GixxerPete

Well after years of wanting one (yet somehow always ending up with more plastic pistols) I finally picked up my first 1911 pistol... a Kimber Eclispse Custom II.

I had been leaning towards a Springfield Loaded, as it seemed comparable to the Eclispe but a couple hundred bucks cheaper. But after handling them both back to back, the Kimber just plain looked better and felt better in my hands, so I felt it was worth the extra greenbacks.

I brought it home Saturday and cleaned it & did some dry fire practice, then off to the range Sunday morning. I easily shot better with it right out of the gate than any of my other pistols save my Ruger 22/45. I dare say it makes me a better shooter. I ran 250-300 rounds, a mix of WWB & Lawman 230gr FMJs, a few mags of Gold Dot 230gr HPs, Cor Bon 185gr +P HPs, and some 230gr FMJ reloads, all without a single hiccup.

Suffice to say, I am *very* happy with my purchase, and kicking myself for not buying a 1911 sooner... doh! I'll prolly buy another 1911 before I'd buy another plastic pistol (I've got plenty) likely an Officer's model, perhaps a Kimber Tactical or similar.

Here's a couple pics... it's not mine, but it's identical to this:

sunofnun

ha ha.. TOLD YA.

GixxerPete

Told me what?

sunofnun

1911's ftmfw. How many years have I been preaching..

GixxerPete

Well if I'd listened back then, I'd prolly have several 1911s by now and not so many plastic guns.

cuervo

Welcome to the club.

sunofnun

well if you follow the lord.. this must be him?


FOR those of of us believe in evolution..



Designed 1896
.32ACP also known as 7.65x17mm Browning SR






Designed 1897 HOLY FREEEEIIN Moses this thing is long
.38ACP Colt M1900





Designed 1899
.38ACP colt 1902




Designed 1900
.380ACP Colt Model 1903 Pocket Hammerless/Hammer


Lance this one look familiar? lol




In 1904 the Thompson-LaGarde Tests are concluded and a bunch of cows die.. the verdict?

Design:

* Caliber not less than .45.
* Magazine holding no less than six rounds.
* Bullet weight not less than 230 grains.
* Trigger pull not less than six pounds.

Ladies and Gentlemen we have climbed out of the swamp and can crawl on all 4's!!!!!

Designed 1905
.45ACP


Then..

There was a competition between colt, savage, Luger, Knoble, Bergmann, White-Merril etc

None of the models met the standards, even the 1905 model had flaws.. so Savage and Colt duked it out..



Designed 1908 for FN!
.38ACP FN model 1910



NOW WE eAT MEAT!!!!!
Designed for 1911
.45ACP




In March 1911, an endurance test was held. The test involved having each gun fire 6000 rounds, with cleaning after every one hundred shots fired, then allowing them to cool for 5 minutes. After every 1000 rounds, the pistol would be cleaned and oiled. After firing those 6000 rounds, the pistols were then tested with deformed cartridges, rusted in acid or submerged in sand and mud. By the end of the test, the Savage design suffered over 37 incidents of malfunction or breakage; the Colt did not have one the evaluation committees report stated, "Of the two pistols, the board was of the opinion that the Colt is superior, because it is more reliable, more enduring, more easily disassembled when there are broken parts to be replaced, and more accurate."

On 28 March 1911, the U.S. Army finally adopted the Browning-designed, Colt-produced pistol as the United States Pistol, Caliber .45, Model 1911, beginning a relationship that would last until 14 January 1985.





updated
Redesigned in 1924
.45 ACP M1911A1




1926 john browning dies.. RIP



New Variation
designed around 1968 by Rock Island Arms adopted 1972
M15 General Officers
.45ACP





The list starts to fracture here and we have a bunch of sluts trying to make a buck

Smith and Wesson
Rock River Arms
Springfield Armory
STI International Inc
Strayer Voigt Inc
U.S. Fire Arms Manufacturing Company
Kimber Manufacturing
Wilson Combat
Les Baer



so on and so on...

sunofnun

1 In the beginning was the 1911, and the 1911 was THE pistol, and it was good. And behold the Lord said, "Thou shalt not muck with my disciple John's design for it is good and it workith. For John made the 1911, and lo all of his weapons, from the designs which I, the Lord, gave him upon the mountain."

2 "And shouldst thou muck with it, and hang all manner of foul implements upon it, and profane its internal parts, thou shalt surely have malfunctions, and in the midst of battle thou shalt surely come to harm."

3 And as the ages passed men in their ignorance and arrogance didst forget the word of the Lord and began to profane the 1911. The tribe of the gamesman did place recoil spring guides and extended slide releases upon the 1911 and their metal smiths didst tighten the tolerances and alter parts to their liking, their clearness of mind being clouded by lust.

