The 1911, Past and Present

lejarretnoir

lejarretnoir

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Been surfing the net and have come to this conclusion.

I've always been a 1911 advocate since a youngster. Drooled when I first owned a Colt Government model back in the 70's.
It shot and worked well back then as it should. Modifications then were gunsmith only and getting performance parts were not widespread knowledge.
Later bought an 80 Series Gold Cup when I could afford it. This gun proved to be an absolute disaster. Couldn't hit the broadside of a barn or finish an 8 round mag before jamming or FTE. After several trips to warranty the problem still existed and they even installed a standard Government barrel in it and passed that off. In the end Colt refunded my money. Walked away from 1911's, picked up and still own S&W revolvers.
Then I bought a Springfield Armory .38 Super Racegun in the early 90's when IPSC was the rage. This gun proved to be accurate, reliable and brought back my love for the 1911, but not Colt.
Later I bought a Norinco GM in .45ACP. This shot better than my Colt GM back in the 70's. Who would have thought that?

Now, I'm in a position to return to my Bullseye/PPC shooting days and am troubled by what I see on the net.
I'm interested in an STI, but have viewed too many YouTube vids and forum threads where "you'll need these mods" to your STI/Kimber or whatever in order to arrive at a proper functioning 1911. Do I really need to spend $4000 to get a custom done 1911 or spend $2000 and make mods to that 1911 to get it right.

I'm disillusioned by it all.
It seems that the 1911 platform, as good as Browning designed it, is very finicky when upgrading to match+ quality.

I'm not interested in fan boys [put name brand here] who say "yea mine shoots out of the box flawlessly". Lucky you!
That tells me nothing because the next guy, as I had problems will say different.

At this point, I may as well build my own 1911 match grade gun. At least I'll figure out what works and don't.

Your thoughts are welcome.
 
If you're looking at STI and assuming you are using good magazines and good ammo, it should run out of the box. Many of these guns puke when people try to "fix" them or run crap ammo and/or magazines.

For accuracy work, the most you would probably need is a trigger job, and that's only a maybe. Typical factory triggers are pretty heavy.

FWIW: an STI single stack in 9mm with Tripp mags is pretty hard to beat. They are tack drivers too.
 
Good response.
Trigger job I can do and single stack 9mm is what I'm after. Yes, range brass/bad reloads and magazines never work out well in match chambers..
I read that the Spartans are made by Armscor for STI, but all other makes are in house.
 
Yes, I believe that's true. There's nothing wrong with the Spartans I've seen though. They shoot just fine and at 9mm pressures, they will last forever. I believe the Spartan is slated to be discontinued in 2015 however, so if you're looking for new you might want to check with Freedom Ventures and see if there's any stock.

BTW: my IPSC race guns are wide body STI's. They run.
 
I just got a Spartan IV (lightly used, supposedly). It feels pretty substantial with that 9mm bull barrel. The frame does say Armscor on it.

I use range find brass and a Lee Pro 1000 exclusively ;)

But I'm not competing. Even so, failures are a non-issue thus far.
 
Here's my new little single stack 9mm IPSC plinker. Not Tripp mags, but maybe a tiny bit better.


20150105_201930_zps34c26084.jpg
 
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Nice mags for the STI, dawson precision use metalform mags body, spring and follower, but have a nicecustom basepad that barely clears the box and a DP logo printed to the side ;)

OP, in my opinion, 90% of 1911s reliability has to do with mags.
If you want numbers to add to your stats, i have two 1911s
One in 9mm, STI ranger 2, was nose diving when i first got it, when i changed my mags from tripp to metalform problem was instantly cured, no tuning required, i have now shot 8-9K rounds in a row without ONE failure.
One in .40, STI trojan, this one did not collaborate well at first. Many tweaks and tunes later it was still nose diving 2-3% of the time. I had to finally trim the feedlips on the cobra mags (as advised by tripp) and since then i'm at 2000 rounds in a row without failure. But this one was finicky, many hours tuning i never thought i'd getting working right i was on the edge onf getting rid of at some point.
 
relliott said:
If you're looking at STI and assuming you are using good magazines and good ammo, it should run out of the box. Many of these guns puke when people try to "fix" them or run crap ammo and/or magazines.

For accuracy work, the most you would probably need is a trigger job, and that's only a maybe. Typical factory triggers are pretty heavy.

FWIW: an STI single stack in 9mm with Tripp mags is pretty hard to beat. They are tack drivers too.
Click to expand...

Can't argue with that.. Metalform in my nine worked great just wish there was a stainless available from STI
 
I own two STI RangeMaster in both 9 and .45 and use different brand's of mag's as well as factory and re-loaded ammo.They are very accurate and reliable..
 
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