Compact 1911s, reliable or not?

[RankAmateur]

You really need a Guncrafter.

@oldag: I really NEED a lot of things. A Guncrafter is just ONE of them

Honestly, I love the 1911/2011. IF I pick up another one (who's kidding who here?), I might just cut myself off from collecting other firearms for a while and splurge on a truly hand-fitted custom pistol from someone like Business End Customs, or Derr Precision. Hopefully not at a price point where even I would just keep it behind glass to look at it. I shoot all of my guns, but some of these truly custom handmade pistols would probably make me hesitate (grin).

 

[Axxe55]

I have three different 1911's'. Springield Armory, Loaded Micro Compact 45 with a 3" barrel, round count in excess of 15K . A Metro Arms Commander with a 4.25" barrel, with a round count in excess of 8K. A Remington R1 Government model with the 5" barrel, with a round count in excess of 20K.

Wilson Combat, Chip McCormack and CM Products magazines are the only ones I own and use.

In all my shooting 1911's for over 35 years of owning them, magazines are the biggest factor in failures of a 1911 pistol. Most of those problems stem from people and even myself in the past buying cheap and surplus magazines. Second biggest factor are people thinking they are smarter or better than John Browning! They go around dicking with things so they can have a cool and fancy 1911. If you are not a 1911 pistolsmith. leave it the phuck alone. And there are very few REAL 1911 pistolsmiths around anymore. Want a cool and tricked out 1911? Buy one from one the custom 1911 builders and expect to fork out some serious money, because they ain't cheap.

 

[billtool]

A few get lemons in everything. Most get lemonade.
You hear about more lemonade than you do lemons.

I did have a Colt Officer model that I sold off as a result of unreliable HP feeding. Polished the ramp and still no bueno. Mag changes, no bueno. Think it was just a lemon. My Springfield commander size and Kimber compact in .45 run anything.

 

[V-Tach]

I've trusted these two as my only daily carry since 1996....

 

[oldag]

That's a good point. I went to the range with a friend and his wife, and they had a CZ 75 SP-01 they had just gotten her. Her first two mags were terrible. Jam every other round, I noticed though her grip was sub-optimal.

I take the gun, and run a full mag clean, no FTF or FTEs. It was literally the way it was being gripped causing all the issues.

I have tried to make a 1911 fail via a loose grip. Have held it as loosely as I can without having the gun fly out of my hand. Never could make it malfunction.

 

[Tnhawk]

I have traditional and not-so-traditional 1911-pattern pistols from Wilson, Nighthawk, Springfield Armory, Sig Sauer, Staccato, Dan Wesson, including government and commander sizes, 1911 and 2011 types, .45 ACP and 9mm, compensated and uncompensated versions. I have had NO issues with any of them other than 230gr FMJ .45 ACP rounds that nose dived in a couple of Sig mags (replacing the mags eliminated the issue). Ammo ranged from foreign-sourced 115gr 9mm FMJ through .45 JHP, and even honey badgers. Maybe I've been lucky, but haven't experienced the issues mentioned in that other forum

YMMV.

I have seen the articles printed in some gun rags, written by their 'experts'. My smallest 1911s are SA EMP and Kimber Ultra CDP II. I have had no issues with them. I also have compact and commander size 1911s. I have encountered no issues using 9mm, 40 or 45acp HP or FMJ ammo. I have seen faulty magazines that when replaced the pistol worked as designed. Again I'm not a writer paid to write reviews for magazines, I'm a gun owner who expects 100% reliability.
Your mileage may vary.

 

[billtool]

I have tried to make a 1911 fail via a loose grip. Have held it as loosely as I can without having the gun fly out of my hand. Never could make it malfunction.

My bride, aka Squirrel Paws, can make one fail, I assure you. We fixed her up with a full size M&P 2.0 w/thumb safety and she’s a regular pistolera.

 

[Sam7sf]

I had an Iver Johnson thrasher. No problems.

 

[billtool]

I had an Iver Johnson thrasher. No problems.

Cool. Have a pic?

 

[Tnhawk]

I have three different 1911's'. Springield Armory, Loaded Micro Compact 45 with a 3" barrel, round count in excess of 15K . A Metro Arms Commander with a 4.25" barrel, with a round count in excess of 8K. A Remington R1 Government model with the 5" barrel, with a round count in excess of 20K.

Wilson Combat, Chip McCormack and CM Products magazines are the only ones I own and use.

In all my shooting 1911's for over 35 years of owning them, magazines are the biggest factor in failures of a 1911 pistol. Most of those problems stem from people and even myself in the past buying cheap and surplus magazines. Second biggest factor are people thinking they are smarter or better than John Browning! They go around dicking with things so they can have a cool and fancy 1911. If you are not a 1911 pistolsmith. leave it the phuck alone. And there are very few REAL 1911 pistolsmiths around anymore. Want a cool and tricked out 1911? Buy one from one the custom 1911 builders and expect to fork out some serious money, because they ain't cheap.