4 Their artisans did hang all manner of foul implements upon the 1911 and did so alter it that it became impractical to purchase. For lo, the artisans didst charge a great tax upon the purchasers of the 1911 so that the lowly field worker could not afford one. And the profaning of the internal parts didst render it unworkable when the dust of the land fell upon it.

5 And lo, they didst install adjustable sights, which are an abomination unto the Lord. For they doth break and lose their zero when thou dost need true aim. And those who have done so will be slain in great numbers by their enemies in the great battle.

6 And it came to pass that the Lord didst see the abomination wrought by man and didst cause, as he had warned, fearful malfunctions to come upon the abominations and upon the artisans who thought they could do no wrong.

7 Seeing the malfunctions and the confusion of men, the lord of the underworld did see an opportunity to further ensnare man and didst bring forth pistols made of plastic, whose form was such that they looked and felt like a brick, yet the eyes of man being clouded, they were consumed by the plastic pistol and did buy vast quantities of them.

8 And being a deceitful spirit the lord of the underworld did make these plastic pistols unamenable to the artisans of earth and they were unable to muck much with the design, and lo these pistols did appear to function.

9 And the evil one also brought forth pistols in which the trigger didst both cock and fire them and which require a "dingus" to make them appear safe.

10 But man being stupid did not understand these new pistols and didst proceed to shoot themselves with the plastic pistol and with the trigger cocking pistols for lo their manual of arms required great intelligence which man had long since forsaken. Yet man continue to gloat over these new pistols blaming evil forces for the negligent discharges which they themselves had committed.

11 And when man had been totally ensnared with the plastic pistol, the lord of the underworld didst cause a plague of the terrible Ka-Boom to descend upon man and the plastic pistols delivered their retribution upon men. And there was a great wailing and gnashing of teeth in the land.

12 Then seeing that the eyes of man were slowly being opened and that man was truly sorrowful for his sinful misdeeds, the Lord did send his messengers in the form of artisans who did hear and obey the teachings of the prophet and who didst restore the profaned 1911s to their proper configuration, and lo, to the amazement of men they didst begin to work as the prophet had intended.

13 And the men of the land didst drive out the charlatans and profaners from the land, and there was joy and peace in the land, except for the evil sprits which tried occasionally to prey on the men and women of the land and who were sent to the place of eternal damnation b by the followers of John.

Several old manuscripts add the following text. "And they [also rendered as "these men"] didst chamber it for cartridges who's calibers startith with numbers less than the Holy Number 4. And lo the Lord did cause great grief amongst these men when their enemies who were struck in battle with these lesser numbers didst not fall but did continue to cause great harm."

GregM

Amen

svytlana

amen

cuervo

Amen and god bless!

Thanatos

I had a Kimber Stainless II that I carried for years. Sold it and went to the polymer guns (XD/Steyr M40) and have come back to all steel again- EAA Witness .40S&W, as I had an old TZ-75, Baby Eagle .45 and a Witness polymer. The CZ-75 and clones are my favorite pistols of all time. The HP was Brownings improvement over the 1911, and I believe that the CZ-75 is the improvement over the HP.

ecotechjosh

hehe welcome to man hood :)

ecotechjosh

bump, here is my current workhorse

KillermondoDude

is that the GI issue??

ecotechjosh

ya with some packmyer grips and some inside wilson combat love :)

Brianaintright

My Kimber Desert Warrior really changed my view of the 1911. I had a 70 series Colt Combat Elite that I never really enjoyed shooting, it just wasn't the gun for me. Every time I shot it I needed a first aid kit, they're sharp edges everywhere. I eventually bought the DW but it sat for a long time while I was out of the country.

When I got back I sold the Colt to Jose and took the Kimber to the range. Man, what a great shooting gun! I've never shot less than a clean target on our department qual course. Reloads are fast and efficient. Sights are good and easy to pick up.....tuff to beat. I decided the 1911 was the gun for me so I dropped the coin on a Nighthawk GRP. Amazing pistol! Incredibly smooth. Sights need to be sorted, I'm going away from the three dot night sights and looking at XS with a rear post instead.

1911's require more maintenance than other pistols. You have to know your way around them. But once you have it, it's an amazing weapon system. Keep up on recoil springs( recoil and firing pin spring every 3000 rnds), make sure your extractor stays in tune (Usual life about 5000 rnds) and use a good grease.

1911 users guide from Hilton Yam. This guy knows his shit. 1911 Users Guide

Round counts and when to replace parts - Reliability, Round Counts, and Longevity in 1911s

Good info on diagnosing malfunctions if you have any....10-8 Forums: 1911 Malfunctions - Photo Reference

Brianaintright

For those looking for Single Action Only .45's, you might also look at the SAO SIG 220's. They're reasonably priced, same manual of arms as the 1911, great triggers, less maintenance and very accurate.....but they're not 1911's. I have 4 of them now and while I like them for what they are, they don't have a soul like my Kimber or NHC.

ecotechjosh

Alot of the love for the 1911 is the historical value as well. It's one of the most feared weapons of several conflicts and is univerally recognized as badass

DevilDoc

Kimber Desert warrior makes my fingers itch. Been wanting this for years..

