Smith and Wesson E-series 1911

[dwtt]

Hi everyone. Does anyone here own a Smith & Wesson E-series 1911? I was looking at the S&W 1911 as a potential future purchase, but it seems the E-series isn't much different from the 'regular' 1911 models. I saw on their website there are some cosmetic changes and they claim a different trigger, but is the trigger better on the E-series? I would like to buy a nice 1911 that looks relatively plain, but shoots well and is reliable, so when I see guns with lots of 'bling' like extended safeties, large beavertails, fancy fish scale checkering, and fiber optic sights, I get the impression I'm paying more for the looks than function. That's just my opinion, and I'm sure there are others who will say these are more than just cosmetics.

[Old4eyes]

I don't own an E-series, but have followed the Smith portion of the 1911 blogs a lot since it came out.

The claim of a different trigger is not cosmetic. The complaint of the previous line of Smith's 1911 was that the trigger was sloppy side to side. I've got two of them and I can verify that complaint.
From what I've read, they have tightened the slop up considerably.

Smith went with a titanium firing pin which does not use a firing pin block which the previous models employ - it was a variation of the Swartz safety in that it is tied to the grip safety rather than the trigger. Smith had one gun in their previous 1911 line that used the titanium firing pin.

They are using larger external extractors which was only found on the Performance line.

The rest of the changes are primarily cosmetic, although Smith is offering some round butt models which they didn't have before.

It seemed to me that more people were complaining about the E series line models than the previous line, but that may be just the nature of new guns and intense negative blogging. Some blame the new manufacturing facility in Maine, but my 1911PD was made in Maine and has been 100%. Maybe teething problems with new the new models.

The previous line of Smith 1911 has a really good reputation of reliability out of the box. The external extractor works well and doesn't need tuning. The biggest theoretical complaint was the firing pin block, and if it failed at a critical moment. There were few, but still some, failures listed in internet complaints. But by and large they were accurate and reliable middle of the road 1911s. If the E series follows in that reliability, and you can live with the blasphemy of the external extractor and you find it an acceptable price with the SSE added to the bottom line, I'd say go for it.

[dwtt]

Thanks for the input. I thought it was mostly cosmetic improvements, but if they improved the trigger feel and has a reliable external extractor, then I might have been wrong about the guns. I'll keep the Smith E-series gun in mind for when I buy a new 1911.

[H K corporate assassin]

Absolutely correct you are paying for cosmetics.

[dwtt]

Absolutely correct you are paying for cosmetics.

So, my friend, what has been your experience with the S&W 1911s? Good or bad?

[Trenchfoot]

From what I understand, when S&W changed their 1911 line, the E-series 1911's were kept because they were CA compliant and the new ones would not be.

[DEPUTYBILL]

I have a E series 1911 SC scandium frame.
Shoots anything I have feed it. Nice trigger.
Pretty good groups, depending on the ammo used.
I like it.