Any 1911 aficionados here?

shooterrdy · Dec 21, 2024

Dan Wesson is the best 1911 for the money out of the box until you have Custom shop money- Wilson, Night Hawk, etc.
got a 9mm DW Specialist currently had the .45 and a couple others
All were great. ordered in a new all black TRP and wasn’t impressed so didn’t take it.

kthomas · Dec 21, 2024

shooterrdy said:
Dan Wesson is the best 1911 for the money out of the box until you have Custom shop money- Wilson, Night Hawk, etc.
got a 9mm DW Specialist currently had the .45 and a couple others
All were great. ordered in a new all black TRP and wasn’t impressed so didn’t take it.

I love my DW Valor. It's my first, and so far only, 1911.

Jefe's Dope · Dec 21, 2024

stanley_white said:
Any reliability concerns with the Dan Wesson models that have ramped barrels?

-Stan

My DW ECO .45 has been the most reliable gun I've owned. Including rifles. Never once has it failed to fire, eject or stove pipe.

The ECO wears tritium night sights with our tactical ledge sight on the rear of our lightweight 3.5” slide. The barrel is a flush-cut ramped bull barrel with target crown rather than the traditional barrel and barrel bushing. This makes the gun slightly more compact and easier to disassemble. The recoil system is quite unique for this style of 1911 as we use a solid, one piece guide rod and a flat recoil spring that is rated for 15,000 rounds in .45 ACP. That is 15,000 rounds! Not 500 rounds like most 1911 dual recoil systems are rated for. This is unheard of in a production 1911! This recoil system also gives the benefit of a smooth slide for easier operation and less felt recoil.

I preordered mine and got #36.

diggler1833 · Dec 21, 2024

kthomas said:
I love my DW Valor. It's my first, and so far only, 1911.

Those pistols are 90% of a good semi-custom's quality (Ed Brown, Wilson Combat etc... etc...) at 60% the price. They don't have the final finishing and blending touches (or options), but they are extremely good for the money.

The Valor is an awesome 1911. I don't own one, but I do have a Specialist (and Ed Brown, Wilson Combat etc... etc...).

Hope you get many good years out of yours.

JoshPutman · Dec 21, 2024

I have two Colts. The 1991A1 in .45 was bought new in 1994, and the Gold Cup Trophy in 22lr was the prize in a shooting competition at my local range, which I won using the .45

.

The .45 has had some improvements over the years, and has been my main carry gun for over a decade now. It even has the obligatory idiot scratch from before I knew what I was doing.

RTH1800 · Dec 21, 2024

For range gun with super accuracy get a Baer 6” with the 1.5” guaranty.
For carry get an alloy frame officers model. Wilson seems best to my hands and eyes.
I carry a vintage USGI 1911 from 1917. It does what I need.
Gamers and competition shooters bad mouth them. But, they were not designed for games or competition. That is the realm of plastic.

Jefe's Dope · Dec 21, 2024

kthomas said:
I love my DW Valor. It's my first, and so far only, 1911.

Love my VBob.

DM1975 · Dec 21, 2024

I’ve had my TRP for about 18 years now and love it. Never a problem out of it and I have shot thousands of rounds through it. I have a Springfield Marine Corps Operator (original version) and a Champion Operator LW as well and they’re nice but I really like the TRP.

Jigstick · Jan 14, 2025

Living in western PA I decided to make a phone call to Cabot. Oh boy down the rabbit hole I go. The Cabot Nero and Standard look really really nice.

deltawiskey · Jan 14, 2025

Jigstick said:
Living in western PA I decided to make a phone call to Cabot. Oh boy down the rabbit hole I go. The Cabot Nero and Standard look really really nice.

If you like Cabot, check out Alchemy Custom Weaponry... they are a sister company to Cabot:

Home - Alchemy Custom Weaponry

OUR PISTOLS Badass 1911s Alchemy Custom Weaponry was founded by Master Gunsmith Rob Schauland in 2011 as a classic custom 1911 shop that would perform traditional upgrades to other manufacturers' guns at the request of customers. When Cabot Guns hired Mr. Schauland in 2016, they worked together...

alchemy1911.com

They have some really nice 1911's

oldrifleman · Jan 14, 2025

Jefe's Dope said:
Love my VBob.