I'm not convinced most can build a better gun than those who designed. I've seen a few pieces of junk which had been improved by bubbasmiths and dremel tools

 

[Grumps21]

A few get lemons in everything. Most get lemonade.
You hear about more lemonade than you do lemons.

Couldn’t have said it better.

 

[Axxe55]

I'm not convinced most can build a better gun than those who designed. I've seen a few pieces of junk which had been improved by bubbasmiths and dremel tools

As @Sasquatch said, the 1911 is not a really complicated pistol design, but too many That I have seen over the years have been made utterly useless by idiots that "thought" they were gunsmiths.

I can't tell you the number of idiots that have bought a 1911, and start asking what modifications they need to do to make it better! My tried and true advice is, leave it the phuck alone, buy lots of ammo and quality mags and shoot the snot out of it. This where the aftermarket has aggravated the problem, is that the 1911 is probably the most popular pistol on the market and they make lots of parts and accessories for them, and people think they can just buy the part and switch it out. Almost no parts are just drop-in on a 1911. They need to be fitted by someone that knows what they are doing. I have been owning and tinkering with 1911's for over 35 years, and I haven't even scratched the surface of learning everything about them.

 

[Txhighlander]

My first semi auto was a 1911. The only one I had major problems with was a Kimber classic full size. It wouldn't run 230 ball. All the rest have been flawless with good ammo and good mags. I have 2 currently a 4.33 " bull barrel Magnum Research, and a 4.25" Dan Wesson VBOB. Both run well. Admittedly the Dan Wesson mags were crap. Replaced with Wilson Combat and it's flawless with good ammo.

 

[Grumps21]

I have three different 1911's'. Springield Armory, Loaded Micro Compact 45 with a 3" barrel, round count in excess of 15K . A Metro Arms Commander with a 4.25" barrel, with a round count in excess of 8K. A Remington R1 Government model with the 5" barrel, with a round count in excess of 20K.

Wilson Combat, Chip McCormack and CM Products magazines are the only ones I own and use.

In all my shooting 1911's for over 35 years of owning them, magazines are the biggest factor in failures of a 1911 pistol. Most of those problems stem from people and even myself in the past buying cheap and surplus magazines. Second biggest factor are people thinking they are smarter or better than John Browning! They go around dicking with things so they can have a cool and fancy 1911. If you are not a 1911 pistolsmith. leave it the phuck alone. And there are very few REAL 1911 pistolsmiths around anymore. Want a cool and tricked out 1911? Buy one from one the custom 1911 builders and expect to fork out some serious money, because they ain't cheap.

Yeah, the mags are a huge factor. I too have an R1,and I’ve seen people “in the know” dish on them as inferior. Mine runs like a top. Like @1911'S 4 Me said, lemons and lemonade

 

[Axxe55]

Yeah, the mags are a huge factor. I too have an R1,and I’ve seen people “in the know” dish on them as inferior. Mine runs like a top. Like @1911'S 4 Me said, lemons and lemonade

To be fair, mine is one of the earlier productions, An R1 Enhanced model. I did see some of them from the latter end of production before Remington went under and they were just horrible. So those could some that some of the bad press was coming from and having lots of problems.The R1's were introduced in 2010, IIRC, I bought mine in 2011.

 

[no2gates]

Yeah that's what they were saying on that 1911 forum, and I had never heard about short 1911s being less reliable before.

My carry rotation is basically 100% Glock at this point, so I don't carry with an "external" safety.

 

[Txhighlander]

In truth with all semi auto pistols not just 1911's, the mag is it's greatest strength and weakness closely followed by what ammo you use. If the mag or the ammo are crap it tends to be nothing more than a trotline weight. Choose wisely grasshopper.

 

[tonelar]

Just an observation. I’ve noticed a number of RIA in the comments.
Their gunsmiths in Pahrump are talented and they take great care of customer issues.
RIA provides the best “bang for your buck” in my experience.

Not just saying cause the owners are long time friends of my family.

 

[TexasRedneck]

My everyday carry for over 5 years...never an issue.

 

[Dred]

I also put the most miles on my RIA BBR 3.1" double stack 1911. I'm at 'bout 200 failure free rounds. This is deliberately kept in this range.

I bought 5 sets of replacement recoil springs with the pistol. When I roll past 400 rounds, I will swap in new springs, verify she's happy and restart my next count to 400.

Yes, I buy the short 1911s chew up recoil springs assertion. It is a carry pistol, so I carry it in a condition I am confident 'bout.