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wanting to buy a 1911 for concealed


BeastieSSSC
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I really like how simple the 1911's are. Heck, it's a proven design that has been around for 100 years, and has been thru numerous wars. Let just say that JMB was a GENIUS!!!

You had me until that statement. Simple? Really? A weapon designed by committee to function at the lowest common factor using them is not simple. The numbers of manual safeties are just not necessary and certainly make them anything but simple. They are wonderful target shooters with triggers unequaled in the handgun world of semi-autos. They can be used as carry weapons successfully but there are way better choices.

Yes, I have carried a 1911 but once I was able to make the decision for myself about what to carry a 1911 went way down the list. I will purchase a 1911 someday for nostalgia reasons they are cool and sexy to look at but it will never be a carry weapon for me.

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You had me until that statement. Simple? Really? A weapon designed by committee to function at the lowest common factor using them is not simple. The numbers of manual safeties are just not necessary and certainly make them anything but simple. They are wonderful target shooters with triggers unequaled in the handgun world of semi-autos. They can be used as carry weapons successfully but there are way better choices.

Yes, I have carried a 1911 but once I was able to make the decision for myself about what to carry a 1911 went way down the list. I will purchase a 1911 someday for nostalgia reasons they are cool and sexy to look at but it will never be a carry weapon for me.

Simple yes, in every way. List any of the modern semi-auto firearm that can be completely field and detail strip w/o the use of a tool. Here are some of the ingenius things that JMB did:

1) One can use the rim of a 45ACP casing to take the grip screws out.

2) One can use a 45ACP casing as a temporary spring plug, incase the stock one went missing.

3) the hammer strut is used to drift out the mainspring housing pin.

4) the sear spring can be use to remove the mag catch lock.

Try to field strip and detail strip a glock or a M&P pistol with out the infamous glock tool or a punch. Yeah good luck with that. ;)

And Glock's Perfection...is on its FOURTH GENERATION. And there's a term call "Glock Leg" for a reason. You don't hear "1911 Leg."

Oh, yeah, that thumb safety is SO hard to train to flick it when drawing from a holster. :wtf:

If they're just great target shooter, then why is the FBI and other Special Ops team choose the 1911 as their side arm?

I'm not saying other semi-autos are subpar, just the fact that the 1911 has been around for 100 years is a testament to how great, simple and timeless the design is.

And not bashing your choice of carry weapon. You have your reason, and I have mine.

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Simple yes, in every way. List any of the modern semi-auto firearm that can be completely field and detail strip w/o the use of a tool. Here are some of the ingenius things that JMB did:

1) One can use the rim of a 45ACP casing to take the grip screws out.

2) One can use a 45ACP casing as a temporary spring plug, incase the stock one went missing.

3) the hammer strut is used to drift out the mainspring housing pin.

4) the sear spring can be use to remove the mag catch lock.

Try to field strip and detail strip a glock or a M&P pistol with out the infamous glock tool or a punch. Yeah good luck with that. ;)

And Glock's Perfection...is on its FOURTH GENERATION. And there's a term call "Glock Leg" for a reason. You don't hear "1911 Leg."

Oh, yeah, that thumb safety is SO hard to train to flick it when drawing from a holster. :wtf:

If they're just great target shooter, then why is the FBI and other Special Ops team choose the 1911 as their side arm?

I'm not saying other semi-autos are subpar, just the fact that the 1911 has been around for 100 years is a testament to how great, simple and timeless the design is.

And not bashing your choice of carry weapon. You have your reason, and I have mine.

Why are grips necessary? Thumbing a safety is an extra unnecessary step with a weapon that wasn't designed around bureaucracy requirements. I would venture to guess that if Browning didn't have the requirements given to him he would have made a much better weapon. A dependable reliable duty weapon doesn't need to be worked on or stripped to the extent a 1911 does. A Glock for example will function more accurately and dirtier than a 1911. The accurately statement changes when you get to match grade 1911s but their ability to handle a dirty environment is greatly diminished. The number of government agencies that choose a particular platform adds no weight to me for my decision making. Sigs and Glocks are better represented than 1911s but that doesn't mean they are a better platform. The new generations of Glocks are a tribute to their ability to change with what’s needed. None of us would want to drive a vehicle that was made in 1911 because we find ways to improve them just like pistol manufactures have been able to simplify and improve designs. I have had my hands on and worked on thousands of 1911s and seen their flaws and accuracy. I have had my hands on hundreds of other platforms and find them for me to be better weapons of choice for how I feel a weapon needs to be used.

