1911 that's Reliable

[Bellehood]

I own a Glock 19. It is the only handgun I own. I own a fair number of long guns. I never planned on owning another handgun, as I prefer shooting long guns, and the glock meets all my needs, I am fortunate enough to live in a free state, and I carry it every day.

However, I have always had an eye for 1911's. I think they are gorgeous. And I am finally at the point where I could afford to shoot .45 acp .

To the point: I have almost decided to purchase a 1911. Now here in lies the issue. I expect my guns to outlive, and outperform me. My issued M4 does not, but all of my personally owned firearms do. I want a 1911 that will perform as reliably as my glock does, as my Mossberg 590 does, as my Mosin Nagant does, as my Savage bolty does. My only other need is an ambi safety. I dont need race gun, $3,000 accuracy, or shiny looks, I would prefer black and parkerized, but I'll probably get it Robar'ed anyway with Roguard.

To be honest, I'm leaning towards a RIA tactical, its cheap, and I can only find reports of near perfect performance. I'm willing to spend more then that, but if I spend more than I did on my G19, which was not too much (gotta love that Military Discount), and it doesn't eat bullets like the G19, I will be thoroughly depressed.

Go.

[Bellehood]

...AND i meant to put this in discussion, my bad

[toopercentmlk]

I was looking to get a Springfield Mil-spec for a very long time, when it came time to affording one, I opted for a Loaded-parkerized Springfield 1911. I love it, it had one fte on it's first 8 rounds fired, at the stage where the slide was too tight to rack it without a healthy amount of effort so I wasn't suprised. It wasn't completely broken in, but after only 50rds the gun seemed to function reliably, and after only about 1-200 the ejection patterns were consistent. I'm no 1911 buff, but that means reliable consistency to me. I have still only fired enough to break it in, 650rds on the nose, and I am happy with my purchase. It's a nice balance between classic design and shootability with modern reliability and tactical upgrades,ie. ambidextrous thumb safety, trigger.

[C.W.M.V.]

You can go from the RIA 1911 GI for $400 to a $50,000 dollar limited edition super duper special 1911 from any number of semi custom smiths.

Having had Springers, Colt's, and shooting many Kimbers and S&W's-Id vote for RIA.

[NiteQwill]

With your preferences, you can't go wrong with a RIA or SA Milspec. Good luck.

[Prowler]

My Kimber Tactical Custom ll has been the best 1911 .45 I own, for the price...

[evidens83]

For the value and price RIA Tactical cant be beat!

[Astig Boy]

and it doesn't eat bullets like the G19, I will be thoroughly depressed.

Go.

A 1911 is not for you. You want a base model 1911 and don't want to spend anymore. You will be thoroughly depressed. Base model/military spec 1911s were built and designed for ball ammo. Do not expect them to shoot anything and everything.

[NapaCountyShooter]

A 1911 is not for you. You want a base model 1911 and don't want to spend anymore. You will be thoroughly depressed. Base model/military spec 1911s were built and designed for ball ammo. Do not expect them to shoot anything and everything.

This, and also, I'd like to see a Glock work after somebody took a dump inside of it for that matter.

[C.W.M.V.]

Getting kinds FUDy in here. Base model 1911s work fine with anything you want to feed them. Only 1911 I've ever shot with those problems was a Kimber. I actually just shot about 200 rounds through my RIA today and around 50 were hollow point. No malfunctions for the last 3000 or so rounds.

[NapaCountyShooter]

Getting kinds FUDy in here. Base model 1911s work fine with anything you want to feed them. Only 1911 I've ever shot with those problems was a Kimber. I actually just shot about 200 rounds through my RIA today and around 50 were hollow point. No malfunctions for the last 3000 or so rounds.

As far as calling fud goes, all I have to go on is my personal experience. I've owned 4 1911's and each one of them has had some degree of issues with hollow points. None of them have been jamomatics, but each one has had a failure to feed or two. No problems at all with ball ammo. I love 1911's, they're my favorite type of firearm and I'm glad you've had good reliability experiences.

[nickvig]

How did this turn into a discussion about 1911's and feeding JHP's?

Here's what I've found. Loose = reliable. If you look at the original 1911A1 designs the tolerances weren't as close as current match guns are. When you tighten up those tolerances is when you tend to find most problems with current 1911 custom guns.

If you have issue with feeding ammo, look into the 1991 series Colts with the dimple at the 6 O'clock position you'll have much less feed issues. Otherwise most guns can be tuned by a gunsmith to feed just about anything reliably.

[Psypher]

My Les Baer feeds hollowpoints fine. Maybe I just got lucky.

[CalNRA]

with 1911s the simpler tha better. Skip the ones with the firing pin blocks, the Schwarz safeties, and the trick extended parts. A GI pattern gun(with a properly designed feeding ramp) that is just a little bit loose will be more accurate than you are and more than reliable enough.

[GW]

I've run ball, hp's and lead semi-wadcutters thru my RIA Tactical
No problems here.