A good friend has asked me about a 1911 style 45 ACP pistol. He is interested in full size. It will be a CHL carry weapon.

I have expreience with Colt Gold Cups, Springfield XDs and a Kimber Classic II.

I really like the Kimber. Extremely accurate.

I would like to hear of your favorites.

Thanks in advance.

Rusty, I'm a big 1911 fan. I have several & prefer the OM or Comm. for CHL. The full size guns are great for a lot of shooting but a bit heavy & bulky for everyday CCW. I really like the S&W & it comes in a full size alloy frame. Kimber's are also good as are Springfield. I like the new Sig but they have been having some teething problems. He may also want to look @ some of the semicustom jobs from Wilson & Ed Brown, really nice stuff.
My OM is pretty much stock except for some stippling on the front strap & stag grips. It shoots right along side my comped match gun, unbelievable. It holds 7+1, plenty for nay encounter I would stick my foot into (but always carry a spare mag.).

Rusty, I am crazy about 1911s. I shoot them more than any other pistols I have. I personally own 3 kimbers, a fullsize 45 and a 9mm, and I have a ultra carry cdp for a carry gun. Like you have mentioned they are extremely accurate right out of the box. For my money I will definatly take a Kimber.

Rusty: That S&W 1911 Sc that my partner bought and I have been shooting a great deal has to at least get a look. The Commander length weighs 27.5 ounces and I now feel better about Scandium as a frame mat'l and would prefer it over alum. alloy, as well as the competition from Spring, SIG or Kimber. Several models are available in blue, stainless, or scandium frame with a blue or stainless slide. The Dan Wesson that is on the market since the purchase by CZ is getting some very high marks, but the prices I'm hearing are usually at or above $800. Not that bad at all considering all the custom features, but Smiths can be found sometimes around $650 at Gunbroker.com. The DW is also available in 10mm.

There is a very competent pistolsmith at http://www.czforum.com and he has several DW's, including the 10mm model and he is favorably impressed with the product CZ/DW is shipping now. Good triggers on them from the factory as well that he has measured at 4 lbs or less and come with a trigger stop of course. The Smith my partner has came with a trigger of around 5 lbs. or maybe a little heavier and if you want it down to 3.5, the Smith Custom Shop does it for around $180.

Rusty,

I very much like my 1911 design pistols. The Kimbers are OK.

Run an Officer's model or a Para P12 through a really good smith (someone like Cylinder&Slide) and tell them that it is a carry gun! He ain't cheap, but he is damned good.

In the summer I carry an HK P7M8. In the winter I carry either a Para P12 or a SIG 229 in 40 S&W. These are more comfortable than a full sized 1911 and are among the best carry guns available commercially.

BTW, I do really line the CZ75 in 9mm. They are much better than any Beretta and last very well with +P+ and milder loadings. I tried to wear one out, and realized at 5k rds that it wasn't gonna happen quickly ;> They shoot and handle well if they fit your hand.

If it is a carry gun, buy what you like and take it to a smith. Like dangerous game rifles, very few come from the factory and work properly right out of the box. In the last 20 years of IPSC competition I have only had one 1911 style pistol from any maker work from new. - An STI edge.

Competitively I shoot a paraordinance P16 - but it has a bull barrel etc and took alot of work to get it absolutely right. When it breaks I am going to swap over to the STI.

Also, have noticed several makes of "1911's" don't work well in .40 cal - The israli Bull M5's come to mind, but my para as well. The .40 is too short for the full size magazine and they are only feed perfect if you shoot reloads and seat the bullet out to 30 or 31mm aol. Being Zim, no factory .40 ammo is available anyway so nobody minds, and I am sure that with a bit of work I could get my para to be 100% reliable with shorter bullets but I couldn't be bothered. Alot of our competitive shooters bought M5's because they were cheep and we could get them easily despite the embargo. Not impressed. The 18 month wait for the last batch of Paraordinances was well worth the wait.

I too have shot a lot of IPSC ... then I got old enough that my eyes started limiting my abilities. Was never very good with my Best finish of about 100 overall at the US Nationals some years ago. But had a wonderful time.

