that have wandered away from the original for one reason or another, and is fed with ammo and mags that have similarly changed or evolved. This is the reason why the 1911 does well with tuning by a skilled hand, something that it often does not receive at the modern factory."

The 1911 easy to make?? The dollar drives the manufacturing of the gun. The popularity is why just about every maker has come out with one...they all want a piece of the 1911 dollar.

I will never steer anyone on here to junk. I've had many a 1911 on my bench over the years, many from members on here...and most of the time for no charge, unless I have to install a part. Am not in it for the money, am in it to educate and help folks understand the platform. My shop is open to all...free of charge.

Most production guns don't need a lot of work to make them reliable...but some more than others.

So if I seem to you to be an "Elite"...well, I'll leave the name callin' to you...I got better things to do...that's help people make an educated decision based on my years in the 1911 industry.

I still like the old Snap-On Tools motto;

I'd rather explain the price of quality, than apologize for something less.

Be well all.

Originally Posted by Partsproduction

Kimbers are good if you don't mind MIM parts, for the money you can do much better. When I pay over $800 for a gun I don't want to find a plastic mainspring housing dyed to look like metal, both Colt and Kimber do that. I believe Kimber has more MIM parts than anyone else, so as far as I'm concerned they should be the cheapest guns. For under $400 you can buy a rock solid RIA off Gunbroker, and for that price I don't mind some MIM.
I've always been against MIM, being a machine shop owner/operator the process smacks of dishonesty to me, but recently I had an MIM junk part break in a gun that disabled it, a pox on gun makers who use that junk!
If you want quality buy a Dan Wesson, no MIM, period. There are other brands, high end brands like Ed Brown, Les Baer and Wilson, but all of them including the DW are well above your top.

Owning an RIA that I got for $350 I just cannot imagine paying much more than that for anything that's full of MIM, the RIA is just plain a great gun for the price. I own 2 Colts (Never again, too much MIM) a Norinco (All forged parts except the pins I believe, can't be
purchased new because of Bill Clinton) an RIA and three DW's.

Well said partsproduction!

On a brighter note, I did see a couple norincos at the gun show today going for $425 each.

Originally Posted by Partsproduction

I own 2 Colts (Never again, too much MIM)

Colts only have two parts that are MIM...sear and disconnector.

Interesting dialog.
My opinion goes like this. I have 2 45's, both 1911's.
Kimber Custon Carry II. It is a great accurate gun.
Metro Arms American Classic II. It is a great accurate gun. Made in P.I. (not a ARMSCOR gun)

I agree with Wichaka. I never trust any gun out of the box for carry. I have my own set of test i run on every gun before i will carry it.


The only issues i have faced have been Mags. Spend the money on good quality mags.
And

Here's a case and point about gun rag crap.

Gun Digest has a magazine out with an article on the Ruger SR 1911. In the article it says, and I quote;

"With a lockup as solid as a bank vault, and that Series 70 adjustable trigger that kills creep, drag, or heavy pull, the new SR 1911 is a very accurate weapon."

Now what horses petute would write that? Obviously an idiot who has no working knowledge of the 1911 platform.

Now an unsuspecting person with little or no knowledge of the 1911 platform might look at that and think...wow, that's some factory trigger!
Yet I see folks who will continually quote crap like this as gospel because it came from some gun guru.

First off, a Series 70 is a Colt full size Government model.

Next, the only thing an adjustable trigger does is control how far the trigger will move after the hammer drops...or the sear is released. And of course this all happens way after all the creep, drag, and pull weight have passed.

An adjustable trigger has nothing to do with creep, drag, or heavy pull.

So am not sure how a Series 70 trigger will kill anything, except our intelligence!

Somebody please explain.