Haha, yeah, I promised myself and the wife I'd only get one pistol, let alone any more than one 1911. I was humming and hawing because I had about $300 to spend at the moment so the Norinco 1911 was looking pretty damn good. I went to Reliable and my buddy Hermes pointed out that the Remington R1 Enchanced was far superior in terms of fit, finish and performance, and for all the bells and whistles that come with it, it was a bargain compared to some other pistols with the same options. The Norc they had in the shop rattlled at the slightest touch, it was hard to rack, and when it did, I could feel all the burrs and rough patches grinding. There was a ton of slide wobble (at the time, I had no idea what he was talking about) as well as lots of play between the barrel and bushing. In retrospect, it was probably just a lemon, but at any rate, I figured I'd risk an extra couple of hundred bucks (and getting on the wife's $hitlist), get a pistol that I would not need to tinker with, and will probably last me a lifetime.
I love my Remington R1 Enhanced. It felt so refined compared to the Norc in the shop. When I took it to the range, the gun practically shot itself. I was a fairly new shooter at the time (and I'm still very much the novice, contrary to what I'd like to believe), had some experience with my friend's Glock 17, and was comfortable knowing I'd be a crap shot. When I shot my new Remington, I was placing rounds better than I'd ever done with my friend's Glock. He loves his Glock, and he's been shooting it for 3 yrs, but when he shot my Remington for the first time, he was getting groupings better than he ever had in the last three years. He tried shooting off-handed and got the same results.
Not to knock the Glock, they're great guns, but my Remington was able to make a crap shot like me....well, less crappy. At least that's my belief.
Anyway, that's my story on the Remington R1 Enhanced...but that would not be my last 1911. A few months later, I ended up picking up the .22lr GSG 1911 just because it'd be cheaper to plink with.
And just a few days ago, I took delivery of the Canada Ammo deal on the Norinco 1911A1. I've been watching the 3000 + posts about this pistol and the terrific deal and I finally caved. It was the 1911A1 model, different than the one I saw at Reliable, the "Police" model that had the skeleton trigger, hammer, extended thumb safety, beaver tail, front grooved slide etc. Anyway, I noticed that this Norc was different than my first encounter with the company, in that there weren't complaints about wobbly barrels and slides, and the the only major gripe was that folks weren't getting them fast enough, and that the grips usually came cracked....woopee-do. For $499, you get an unmarked 1911A1 with $hitty grips, plus 1,000 brass cased .45acp.
I figured if the pistols were complete garbage, I'd see more of them on EE, but only the occasional Cam Am deal pistol popped up. I ordered one last week, already had an extra set of grips ready, and picked up my new pistol this Monday. To my surprise, the grips were good (but I replaced them anyway), the slide was a tight fit with the frame, and there was little to no play between the barrel, barrel bushing and the slide. It was amazingly tight, and yeah, it was a bit rough feeling when I racked it, but I'm sure it will break in.
http://3.bp.########.com/-bfhyieSsyik/UeUMbKvlTdI/AAAAAAAARnY/GF7Xr1tplxw/s1600/P7151179.JPG
I don't regret getting my Remington R1 Enchanced. It's silky smooth, she looks pretty and she puts rounds where I want them to go, but I'm also glad I jumped on the Norc deal as well because it's a pistol I won't be afraid to get scratched up and toss around. I've also learned to detail strip a 1911 on the Norc, where as I'd be deathly afraid to with the Remington. Who knows, maybe I'll even get into tinkering with it, hell, it was cheap enough.
But yeah, you probably won't just get one, haha!