I have two 1911 based 40's. One is a single stack based 40 S&W open gun with comp and C-more. Was built during the time there was discussion of putting a 40 caliber floor on Open Major. Makes the old major momentum with ease. This puppy will push a 135 gr Nosler at 1550 fps! Craters poppers made from T1 steel.

The other is a limited gun built with a Para frame and fitted with two Baer slides ... on in 40 and the other in 45. Both have ramped Nowlin bbls.

I load the 40's just under the length of 10mm and use 10mm magazines. They function flawlessly but represent a major investment of gunsmith time. Sort of a 10 mm with a short case that is easy to extract and eject.

(I also have STI based Super open guns and love them!)

In the winter I carry a P12 Para that worked well from the factory. My summer carry is an HK P7M8. It has always worked well and has never seen a smith.

for CCW the Kimber Ultra CDP package is one of the best. I carry it on Galco leather and it is out of the way, light and very available.

mebow

I presently own two 1911 type pistols, both in .45 ACP. One is the Springfield Armory basic 1911-A1 which then received some serious upgrade work by Cylinder & Slide, and an out of the box Smith & Wesson 1911. The custom tuned Springfield is slightly better than the S&W but by golly if that S&W isn't a nice pistol. It shoots and feeds everything, including semi-wads, is accurate and comes with just what I like: Novak sights, beavertail grip safety, tactical single thumb safety and a nice finish. You could certainly do worse.

Colt or STI come to mind.

I am pretty new to this board , but here is my 2 cents. I am crazy about 1911's and have shot array of

brands but I carry a Kimber cdp. The kimber is the best I have ever owned.

Nobody has been able to convince me to get rid of my .45 Colts Commander. Though I am toying with the idea of building a Commander top with an Officers bottom.

The length of the barrel doesn't matter too much as they are not in too much danger of printing. It's the longer frames you have to watch.

After many years of doing about anything you can do to a 1911, though you can make anything reliable, the short barreled guns can be a little more finicky while the 4"=5" guns less so.

For myself, thinking pure defence and CWC I like less finicky.

Just my $.02 worth

Don

I teach CC and Personal Protaction classes here in NH. Many of the students end up with 1911s. Of those that do almost all have an aluminum frame gun...I can think of only one who does not. Regardless of the make, type or caliber of gun 26-30 oz. empty seems to be the limit of what most people want to end up carrying day in and day out.

I have been carrying the same Colt Commander in .38 Super for the last 25 almost 26 years...everyday. Colt is again making an excellent Commander in their XSE Series in both Super and .45. Those that have tried them love them.

Course there is nothing wrong with starting out with a full size steel framed Government Model and once good with that buying a lighter weight carry gun...

Bob

hard to beat a commander for ccw. As to brands they all make good ones and lemons. Ive got a good springfield a good kimber and a good Colt but have gone through a few of them and done some tinkering with the ones i have to find ones that were what i consider good. right now my carry piece is a kimber alloy commander.

I too realy like the 1911's. I have a full size Wilson Combat with night sights. It will shoot 1.5" groups at 25 yards. I have also been thinking about picking up a Les Baer as my wife has layed claim to the Wilson, since she shot a perfect score with it on her concealed hangun test.

I think they all (Wilson's, Baer's, Kimber's, Springfield's, etc.) are all pretty good, due to the fact that it is such a well designed pistol. Hard to go wrong here - kind of comes down to cosmetics and taste (Chevy vs Ford truck thing).

The 1911's the ultimate combat gun barre none! I have a Para Tac-Four. Verry accurate gun I've shot a 10 shot one hole group at 15 yds with it. It's Combat Commander size with a 12 round mag, and 1 in the chamber.

Actually papa they did make a shorter colt cartridge, I believe fo rthe s&w schofield. To distinguish between the two, the term .45long colt was used.

Para carry is the ultimate carry gun for me. Small, powerful, managable, no bobbed hammer or ext. grip safety, to snag on clothing, the LDA trigger is awsome, and the gun is invisable when carried concealed.