View attachment 8574692

Mine is stainless, great shooter and nice to carry

skyrep · Jan 14, 2025

DW ECO in .45 ACP and an DW ECP in 9mm

Mute · Jan 14, 2025

Long time 1911 guy, though I am moving to 2011 now. This is one of my daily carry guns.

tlsmith22 · Jan 14, 2025

How y’all guys like the ECO? Those look sweet to me, not a bobtail fan but the standard grips look great to me.

stanley_white · Jan 15, 2025

I just acquired a Dan Wesson Specialist Commander in stainless steel.

I quite like it.

I did swap out the rear sight for a Heine model that looks the same but lacks the dot the factory one had and installed the Ed Brown flat wire spring kit with guide rod.

The Ed Brown kit still lets you disassemble and press check as if you ran a two piece system, which is nice.

The VZ grips were replaced by a MagPul model and the ambidextrous thumb safety will soon be replaced by a strong side only Extreme Service Thumb Safety from Harrison Designs.

I forgot how fun 1911s are.

-Stan

Jigstick · Jan 15, 2025

Dam those Alchemy models are sexy. I definitely dig the more classic styling. They are also local to me.

diggler1833 · Jan 15, 2025

I will eventually have to break down and get an Alchemy. About three years ago I emailed with a question regarding trying to get a specific serial number (about 300 ahead of what they were shipping), and I got a response from Nick Morrow.

I guess it was typical Nick personality, but the lack of professionalism caught me off guard. I wasn't harmed in any way

, I just wasn't going to drop $4,500 after that and hope I never had a problem and had to deal with him again. So I put my money into another Wilson.

At some point I may see a Prime Elite in hard chrome, second hand somewhere and I'll be sure to snatch it up. However the fact that so few ACWs pop up for resale (as compared to others) probably says a lot about the great quality they are.

diggler1833 · Jan 15, 2025

I've had some cross cut mammoth ivory grips sitting in the McAlester OK, UPS hub for 6 days now "due to a significant weather event". Roads have been clear for 4 days. Not going to lie, I'm getting a bit impatient.

I picked up the habit from my father, who would lay on the couch and hold a handgun for hours while he watched television after he came home from work. There's something about the feel of ivory that just "feels right". It's not as good as holding onto a tiddy, but my wife is less accommodating than one of my 1911s is...

stanley_white · Jan 15, 2025

diggler1833 said:
I've had some cross cut mammoth ivory grips sitting in the McAlester OK, UPS hub for 6 days now "due to a significant weather event". Roads have been clear for 4 days. Not going to lie, I'm getting a bit impatient.

I picked up the habit from my father, who would lay on the couch and hold a handgun for hours while he watched television after he came home from work. There's something about the feel of ivory that just "feels right". It's not as good as holding onto a tiddy, but my wife is less accommodating than one of my 1911s is...

I understand that ivory was used in earlier years due to its weight helping absorb recoil.

-Stan

diggler1833 · Jan 15, 2025

stanley_white said:
I understand that ivory was used in earlier years due to its weight helping absorb recoil.

-Stan

To be honest, I don't know. It does have its own unique feel though, and it's expensive AF...which is why some dudes get it (just to show off). I think we see a bit of this in the AI photo thread too

. It's where we get ribbed a bit for running Razor G3s and MK5s.

I'm at the point in my life where I basically have to sell something in order to have room to buy something. So I'd rather save up and buy less often than have to be constantly looking at what I have to get rid of next. I also don't want to buy something expensive just because it is expensive.

FWIW, I like stag grips too and they're less painful to purchase. Lately the good quality ones have dried up, so I've bought a couple pair of elk antler ones. If you haven't tried a pair of those, they're a good way to test to see if you'd like the more exotic stuff without putting too much into them.

