Looking for a 1911 specialty forum for advice

This is my favorite place in the whole wide world M1911

And this is why RIA

Ivan and Ray from Armscor are the best there is They monitor the site and help or fix anything !!!!
I went with the Tactical model for $425 never had a problem..

And Phil is the guy to buy from if you can't find one local..

Phil 615-860-4212

 

What is your intentions for the 1911 ? Target, protection, collection or competition? I have researched for quite some time. I priced and shot all that I could get my hands on. What are you willing to spend? I am not saying to spend too much money, because even the Taurus (yes Taurus) has been pretty dang good at some ranges. The Colt (the Grandfather) can be another good choice. There is another issue of what modifications, if any, would you be doing ?

Give me a PM and I will send you some information and see what pistols are great for your needs. I couldn't afford a STI at this moment in my life, I mean WIFE. But found a custom Para for a price I couldn't pass up. I ended up still paying alot of money (compared to the Steyr), but parts are VERY readilly available, and have a good pistol that will perform at regional shoots well.

Give me a PM and I will give you a call if needed. I also spent a few extra dollars for the Dillon reloader that will allow me to save the costs of store bought rounds after about fifty five years of shooting.

Instead of PM-ing me, send me an email to: [email protected] and I will return your email within a few hours, MX.

Take Care,
MTS

 

Just for the record Armsor makes some of the STI guns The Spartan

Also the Charles Daly stuff

All I'm saying is don't over look RIA because of the name!!

They make great entry level G.I. 45 and nickel plated .38 supers all the way up yo hand made match grade pistols for a lot less than anyone else..

Call Ivan or Ray and tell them what you are looking for they will help you out..Advanced Tactical Firearms

Good luck....

 

Chilly, the best advice is to try out the different options before buying.

The 1911 is the '57 Chevy of pistols.
There is no right way, just your way.

HMM is right, go to a 1911 site and chat, see what you like.
http://forum.m1911.org/ is a good site.
http://forums.1911forum.com/ is a really good technical site, but the mods are Ban happy Nazis so watch it.

The only two bits of advice I'd give is to avoid the RIA. (sorry HMM)
For just a little more you can get a Springfield.

And if you can, get a Colt. Every collection needs one.
Current new roll marked Colt 1991s are gorgeous. Here's one :wink:

 

I agree, the Colt IS the original. You can build on it as you will. When I was doing my research, I went to places like Dawson Customs, etc. to research what pistol parts are available for what pistols.


MTS

 

Material: It's up to you! Stainless will most likely out last the rest.

Sights: Look for the Novak dove tail. Popular and lots of options..

Guide Rod: yes or none Well you'll have to have one. G.I. is the simplest to install. I like the full length on my RIA. Yup RIA :wink: I will say I have had bad luck with two piece guide rods coming lose so I wont use them.

Barrel Length: 4", 4.25", 5", 6" or ??? Thats up to you but if you go .45 acp the shorter the more felt recoil..

Feed Ramp: Part of Frame or Barrel or ??? On this the original Colt set up is in the frame. Not a prob a little rub with some fine grit paper will fix you up.

Trigger: I like this one you can set the take up with the little ears.Fusion

Hammer: Spur or ??? This will depend on the type of grip safety you go with. I like the beaver tail so yes..

Grip: Bobtailed or ??? Up to you

Front strap: checkered, plain or ??? I like rubber finger grooves Pearce

Backstrap: checkered, plain or ??? I like the arched mainspring housing I found a rubber Pachmayr

Magazine: Single or Double Stack or ??? Double stack is WAAYYYYYY to big for my hands.


I Have to say to all those who say spend more for a name good luck.. RIA will fix anything in no time. Life time warranty. Springer G.I. $500 a RIA $350 thats more than a little to me. I never did try to price a COLT STI and so on with all the options I got for $425 I could send it out and have it nickle plated and still save a mint.

Anyway look into every company you can!!!!

Good luck....

 

LOL not ok :lol: :lol: :lol:

As for what it is made out of it is not as important as the warranty to me.. What I mean is if my cheap o Rock Island cracks the frame after 10,000 flawless rounds and they give me a new one and re tune the internals or if they send me a whole new gun I'm cool with that.

Stuff like crappy triggers and tuning extractors will happen. 1911's like to be tuned.

From all the time I have spent on M1911 it seems to me that there are more happy folks with cheap RIA'S than high end guns.

 

The Colt is SWEET!!!!

So is this..


$389 at Sarco

Well you have to get the grips :roll:

 

MTS

I'M a proud member over there as well

Just don't like RIA listed as other :lol: :lol:

Where did the post go????

Oh well over there

 

Don't worry about today's high tech castings, they are actually stronger than forgings from the early/mid `90s on back.
Yup, with todays metallurgy computer controlled, castings can be stronger than a forged WWII 1911.
Which was literally checked by eye with a prism and spectrograph.
RIA is sand cast, weaker than forging, but they have good QC (more computer help).

Kimber is the standard buy which all the "Band X" (not a Colt) 1911s are judged.
The result is they are over priced for what you get, as you noticed.

Taurus had some problems with their frames and slides being out of spec, making fitting of after market parts difficult to impossible. They may have fixed it. If you really want one, be sure to buy a new one, not old stock.

Para LDA is not know for it's durability.
All other Paras are hit or miss in the QC department.

Alloy VS Steel.
Col. Cooper said it best. " Alloy for carry, Steel for Shooting ".
Which do you plan to do the most with your 1911?

There are 4 major brands and two used 1911s I'd recommend in this order:
Colt
Dan Wesson (hard to find, quality is astounding)
Springfield
Kimber

I'd buy one of these used before most other stuff new.

Speaking of used:
Argentine surplus 1911A1 ( Made on actual Colt tooling, getting scarce, but can still be had)
Norinco (very hard to find these days thanks to billy boys executive order ban)

 

1911s can be a lot of fun. They are super easy to carry and you can get a great, great trigger.

I have two, a Para Ordnance LTC and a Sistema Colt.

The Para Ord is a great gun, commander sized, alloy frame, power extractor and well built. I will be working on this as the next project, just fitting it to my taste.



The Sistema though.....well, it's another animal. Originally from 1945, the original slide cracked and was replaced with a Colt slide. I'm just about finished with this project. Well, by me, I mean my 'smith, all I do is write checks for it. The out word appearance of the gun is Mil Spec. Nothing fancy at all, however, all the internals.....well....heh. Hand fit barrel, bushing, slide to frame fit hand lapped, slide to frame blend, ejection port lowering, Wilson Bulletproof internals, blah blah blah.....







This is a good way to sink about $2,000.00 into a pistol. I did it because it was my Dad's. There are much better deals to have just to get into 1911's.

The STI Spartan is a super, super buy on the market right now. While there are a few MIM parts in the gun, the important parts are still STI tool steel parts. Don't be too afraid of the MIM parts, there are a WHOLE lot of guns out there that are completely MIM that people will argue aren't, like Kimber.

Go look and play. 1911's are as bad as AR's.....or well AK's in my eyes.

 

Took an old rollmark Colt 1991-A1 I paid about $480 for in the the mid-'90s, added a Wilson ss target bushing, EGW ss enhanced slide stop, Wilson ss one-piece guide rod, and Wolff 32 lb. recoil spring, and Wilson 8-round mags. I now have a gun that can shoot everything from standard .45 ACP to 45 Super with no changes.