1911 Pistols: Myth vs Reality And My Experience

[Bailey Guns]

I'm a 1911 fanboy. I love them for a lot of reasons, especially Colts and Kimbers. I still occasionally CCW a Kimber Aegis II 9MM.

My experiences with 1911 pistols seem to be at odds with the experiences of others. I've had very few that were not near 100% reliable out of the box. I've carried them on duty, trained with them (including multi-day classes) and shot them recreationally(?), a lot. As a matter of fact, I've probably owned 50+ 1911 pistols and I've had two that I just couldn't get to work. On the other hand, I've probably owned 15 or 20 Glock pistols and had 1 (a fairly early G21) that would not work in cold weather.

I've heard people say you have to spend $500 or more in gunsmithing work to make a 1911 reliable. Not my experience at all. I've never needed a gunsmith to work on any 1911 (not counting the two Baers) except for staking the front night sight on to a Colt. That's it. They've always functioned as well as any other gun I've owned right out of the box...and they were more accurate than most.

Five 1911 pistols are in my safe now. Two Colts and three Kimbers. Kimbers really seem to take more than their share of hatin' from gun guys. I don't know why that is. I've heard rumors (most of which weren't true...such as their MIM parts are made in China) and horror stories. I've never seen anything of the sort myself. I sold thousands of Kimbers through my store and I NEVER had an unhappy customer or a complaint about the gun. Most Kimber customers returned to buy another...and another. I did have two Kimbers I didn't really like to shoot...but not because they didn't work. Both were SIS models, a Custom and a Pro. The finish was just too slick and I couldn't operate the gun as I'd like on the range because my hands would frequently slip off the slide while reloading, doing malfunction drills, etc. The gun functioned flawlessly other than that.

One Kimber, an early Warrior model, never malfunctioned for me over several thousand rounds (I'd guess about 7). I'd also guess that at least half of that was with Wolf ammo. It was far more accurate than I could ever shoot, too. I wound up giving that gun to my son and as I far as I know it's still 100% reliable.

MIM parts also seem to be a sore spot for a lot of people. I'm no expert on metallurgy. But I do know MIM is used in manufacturing by almost all gun makers and for many other industries. I've never had a problem with a MIM part despite all the horror stories I've heard.

I've also never experienced a significant problem with any of the numerous Commander or Officer-sized 1911 pistols I've owned from Colt, Kimber or Springfield, despite their reputation as unreliable. I had one customer who bought a Springfield Micro. Constant FTE stoppages when he fired it. I could not duplicate the problem when I fired it and I couldn't see any obvious issue with his technique. He was a highly experienced Glock shooter and could not shoot that gun. I bought it from him and carried/shot it for months without an issue.

And I just love Colt 1911 pistols. By far my favorite, admittedly for nostalgic reasons. In my opinion it is THE epitome of an American legend in terms of pistols.

Not trying to start a war with this lengthy post, just curious what your experiences have been with 1911s.

[pdr240]

Used Colt Commander that I "fought" with for about a year before I realized the I was the problem ... never had a NIB one.

[trlcavscout]

I tried to like 1911's. My first was a Springfield, it was OK just took some work to feed HP's. Colts suck ass and I wouldnt take one if given to me, out of 3 new colt 1911's I bought new the cheapest one to make work was $275 at a gun smith I have never had a colt that worked right. I had a couple other brands that ranged from mild tweaking to sell that pos before it blows up. The best one was an old worn out kimber I bought, It looked like ass but it actually worked. 1911's are to heavy and to low capacity, not worth trying to make them work right.

[bryjcom]

I've had a Rock Island and a American Tactical(Both filipino imports) and have only had a few FTF with hollow point reloads. I'm no expert in the 1911 but I understand that hollowpoints can be tricky with the 1911.

For defensive loads I use Hornady critical defense. They feed like FMJs but expand better than hollowpoints.


Of all the ammo I've ran through them, 99% was FMJ and NEVER had a problem.

[MattR]

I had a Kimber that had an aluminun frame that was the biggest pos, every 2-3 rounds it failed. I had it worked on and tried different mags and ammo and finally just gave up. I had another Kimber in 10mm that I was going to by but made the guy let me shoot it first and it was the same thing. I had a Para double stack that wouldn't work either. I sent it back and they said it was good but the first mag had issues. I figured out the ejector on it was soft and had broken and replaced it with a Wilson and it ran great after that. My STI and Infinity both work great, they are .40's though. The Infinity broke an extractor once and that was the only issue it had.I've been thinking about a Sig Scorpion lately.

[hatidua]

I've had more 1911's than I can remember. The ONLY one that ever had a hiccup was a Colt Gunsite model. All of my Springfields, from the Milspec model up to the PRO model, and everything in between were as reliable as any firearm I've ever encountered. My Ed Brown's worked fine, the Wilsons were fine, my Grandfathers' USGI Colt from 1918 ran perfectly with any ammo. I exited the platform less than a year ago as I couldn't justify the cost of .45 over 9mm but I have fond memories of my various 1911's

From anecdotal evidence, it seems they are more prone to limp-wristing issues than other guns but I've not experienced that aspect myself.

[stevelkinevil]

I've had 4 Spring fields, 2 Colts, and one Kimber. All the Springfields ran like Champs and I carried one on duty for 9 years. The Colts reqired a little break-in but ran great after a couple boxes. The Kimber OTH never would run even after a visit back to the factory.

[Fentonite]

Kimber Ultra Carry: out of box needed ~100 rds to feed reliably. Then it wouldn't lock back on empty, so Kimber replaced the slide catch. Perfect after that.

Colt 1991: initially had intermittent FTF. New recoil spring ---> perfect.

[ChadAmberg]

I've got a 1911 in 45 and one in 9mm. Love 'em both, never so much as a misfeed. Love shooting them more than my other guns.

[buffalobo]

Only been a fan of 1911's for about 10 yrs. Never owned a NIB but have had 5 used. The older they were the more reliable they were. Only one(newest of the bunch and 9mm) turned out to be POS and I lost $150 on it just to get rid of it(had to be honest and told buyer of the issues I had with it).

Will stick to older models that are not so pretty and rattle. Require accuracy and reliability first.