LuckyDuck · Jan 15, 2025

tlsmith22 said:
How y’all guys like the ECO? Those look sweet to me, not a bobtail fan but the standard grips look great to me.

Big fan of the ECO, in my opinion it was amongst the best/most reliable officer sized 1911's available for a production pistol of that configuration.

-LD

LuckyDuck · Jan 15, 2025

I thought this video was rather neat seeing the old equipment and that it may be of some interest to this thread. I'll spare you from having to figure it out for yourself- unless you just absolutely love the classical music, you can keep the volume muted and keep listening to whatever you are without missing anything in the video.

-LD

Jerry m · Jan 15, 2025

Mute said:
Long time 1911 guy, though I am moving to 2011 now. This is one of my daily carry guns.

View attachment 8592210

Mute
What mount are you using on this pistol?

mi650 · Thursday at 12:55 PM

I've had all kinds of 1911s over the years,, but I guess you could call me a Wilson fan. (The yellow Sentinel is my wifes.)

I'm really liking the Ed Brown I got about a year ago.

oldrifleman · Thursday at 1:18 PM

mi650 said:
I've had all kinds of 1911s over the years,, but I guess you could call me a Wilson fan. (The yellow Sentinel is my wifes.)

I'm really liking the Ed Brown I got about a year ago.

Wilson Fan here as well, nice set. I need to get a family portrait of mine. Mine are mostly 1911s but I am picking up my second X9 Saturday from State sponsored jail.

azbiker · Thursday at 1:52 PM

These are our 1911 based guns. Some are my wife's as she shoots also. We have other handguns, including revolvers, but are fans of the 1911.

ut755ln · Thursday at 4:35 PM

I am an owner of a gun store and shooting range. This is anecdotal experience so take it for what it is worth. 1911s that have really tight clearances are in my opinion more problematic than 1911s with looser clearances. We have more problems (every conceivable kind of problem) from pistols with extremely tight clearances. Our current champion 1911 in terms of number of rounds fired through it is a model 70 Colt. It is easy to maintain, it is easy to break down and it just works. The paperwork on it says we are approaching 200k rounds through it. We have replaced the mainspring a couple of times and the slide stop at least twice. It just works.

We have a Les Baer in the rental fleet and in every way it looks better than the Colt. It shoots a tighter group, it has better fit and finish. It also was a giant pain in the dick to keep operational. It took something between 6 to 8k rounds to finally break in. We have to break the pistol down to clean it in order to keep it running with much higher frequency than the Model 70. It absolutely is more accurate and looks better.

Mumzergadol · Thursday at 4:54 PM

The Dan Wesson specialist is a great gun. Fitted well, good tool steel fire control parts and nice features. Punches way above it's price

Mute · Thursday at 5:55 PM

Jerry m said:
Mute
What mount are you using on this pistol?

The optics cut is a Nighthawk IOS.

Cascade Hemi · Thursday at 9:16 PM

ut755ln said:
I am an owner of a gun store and shooting range. This is anecdotal experience so take it for what it is worth. 1911s that have really tight clearances are in my opinion more problematic than 1911s with looser clearances. We have more problems (every conceivable kind of problem) from pistols with extremely tight clearances. Our current champion 1911 in terms of number of rounds fired through it is a model 70 Colt. It is easy to maintain, it is easy to break down and it just works. The paperwork on it says we are approaching 200k rounds through it. We have replaced the mainspring a couple of times and the slide stop at least twice. It just works.

We have a Les Baer in the rental fleet and in every way it looks better than the Colt. It shoots a tighter group, it has better fit and finish. It also was a giant pain in the dick to keep operational. It took something between 6 to 8k rounds to finally break in. We have to break the pistol down to clean it in order to keep it running with much higher frequency than the Model 70. It absolutely is more accurate and looks better.

I had a Les Baer SRP. Out of the box I had to press the slide against a table with my body weight to get it out of battery. It never ran right and never loosened up. I asked Les at SHOT one year if my gun was defective, he said that was how it was supposed to be. I told him it was the nicest looking piece of shit I've ever owned. He didn't like what I had to say and walked away. The display guns were just as tight.