Coug91

There is room for both 1911's and Glocks in my safe... so long as the caliber begins with a "4".

JayD1981

I recently got my arm twisted and walked away with a Taurus PT1911. I loved it after the first clip, and definately wished I hadn't waited so long to give the 1911's a try.

saread

My Armand Swenson tuned Pre-70 National Match. Lovely shooter.

sunofnun

lol I just put new extractor/springs in my officers. I'm sure I have well over 3000rnds probably up towards 5000. It had some sharper edges when I got it.. but no longer.

I've had it for at least 10 years.. can't see it leaving until my hands are cold.

It's got all kinds of trick bits..
- ported barrel and slide
- wilson combat beaver tail, and safety
- charles daly trigger and hammer

I want to put sites on it.. some trijicon.. just haven't gotten around to it.

Bnd1t02

Sunofnun-

I have a Rock Island officers model, and was wondering if you experienced a very noticeable difference with the muzzle movement having the barrell and slide ported? Being a shorter barrell makes it harder to reattain the target as you know and was curious if it really helped? I have had several 1911's with the 5" barrell and this is the first officers' model that I have owned, and is my conceal carry.

J

sunofnun

I LOVE it.. you can shoot it if you want..

I'm heading down to portland this weekend.. and will be shooting with my dad a bunch.. (AR's, SKS's, and .45's)

I've only shot a couple other officers over the years.. so I haven't done a comparison side by side for quite a while.. it's normally a couple standards, and mine..

Keep in mind, I've shot a lot through this gun, so I'm REALLY used to it. But...

I can put it back on target really quickly. I can usually get through three clips at 30 feet fairly rapidly and put most of them inside 6" My Main motivation for switching the sites to a dot system is because I'm quicker back to target w/dots vs traditional wedge.

If I take time and aim that 6" group gets considerably smaller. I've shot it out at 50-60ft and if I'm leaning I can keep them pretty tight as well.

Pete has shot it, and seen me shoot with it..

Bnd1t02

Thanks for the offer. My RIA is a full length guide rod without the barrell collet bushing, and I think that also has some to do with its accuracy, but like you I will be switching the sights soon. I might also get a new slide and barrell combo. My second 1911 was a 1991a1 that I also put a beavertail on and left everything else alone. Out of all my guns that is the one that I regret getting rid of. With the 5" barrell it was capable of nailing 2 liter bottles @ 50 yrds. Yep 50 yrds not feet. I have shot many handguns and as far as I am concerned there is not a gun that is more user friendly. Sure the HKs, Glocks and XD's can fire after being submerged in water and sand, which is fine if your a turtle. The 1911 is the easiest hardware to train your software on.

J

sunofnun

that's awesome!!! I've shot my xd at targets at 50 yrds.. and could probably hit a 2liter.. I've shot my 1911 at maybe 25yrds at swinging targets racing with my dad.. but I don't think I've ever tried to shoot it at 50!

Bnd1t02

I was just f'n around and was able to hit the bottles. I havn't tried it with my officers' model. That was with a commander length barrel. I will be trying to do it this weekend. My guess is that I will have to prop myself against the jeep since the barrell is 1.5 inches shorter and no barrel bushing.


Devil Doc-

Is the tactical rail part of the frame or is that the Dawson Precision rail that utilizes to hex head screws? Do you have pics of the bottom of the gun showing the rail better?

J

GixxerPete

Yup I can attest to sunofnun's 1911 being a sweet shooter. I had shot full size Government 1911s before, and always found them soft shooting and controllable compared to plastic .45s and wasn't sure what to expect from an Officer's model, but I didn't really notice any difference. Maybe it's the porting, I dunno... but it works. You could say shooting sunofnun's 1911 was the final straw that pushed me to get my own, and I'm glad I did.

I think my next 1911 will be another Kimber, but this time in a 4" barrel and alloy frame, most likely the Covert Pro II with CT Lasergrips.

RCJIM

my first pistol "that I bought" is a 1911 royal II I found that 186 grain works better for me, every pistol I have doesnt shoot like this one, just my 2 pennies for the pot

Brianaintright

Desert Warrior's rail is part of the frame. Novak makes a rail that bolts on in a similar fashion as the dawson rail but looks similar to the Kimber / Caspian railed frames.

NOVAK 1911 TACTICAL LIGHT RAIL

GixxerPete

You can do it. I shot my XDm at Miggy's, approx 100-110 yards at a man-sized silhoutte and hit 10 out of 14 shots. This was standing two-handed hold, no rest/bags.