I'm not bashing your choice but when you make a statement that a 1911 is simple you couldn't be more wrong when comparing them to other platforms.

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Why are grips necessary? Thumbing a safety is an extra unnecessary step with a weapon that wasn't designed around bureaucracy requirements. I would venture to guess that if Browning didn't have the requirements given to him he would have made a much better weapon. A dependable reliable duty weapon doesn't need to be worked on or stripped to the extent a 1911 does. A Glock for example will function more accurately and dirtier than a 1911. The accurately statement changes when you get to match grade 1911s but their ability to handle a dirty environment is greatly diminished. The number of government agencies that choose a particular platform adds no weight to me for my decision making. Sigs and Glocks are better represented than 1911s but that doesn't mean they are a better platform. The new generations of Glocks are a tribute to their ability to change with what’s needed. None of us would want to drive a vehicle that was made in 1911 because we find ways to improve them just like pistol manufactures have been able to simplify and improve designs. I have had my hands on and worked on thousands of 1911s and seen their flaws and accuracy. I have had my hands on hundreds of other platforms and find them for me to be better weapons of choice for how I feel a weapon needs to be used.

I'm not bashing your choice but when you make a statement that a 1911 is simple you couldn't be more wrong when comparing them to other platforms.

Why are grips necessary? They're not really on a 1911, since you can use it w/o grips. My point was that JMB had thought about the use of a rim casing to remove the grip screws. But then why are there different palm swells on the 4th gen Glock and M&P pistol?

Never said that one needs to field and/or detail strip their 1911's all the time to keep it working. For those that do are either ADD or have a bad 1911.

A Glock doesn't have the tight tolerance as some of the 1911's. Again, this is comparing it against ones that are built tight. And if you said you've handle many 1911's then you will know that the standard GI/Mil-Spec 1911's are pretty loose in production. The looser tolerance is to help with reliability when one is operating in the sandbox or jungle. And if the operator knows better, he/she wouldn't be taking a "match grade" 1911 into the field. And match grade 1911's were designed specifically for shooting in matches.

And your comparison of driving a 1911 car to the gun is completely irrelevant. Cars have way more complex parts than the 1911. Every try to change the sear on an M&P w/o any tools? Way to improve and simply.

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I hate the way a Glock looks and feels in my hand but it will shoot more accurately than a field grade 1911 and run dirtier. My opposition to a 1911 is in its weight and complexity to deploy with all of the extra parts it has that can fail. It is not hard to train to the 1911 manual of arms but in a high stress situation you shouldn't need to release a stupid safety and they generally have a small capacity.

While my analogy has its flaws because you are correct that modern cars are more complex than older cars so working on them is harder but it holds solid on other parts. General operation is much simpler and safer for the masses. I don't really care how hard they are to work on, that is not what a user needs to worry themselves over. Pick it up, pull the trigger and it goes bang. Real simple and way safer than the overly complex 1911, this is an improvement that has been made over time. We don’t have to crank our cars to start them or shift gears; we are much better protected from the elements. We are capable of doing these things for ourselves but they over complicate the user interface.

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I hate the way a Glock looks and feels in my hand but it will shoot more accurately than a field grade 1911 and run dirtier. My opposition to a 1911 is in its weight and complexity to deploy with all of the extra parts it has that can fail. It is not hard to train to the 1911 manual of arms but in a high stress situation you shouldn't need to release a stupid safety and they generally have a small capacity.

While my analogy has its flaws because you are correct that modern cars are more complex than older cars so working on them is harder but it holds solid on other parts. General operation is much simpler and safer for the masses. I don't really care how hard they are to work on, that is not what a user needs to worry themselves over. Pick it up, pull the trigger and it goes bang. Real simple and way safer than the overly complex 1911, this is an improvement that has been made over time. We don’t have to crank our cars to start them or shift gears; we are much better protected from the elements. We are capable of doing these things for ourselves but they over complicate the user interface.

Accurate is all relative. Are we talking about grouping 5-rounds within a 3-inch circle at 25 yards from a rest or off hand? Or just center mass at 25 yards? I mean, it's a pointless discussion. If one can do the former, it can do the latter. At any rate, my SA Mil-Spec doesn't have a problem with either situation.