Edit: It's been a long time is was an SRP, not Special Forces

oldrifleman · Thursday at 9:22 PM

Cascade Hemi said:
I had a Les Baer Special Forces. Out of the box I had to press the slide against a table with my body weight to get it out of battery. It never ran right and never loosened up. I asked Les at SHOT one year if my gun was defective, he said that was how it was supposed to be. I told him it was the nicest looking piece of shit I've ever owned. He didn't like what I had to say and walked away. The display guns were just as tight.

That was what always kept me from buying one. I kept hearing 500-1000 rounds to loosen it up, but others said that even after it “loosened up it was still a workout to cycle the thing, I said no way. Stayed with Colt, Dan Wesson and Wilson.

diggler1833 · Thursday at 9:29 PM

FWIW my Baer has less than 500 rounds still, but has been 100% reliable so far. They aren't quite as refined as a lot of other semi-customs, but they are hard fit and shoot just as accurately as anything out there. When you could get them for under $2,500 for most models, they were hard to beat for the money.

I had a couple photos of my Ed Brown wearing my new SK grips mammoth ivory...but I'm not sold on how they look on that pistol. Chances are that they end up on something else by the weekend.

ut755ln · Thursday at 11:14 PM

Cascade Hemi said:
I had a Les Baer SRP. Out of the box I had to press the slide against a table with my body weight to get it out of battery. It never ran right and never loosened up. I asked Les at SHOT one year if my gun was defective, he said that was how it was supposed to be. I told him it was the nicest looking piece of shit I've ever owned. He didn't like what I had to say and walked away. The display guns were just as tight.

Edit: It's been a long time is was an SRP, not Special Forces

On our rental gun, we followed the directions and went to break it down and clean it at around the 1k round count. It comes with a bushing tool made out of some kind of plastic and the freaking thing broke trying to take the gun apart. I feel your pain

Jpducks · Friday at 8:52 AM

Get yourself a Springfield Garrison,its a great platform to learn on,trust me your going to want to change things on your 1911.you will be able to learn about tunning your extractor ,main spring tensions ,magazine tunning its a very forgiving model and if you screw it up Springfield has top notch customer service.Good luck with what ever you decide on plenty of guys here to help you.

diggler1833 · 2025-01-22T09:35:28-0500

A little WC in 10mm love.

308pirate · 2025-01-22T09:54:47-0500

JR1200W3 said:
Dude. Shut the fuck up. You are absolutely insufferable on every thread you participate in. You are not God's gift to guns. The world does not operate in your opinion. You don't like 1911's? GTFO of the 1911 thread. Simple enough? Say, Yes Sir and move the fuck out

Go lose weight somewhere.

Since this got resurrected, kiss my ass.

I was asked for an opinion and I gave it. I don't give a fuck if you or anyone else likes it or not.

I'll be here for as long as I like.

Varmint-Hunter · 2025-01-22T12:41:05-0500

Skeptic1 said:
Dan Wesson is much mo betta than Sprungfield.

I second this, I have a DW 1911 and i absolutely love it.

Deepwoods · 2025-01-22T13:27:30-0500

oldrifleman said:
That was what always kept me from buying one. I kept hearing 500-1000 rounds to loosen it up, but others said that even after it “loosened up it was still a workout to cycle the thing, I said no way. Stayed with Colt, Dan Wesson and Wilson.

My LB was my first "fancy" 1911. It took over 700 rounds to break in. Until then, it had some kind of issue almost every magazine. That said, it *did* break in; I would not use the phrase "loosen up" because it still feels like it was made out of a single piece of steel.

For a while it was my single stack IDPA gun, and during one range outing, 3 shooters put about 400 rounds through in about 15 minutes and it ran flawlessly. I know thats an example of one gun at one point, but I was still impressed.

The bluing is nice, but maybe not the best (it's my only blued gun), and I wouldn't call the finish of the tool marks great.

But for a traditional 1911, Ive always... post break-in been happy with it

oldrifleman · 2025-01-22T13:35:06-0500

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