Thinking 1911

[Graves]

3-5k rds?? I guess my cdp expired over 12k rds ago lol.

[coop68]

3-5k rds?? I guess my cdp expired over 12k rds ago lol.

Like i said, just what i herd idk. Based on your post im guess the guy had a lemon or a bad experince and is leaving out the details of what really happend im just saying i herd things too, but it dident stop me from buying a kimber. other than that i love my kimber i plan to buy another!

Thanks for cleaning up that rummor graves! for the guy who started the thread the best of luck on getting a 1911.

[SA Friday]

In 1911/2011's, you get what you pay for. It's really that simple.

1911s with lots of crappy MIM parts bad. 1911s with little to no MIM parts good.

Save your self some future headaches and don't get an ambi-thumb safety on your first 1911, and I would recommend you get a 4 or 5" first.

Bull barrel vs bushing is a difference of weight in the nose of the gun and nothing to do with accuracy or reliability.

The beavertail on the gun does make a difference. Get a high ride beavertail that is fit to the gun. Any other beavertail/grip safety sucks ass.

Everything else is optional and personal preference.

[Graves]

1911s with lots of crappy MIM parts bad. 1911s with little to no MIM parts good.

Although true from a quality stand point, I've seen as many non-mim parts break as I have mim. Now if you're talking hammer/sear/disco. then yeah these are the way to go, especially if you want a nice trigger job to hold. If you plan on going with a nice starter 1911 then there is nothing wrong with going with a mim built gun. If you think you may want to turn it into something it's not by going all non mim later down the road then save yourself some trouble and just buy a nice 1911 the way you want it.

[Irving]

mim? I'd look it up, but I think I'd have a hard time finding anything by searching out of context.

[BPTactical]

mim? I'd look it up, but I think I'd have a hard time finding anything by searching out of context.

Metal Injected Molding.
High quality and close tolerance parts can be manufactured using the MIM process quickly and cheaply.
The problem is, as with any cast part you can get inclusions and other flaws in the casting.
The basic difference between MIM and say investment casting is that with MIM the part is cast with metal powder under pressure and there is a polymer binder in the mix.
Investment casting is with relativlely pure alloys under no pressure-gravity fed molds.

http://www.flomet.com/MIM.asp

MIM works great from a manufactures standpoint. Lots of intricate parts fast with minimal clean up work.
Great for your RC car or blender.
From a firearms point of view not so great.
I scrap MIM parts and in a 1911 only use Ed Brown Hardcore parts. They are machined from tool steel bar stock and I have yet to have a Ed Brown part fail.
I have seen Wilson, Cylinder & Slide and Nighthawk components fail.
If one of my customers is depending on their firearm in a critical situation, failure is not an option

[Irving]

Thanks for the great explanation!

[Birddog1911]

I'm partial to Colt, myself. Hard to go wrong with the original, and they finally realized that they missed the boat on producing pistols with the features that shooters wanted. Kimber, Springfield, and everyone else was making a killing, and Colt came to their senses. Look at their lineup. I picked up my Combat Elite for the same price range as most Kimbers go for, or even less.

You have a lot of research to do. Don't listen to the glock fanboy 1911 haters, they can be perfectly reliable; they just require a higher learning curve. Another thing to keep in mind was that service pistols were perfectly reliable...1911s only became unreliable when we started putting all of that crap on them! Many experienced 1911 owners and carriers went back to a standard guide rod and plunger over full length guide rods...because they're more reliable in many cases.

[Marlin]

I had a plain Jane Springfield.. Wish I hadn't let that one go...

[cowboykjohnson]

Have an older Kimber ultra cdp II with the external extractor and a colt combat elite series 80, the colt is a pile of junk in comparison to the kimber. I have shot more than 4000 rounds through each and the kimber has never had a problem. The colt didn't want to feed anything other than fmjs untill I polished the feed ramp and matched it to the barrel. I do like the colt since it was a graduation gift from my father but I would pick the kimber anyday.