drawbacks of 1911 concept?

1911 - My personal favorite. Something about that big chunky .45 pill smacking-down a plate or clearing bowling pin off a table with extreme prejudice that the wondernines just can't meet. Pretty cheap to feed if reloading, lots of aftermarket bits to fill your hearts content and tons of history. Only personal drawback for me is hammer-bite and because I don't like the look huge beavertails, I walk around with a little "smiley face" on the web of my hand.
 
One of the biggest drawbacks is inconsistency of the quality control or uniformity of manufactures of the 1911's and aftermarket parts. IIRC with over 430+ companies who have produced a version of the 1911 and there are almost as many companies that produce aftermarket parts. Not all parts fit or can be swapped between manufactures, there are very few 100% drop in parts with this platform if any.

The 1911 design is approx 100 years old, the pistol is still a great pistol but is almost always requires fitting of the parts and usually by a qualified gunsmith. The quality of parts (fit and finish) varies from company to company.

Newer designs and manufacture processes combined with the Industry ISO 9000 quality standards have helped produce quality products. Newer design and manufacture processes permit mass production of quality parts. This allows for quality pistols to be assembled from parts bins...no fitting required, and replacement parts are completely "drop-in" .

The 1911 pistol is the "Harley-Davidson" of handguns, those who love them, love them a lot regardless of the price. The design is old, they frequently break down, they require lots of maintenance, but when they are running they are hard to beat.

Now over the past 15 years or so, many companies have increased their quality control and produce quality top end products, but not many can afford them. They are priced similar to the Harley-Davidson... Over.
 
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Winz said:
Also to note, it is safe to say that the 1911's Browning lock up is a design inspired most of the popular designs in pistols used today.
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Actually, its the lock up design of the p-35 (or high power) that has inspired most modern pistols. The swinging link was a dead end, not been uses since.
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The 1911 design works quite well (nearly a century has proof tested that), and my two 1911's echo that. John M. Browning did recognize a couple of mechanical improvements which he incorporated into his Hi-Power design (which has been equally proof tested), namely:
1) Replaced the the 1911 swinging link with the solid cam.
2) Hi-Power has a one piece feed ramp itegral with the barrel, which enhances feed reliability.

Both these enduring designs were JMB's brain child, among many others.
 
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I think the best thing about the 1911 is the calibre .45. As much as I like my .45 and find it really easy to shoot well, for reliability I would prefer something German in .45 like a Sig or an HK.

Still for the money and the ease of tuning they are hard to beat and easy to clean.
 
thecollector said:
The 1911 design works quite well (nearly a century has proof tested that), and my two 1911's echo that. John M. Browning did recognize a couple of mchanical improvements which he incorporated into his Hi-Power design (which has been equally proof tested), namely:
1) Replaced the the 1911 swinging link with the solid cam.
2) Hi-Power has a one piece feed ramp itegral with the barrel, which enhances feed reliability.

Both these enduring designs were JMB's brain child, among many others.
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Don't forget he went to an external spring operated extractor and deleted the grip saftey which he only put on at the calvary's insistance
 
I call the 1911, the Granddaddy of modern pistols and the Hi-Power the Father of modern pistols.

When people ask me about the Glock, I say it is the result of leaving a lot gun parts in a Tupperware container in the dark for too long! :p
 
Colin said:
I call the 1911, the Granddaddy of modern pistols and the Hi-Power the Father of modern pistols.
:p
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I like that one, pretty damn near the truth. It surely outlasted its contempories. Not many building toggle links or rotating cams today...

(still think the rotation lock as in the steyr 1912 was a good system)
 
capp325 said:
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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Thats comparing apples to oranges. The .45 moves out at 900fps while the rifle rounds are around 2800fps. In the case of the rifle, its hydrostatic shock that does the damage.
 
Popurhedoff said:
The 1911 pistol is the "Harley-Davidson" of handguns, those who love them, love them a lot regardless of the price. The design is old, they frequently break down, they require lots of maintenance, but when they are running they are hard to beat.

Now over the past 15 years or so, many companies have increased their quality control and produce quality top end products, but not many can afford them. They are priced similar to the Harley-Davidson... Over.
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Don't say that! The old H-Ds had a certain simple elegance. The new ones are just overpriced crap.

1911's new or old at least WORK.:D
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colin
I call the 1911, the Granddaddy of modern pistols and the Hi-Power the Father of modern pistols.




I like that one, pretty damn near the truth. It surely outlasted its contempories. Not many building toggle links or rotating cams today...
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I like the truth also..........and I really like the funny part a lot.......
When people ask me about the Glock, I say it is the result of leaving a lot gun parts in a Tupperware container in the dark for too long!
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Glocks do work well also (after all it is a basic JMB design), but I will never choose 'engineering polymers' over 'engineering metallic alloys'.........I am a diehard steel appeal beats plastic parts individual. I can live with plastic grip pannels and magazine followers, but that's about it.
 
IMHO, there are more efficiently designed and more reliable guns on the market that are not almost 100 year old designs. But what they do, the 1911 does with more panache! ;)
 
Vic777 said:
.22lr is the caliber of choice for Mafia and CIA assasins!
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Hey! You forgot the Mossad and you really don't want to hurt their feelings.

.22LR has also been the "Magic BB" to bring down a bear.


Now we need a 36 gr vs 40gr copperwashed HP thread :)
 
yohann160 said:
Hmm that's weird because I could've sworn those were what made the gun so safe and come on, the 1911 is the most gorgeous pistol there is.
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I love 1911s, but the title "most gorgeous pistol there is" has to belong to the Borchardt Luger ;)

dwm_d.jpg
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