Got to shoot the 1911 for the first time!

[chemo]

The most reliable 1911s appear to be those that stay true to the original design, and attempts to improve accuracy most often lead to reliability issues. No one can shoot up to a 10 MOA pistol in a fight, regardless of which pistol they choose. I have 2 1911s that I would carry without hesitation, and IMHO that design has resulted in the best fighting pistol ever devised. None of the modern crop of pistols have their controls as conveniently placed, none have triggers that allow for as fast or accurate a first shot out of the holster, none are as slim in profile, and none are as forgiving to limp wristing. The two closest runners up; the Browning P-35 and the CZ-70 have out of the box safety levers that are two small. To those who believe that nothing old can be as good as something new, that is only true if the new product is an improvement over the old, and the new pistol designs embrace elements that are irrelevant to fighting.

The 1911 isn't perfect but it is nearly so. Some folks may have trouble reaching the trigger, some folks are unable to reliably depress a flat grip safety. Some 1911s may require a change in sights, some may require an enlarged ejection port, some are more particular than others with respect to the ogive length of the bullets they are fed unless the slide lock is tweaked to some degree, and most need to be de-horned. These improvements are of a minor nature, and inexpensive.

Amen brother, the 1911 is godsent.

 

[BCRider]

.....I have never looked to see how the extractor is held in or what kind of spring it has. An explanation of HOW to add spring tension would eb welcome.

Ganderite, if you're still reading in on this thread the classic extractor in a 1911 is just a bowed spring ground from some round stock with a bend in it. So it is its own spring. There's much written on the correct shape of the end and how it should not be set to hold the casing firmly to the face of the slide. And from the book on 1911 tuning I read you don't want the extractor to hold the casing firmly to the face of the slide. Instead it should be shaped with enough space between the face of the slide and the hook of the extractor that if you hold the casing in place on the slide that the extractor hook allows it to be just loose enough that the casing tilts slightly downwards so that the top of the back of the casing has maybe a .010 inch gap to the face of the slide. Of course in use the casing will not hang low like this. The chamber and the ejector along with the speed will ensure that it hangs in "space" for mere milliseconds or less as it clears the chamber mouth before contacting the ejector before being tossed out to the side.