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Originally Posted by dad
The 1911 is an excellent model and "highly reliable"! One "lemon" 1911, does not destroy the reliability of the tens of thousands that have been produced!
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Of the 3 1911's in my family, none ran right (including a TRS and a Tactical Supergrade and a Colt). Also, every poll I have ever seen on other forums with thousands of members, the 1911 comes out on the bottom, every time, regarding reliability.
It's an older design and it's showing its age.
Here is a quote from one of the men most familiar with the 1911 platform you are going to find, Hilton Yam, :
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What are the main pitfalls of running a 1911 for duty? Weapon maintenance and end user responsibility are the two big issues. The end user needs to be dialed in to the gun's quirks to be able to run it effectively. The day of handing out rack grade 1911s to the masses and using them for duty are pretty much over. A unit, team, or department that is looking at running 1911s needs to seriously consider having the following:
1) Two 1911s issued to each user, to allow for continuity when [notice...not "if"] one weapon goes down for service. Lacking this, the issuing unit needs to have a pool of spare guns to lend out to users when a gun goes down for maintenance.
2) Dedicated and skilled armorer support. Being able to maintain the weapon is key, and it requires more than a one day armorer school to learn how to effectively change parts in this gun. [yep, you have to know how to profile the hook on, and tension the extractor correctly, and then test-fire, tweak, etc.]
3) Transition training for the end users so that they may learn the unique manual of arms and proper maintenance of the 1911.
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http://www.10-8performance.com/1911_Duty_Use.html
You won't find ANYONE recommending 2 glocks need to be issued to an agent/officer because of the time htey will spend at the armorer's. If they DO go down, you swap parts out and in 10 minutes it's working 100% again.
I can build a P226 sig from the ground-up (except sights, I don't have a sight-pusher) in 45 minutes, lubricating the thing and assuring everything is right, and touching up the hammer/sear if you give me a pile of parts. The 1911, not so much. To get it to really run right, a LOT! of fitting is required. Good luck finding one properly done for under $1800 or so (unless you buy used, in which case I recommend Wilson Combat due to their awesome warranty. They once told me they have less than a 1% return/failure rate. I guess since I had to return my weapon to them 2 times and then the 3rd time they bought it back, I am astronomically unlucky?). The cheapest 1911 I would buy, if I were to go through that mess again, is a Springfield Pro.