drawbacks of 1911 concept?

I odn't see the problem wiht a grip safety, except it is maybe superfluous.

You hold thie firemar, the grip safety is disengsged, you shoot....:confused:

Maybe there is no need for them in IPSC style shooting, but it is comforting to have one more safety when you have it ins a holster and you are carryiung itin the bush.....
 
The 1911 has NO drawbacks. I shoot a Delta Elite (an original Colt! HA!) with little more in terms of mods than an ambi slidestop that I didn't install (prev. owner did) I do intend to get a beavertail grip safety, because i've been nipped once or twice by the slide, however it fits BEAUTIFULLY in my large hands, and fits rather well in my girlfriend's smallish hands. It's a little more complex to use than a Glock, given all the added safeties and all, but that boils down to practice. I can draw and fire my 1911 just as fast as someone with comparable reflexes could with a glock.

Ok. there is one drawback, if you want to call it that. They're heavy. about 40 ounces fully loaded. I find them to be well balanced. They're not top heavy plastic bricks like a Glock. and 40 ounces in the hand isn't a big deal to me. I've even walked around my place all day with it holstered (no, I didn't go outside with it, just walked around my apartment) and it felt just right.

If and when we get CCW in my lifetime, I'll be carrying a 1911, and that I guarantee. :D
 
Gatehouse said:
I odn't see the problem wiht a grip safety, except it is maybe superfluous.

You hold thie firemar, the grip safety is disengsged, you shoot....:confused:

Maybe there is no need for them in IPSC style shooting, but it is comforting to have one more safety when you have it ins a holster and you are carryiung itin the bush.....


I find that I had to change my grip and the way I grab the gun when pulling from the holster to ensure that I am depressing the grip safety. I find if I bring my hand down at an angle onto the gun near the butt, sliding the hand forward before pulling it out of the holster helps to ensure a good grip on the safety, otherwise the web of my hand is to high to depress it completly.
 
Colin said:
I find that I had to change my grip and the way I grab the gun when pulling from the holster to ensure that I am depressing the grip safety. I find if I bring my hand down at an angle onto the gun near the butt, sliding the hand forward before pulling it out of the holster helps to ensure a good grip on the safety, otherwise the web of my hand is to high to depress it completly.


Fair enough, I guess!:)

I don' tseem to have that problem, but I'm not that experienced wiht handguns, anyway.....:)
 
My wife took my Springfield 9mm 1911. She loves the skinny grip especially with the skinny black rubber Pearce grips. She loves how easy it is to rack the slide since the 1911 in 9mm has so much metal to move backwards, it uses a 14lb recoil spring... nice and light. She likes the controls all around.

Drawback ? The grip safety takes her a while to get around, but if she does not think about it, it's no big bother for her.

I like how a user can customize many or all of the parts to suit their style of shooting. I also like how I can fix and tweak many parts of this pistol's operatons. This pistol lends itself to working on, kinda like an AR15 or an M14. Oh my, what a common denominator, US Service bangsticks.

Either way, whatever works for you all,
Barney
 
I started with a 1911 and then wanted to try something a little more modern. Didn't care for my plastic gun and now I'm into the CZ type guns, which I like.

The one thing I did like about the 1911 compared to the "inny" slide guns is that there is a lot more slide to grab onto when you need to.

Stripping a 1911 with a full length guide rod can be fun when your not used to doing it all the time.:eek:
 
Yea the CZ and clones are a pain to grip the slide, my main complaint with my NZ-85b. I am going to put the Hogue grips on mine, which I hope will change how I hold it and bring more pressure onto the grip safety. I noticed that some aftermarket beavertails/safeties are “prouder” than the original.
 
A flat mainspring housing on a 1911-a1 style gun can help with the grip safety problem that some people seem to have . They are not very expensive , use the same inner parts that your arched one uses, and if you done like it you can switch back and sell it. To install, usually no modifications are needed to your gun.
 
Only drawback I can see with the M1911 is that it does not have a DA trigger. That leaves you with two options. Cocked and locked, or hammer down with the chamber empty.
Only a 7 round capacity? Unlike the 9mm you don't NEED those extra rounds to do the job. Even so, there is that convenient little button on the side of the frame that you push to drop an empty mag and insert a fresh one.
If one is unhappy with the grip safety, it can always be pinned to make it inoperative.
Getting the slide stop back in a problem? So how often does one need to disassemble the pistol? Even that can be improved with a bit of practice.