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And if one is to own and shoot a gun, they should be train and know their firearm, period. Regardless if it's a revolver to a semi-auto. And they should be proficient with it. And it's not a toy. I can draw and fire my 1911 just as fast and proficient as my M&P or Glock. And I know all will hit center mass.

As I've said before, there's a reason why the term "Glock Leg" is around for a reason.

Anything mechanical can fail. Small parts that can fail? One of the main thing that's known to fail, from usage, is the internal extractor. But not from breakage, just from lost of tension. The fix is to remove it, and apply some force to bend it to add more tension.

Small capacity? You mean you can't get the job done with 7+1 of 45ACP? Hummm. But then, any reasonable person that carries should always carry a spare mag or two. Good luck to those that likes to have a gun w/ hi-cap mag, but doesn't carry a spare. We'll see what happens when there's a jam in the mag or an issue with the mag. Hopes the bad guy will wait for you to solve your issue. Anyway, I think I'll be OK with my 15 rounds of 45ACP.

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I am still confused as to the hatred some people have for the 1911. I have always found the design to be super simple compared to other guns, both old and new. Heck try taking apart a Mauser or Luger pistol from the same era, they are like working on a jigsaw puzzle.

On the cleaning thing, why so hard? Of the 8 handguns I currently have the 1911 is the easiest to work with and takes the least amount of time to clean. You rack the slide, turn the gun upside down and clean inside the barrel. Close the slide and strip the slide off the lower frame and spray out the inside with CLP or your preferred aerosol cleaner. Reassemble slide to frame and you are done in under 5 minutes. No fuss, no hassle. As for the detailed stripping thing and this is the gods honest truth. I have had my 1911 since new when I purchased it in 1999 and up until January of this year I had never detail stripped the gun. 12 years and well over 15 thousand rounds of ammo and there was no need to remove the grip safety and clean inside the backstrap of the pistol. Even still, the only reason I took it apart is because I was going to be field stripping a WWI GI 1911 and wanted to be sure I could do it without scratching or damaging anything. With normal use and care you may never see inside that part of your gun.

I find the trigger on my 1911 to be one of the best of any handgun I own. The trigger pull is light and crisp. It has a total travel of .1 inch and it breaks with only .05 inch of movement. It is repeatable and consistent with a very fast reset and short pull. Obviously trigger dynamics are personal preference, some people enjoy long drawn out trigger pulls. You can't fault a handgun for a trigger when the only way to quantify it is by personal preference. Let the prospective buyer fire one and make their own choice. I had a Beretta Neos pistol with what I felt was the worst trigger I had ever felt on a handgun yet I don't knock that pistol because it was also one of the most accurate and cool looking .22's I had ever owned.

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Having a discussion with a 1911 fan boy is like having a discussion with a democrat. They like to divert the discussion to irrelevant topics to help support their assumptions. I have watched many debates on this topic and should have known better than to get started with a discussion. I carried a 1911 for four years as a duty weapon and would never think of carrying one today because of the superior options we have available to us now. In fact if revolvers had more capacity than a 1911 in the same size package I would choose that option over the 1911. If government usage is a marker for a great platform why haven’t you 1911 fan boys switched over to the M9s? Don’t answer that it is a rhetorical question.

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Having a discussion with a 1911 fan boy is like having a discussion with a democrat. They like to divert the discussion to irrelevant topics to help support their assumptions. I have watched many debates on this topic and should have known better than to get started with a discussion. I carried a 1911 for four years as a duty weapon and would never think of carrying one today because of the superior options we have available to us now. In fact if revolvers had more capacity than a 1911 in the same size package I would choose that option over the 1911. If government usage is a marker for a great platform why haven’t you 1911 fan boys switched over to the M9s? Don’t answer that it is a rhetorical question.

I carry the emp because the wife bought it for me, I really wanted an xd45 compact or a 40 subcompact. The shop got this gun in from an estate at a great price so she got it. I am not sold on 1911 as the only option. I don't use my emp for my night stand gun because in the middle of the night I don't want to have the safety to fiddle with when I am half asleep. I keep the xdm 40 on the nightstand and a remington 12 gauge next to it. The wifes Sig Pro is in the jewelry drawer and her 12 gauge is in the bedroom closet overhead! Currently my new FNH FNP 45 is between the nighstand and bed in its case because I was playing with it.

My house is the last place a criminal wants to break into LOL!

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