Heavy? well they haven't got around to repealing Newtons third law of motion as yet, so heavy means it doesn't beat the crap out of your hand.

The 1911 IS NOT a target pistol, it was meant to shoot people and it does that very well. Attempts to tighten things up just decrease reliability in crappy conditions.

Just a note about the "wunder 9" we are presently saddled with, the military is currently hauling all those 1911's out of the armouries, reconditioning them, and shipping them to the sandbox. I can't imagine why;)

A DA capability is the only reason I own a ruger P345 so I can carry one "up the spout" safely.
 
It would seem that the main complaint with 9mm FMJ is it’s ability to over penetrate the target, hardly a sign that it is underpowered. People in wartime have been known to take multiple hits with a full power rifle round, yet kept fighting, what makes you think that any pistol round will be a “uberweapon”. Lots of people over the last 100 years have died because they were shot with 9mm and .45acp. I was reading a link here with post from US LEO’s that have no problem shooting 9mm.

.45acp is part of the American mythology and that is likely an important part of the drive to get them. It also has to with the platform being used and it seems the Beretta being issued is having problems mostly with it’s mags, but also sensitive to dust.

The American army also took the MG 42 and created the M60 (ugh, puke) adopted the anaemic 5.56mm, (which they now realize is crappy at piercing cover) not to mention a number of other weapons that didn’t work out, I won’t take their recommendations as a Commandment from God.

Anyways this is a discussion about the platform, not the calibre
 
My apologies to Bartledan for derriere talking... I've never seen anyone detail strip a Glock, even the Glock afficionados so I assumed its a PITA. My bad, if I'm wrong. :)

I know all you Glock fans will now tell me the reason is because they never need to be detail stripped... :D

In any case I'm a strong believer in fewer parts is better.
 
The MG42 and the M60 only have one part in common, the buttstock!
while the feed cover looks the same, it does not have the double belt lift of the MG42.
The bolt and op rod are lifted from the Lewis gun.

I have no idea where they got the idea on the barrel change. It's certainly not from the MG42, which could be changed without touching the hot barrel.

As for the 9mm vs the .45, when you are using FMJ, bigger is better, I would prefer the bullet to stay in the bad guy rather than go in one side and out the other. the idea of a military round it to STOP the other guy accomplishing what he wants to do. If he manages to shoot or stick you before dropping dead, its no consolation. Why do i have a .45? because they don't make a .55!
 
John Sukey said:
As for the 9mm vs the .45, when you are using FMJ, bigger is better, I would prefer the bullet to stay in the bad guy rather than go in one side and out the other. the idea of a military round it to STOP the other guy accomplishing what he wants to do. If he manages to shoot or stick you before dropping dead, its no consolation. Why do i have a .45? because they don't make a .55!
If size was the only thing that mattered, .45 ACP would have been more deadly than .44 Mag. Obviously, that is not the case. There is also nothing wrong with the bullet going through the target. If overpenetration was as bad as you make it sound, people would be laughing at .308 rounds flying in their direction. Heck, if you want a big projectile that doesn't overpenetrate, just pick up a rock and toss it at the bad guy.

What really matters is energy transfer, which determines the amount of tissue damage sustained by the target. Transfer energy is a product of both weight AND speed.
 
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If anyone tells me that 9mm or .45 isn't good enough to stop someone, I tell them to go step in front of one being fired and tell me how it feels.
 
Colin said:
If anyone tells me that 9mm or .45 isn't good enough to stop someone, I tell them to go step in front of one being fired and tell me how it feels.
Would you say that a .22LR is a sufficient combat round then?
 
anyone else remember all the Vietnam and Korea vets that were sounding off about the Beretta being picked for the US military back when it was announced? they couldn't say enough BAD things about the horrible 1911's they were saddled with during their conflicts, and how they wish they'd been issued something like the new wonder 9.
the thing is, it's all about the Gucci. there is no miracle round, there is no miracle man stopper. you like the 1911, go for it, you don't, don't. pretty simple. no modern pistol is going to be a bad choice when it comes to self defence or sport.
 
Yeah, let's get back on topic about the shortcomings of JMB's 1911....

In the meantime, my wife still loves the Springfield 1911 9mm... good enough to convince me to buy more 1911's. LOL

Bearman: I hear you about switching the arched mainspring housing. All of my 1911's have FLAT mainspring housings. Makes the gripping easier and simpler.
 
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