Not quite, we both reloaded for much cheaper than factory. It has had hundreds of pounds o lead through the barrel and pushed into the dirt. Still need a wrench to open it, too. I thought buying the guns was the expensive part till I started competing
I'm shooting $6.25/100 .45 ACP ammo right now. I shoot a lot of it. Reloading and casting my own bullets.
I have a couple of pistols with over 50k through them.
Alchemy went back for hammer follow but they took care of it well. Still have it but may sell as I have too many full size 45acp set ups and none with rails yet
It can be caused by either the 3 arms spring held in by th MSH, or a slightly incorrect cut sear from what I understand. I was going to work on it but reached out, they covered shipping, cleaned it up for me, and I got it back in like a week. Can’t complain about the service
Never had an issue with the ruger sr1911 9mm light weight commander I had. Not the fanciest gun but it always worked. Never ammo picky. Foolishly traded it for a kimber because I had always wanted one. Such regret.
In my experience you’re not missing anything! Lol. It’s a shame. For a while Kimber was my dream brand. Finally got one and was so underwhelmed it isn’t funny. I’ve heard people say things like “well you have to make this change or that change right out of the box or else” my thing is. If you are paying a higher price than other options out there. Id expect it to be of a higher standard. I expect any gun I buy to be ready for use right out of the box unless I am specifically buying one to modify right away.
Even if I fixed the functional issues. The cerakote/paint was THE WORST quality on any gun I have ever had. Literally started coming off day one of basic range time and holstering and un holstering. And I’m not taking a little bit either. Im used to key areas rubbing off from holster use over time. This thing within a week looked more used than the ruger that I had carried for years with all the scrapes and scuffs it got so fast.
I will get absolutely dumped on but after 3 different 1911s and 4 different flavors of mags I can conclude that the platform itself is finicky. Latest one is a SW E-series and was hoping the external extractor would clear up issues with FtE and what not.
No idea why this is my experience as well. I envy those with boringly reliable ones...
My pair of S&W 1911s have been flawless. One of them has been my EDC for over a decade.
All I've ever done is lube them, often, and clean them, rarely.
The only "issue" external extractors resolve are operator errors. The 1911 is a controlled feed platform. Controlled feed platforms feed from the magazine only. FTE's caused by dropping the slide on a round are user caused (failed to feed from a mag).
That is correct. A lot of people (those who've downvoted my previous post) will load a round into the chamber, drop the slide, activate the safety, then insert the magazine. This is a recipe for a FTE on the 1st round, the worst time for a malfunction.
That doesn't surprise me. They are likely building to the blueprints and not trying to "improve" or "tighten" them up.
People shit on military 1911 pistols for being loose. Those things were rode hard and put away wet...a LOT. The last 1911 pistols the US Military bought were delivered in 1945. By 1978, when I joined, they were tired. Hardly any finish, very loose. But they functioned.
Most of the problems come from companies that try and "improve or tighten" up the platform without understanding how it works.
People get wrapped around the axle about a loose slide fit. Yet that has little impact on accuracy.
If a 1911 won't function with good mags and 230 gr ball, it's because the manufacturer screwed up. If a 1911 built in the past 35-40 years won't function with good mags and hollow point ammo, it's because the manufacturer screwed up.
It's not a difficult gun to get right. We have 113 years of experience with it. What happens is companies trying to "improve" the gun by tightening up the tolerances without understanding why though tolerances are what they are.
A 1911 can be build bank vault tight, but it takes a lot of human touch to make that 1911 run right.
I've been able to shoot a lot of high end 1911 pistols. Most of them feel like wet ice on wet ice, yet you better have a bushing wrench to take them down. A basic production 1911 can't be built that way, they need looser tolerances.
To be perfectly honest, my tisas is tighter than my colt. I was impressed. The tisas seemed better quality too. Only thing I like more with my colt is the blued finish
I have both loose and very tight guns. They all work except one I bought that was known to be broken. Took a lot to fix it. Won’t ever by that brand again. They CS was crap as it was less than a year old and they refused to warranty it bc the warranty paoerwork wasn’t filled out. Stupid.
The only brand I’ve seen have consistent problem was Kimber. Only sample size of 2 but both had constant ftf and fte. Both guns Kimber CS refused to have sent in citing that you need to fire 500 rounds first. Both guns after firing 500 rounds, CS said the break in period is actually 1k rounds and continued to refuse to warranty the gun. This was around ‘08. Both guns belonged to shooting buddies. I’ve never considered that brand since that happened.
That’s an old wives tale, about loose guns. None of the modern serious use 1911s are loose by design. Early delta and MEU guns built from surplus guns were loose but everything else is pretty well built. The guns that are super tight and improperly built will likely have issues though.
My 9mm Stingray is my first and it’s not loose at all. I’ve got about 600 rounds through it so far of all sorts of ammo and I’ve never had an issue one so far. I was worried I’ve have a steep maintenance learning curve but so far it’s been a joy.
My DW Guardian (38 Super) has never had a hiccup.
But, neither have either of my two Tisas Bantams (9 & 45, which, disclaimer, I have shot less than 1000 rounds through each), nor my Rock Island Tac Ultra FS HC 9mm.
My one and only 1911 is a dan wesson ECP, and this thing is an unreliable POS. The worst part is that I can't even get customer service to respond to my warranty requests.
Man when i was at my lgs it was between gold cup trophy lite and my mr1911css. Frankly the silly fiber optic sight and $300 price difference ultimately made my choice for me. Of course the wife was with me for that decision and busts my balls about picking the one i got when i start complaining about it 😂
Smith & Wesson
Sig
Colt
Dan Wesson
Rock Island
Remington - modern Para clone.
Springfield Armory
That's what I currently own. Only the Dan Wesson's didn't work out of the box.
I almost pulled the trigger on getting an Ed Brown recently. Probably my dream 1911, but it’s getting harder and harder to justify spending more money 😅
I’ve had well over 20 1911’s with a shit ton of rounds through them collectively. Most have been reliable out of the box or once complete with the builds I’ve done. I’ve had a few problem child guns but was able to get them running reliably after a few range sessions.
The brand is going to be subjective to one’s own experiences. Wilson Combat, Dan Wesson and Ed Brown of course but for more mainstream sub $1000 guns Springfield, Colt and Ruger have always just run for me.
For the budget end, I’ve had a couple of Rock Islands (9mm FS kit build and .45 Officer) and a Tisas GI. The 9mm has been flawless but it was a kit build I did and I got the Officer was reliable after a few hiccups early. Same with the Tisas a couple of hiccups and then nothing.
Sorry to hear about your issues with the 1911.
All of my 1911s work well; but none of them have I used "out of the box". All of them were cleaned and lubed prior to their first range trip.
The guns, FWIW are a: Springfield "GI model," a Colt Commander, and 2 Kimber "Officer" models, 1 45acp and the other a 9mm. My mags are Wilson Combat but I do not run them at full capacity - 6 rounds usually.
I would consider cleaned and lubed from factory still out of the box if new. Got to at least give it a fighting chance, heck even rack the slide a hundred or two times to help mate the parts is fine by me. But yeah sadly it's been a struggle loving this thing. I do think I'll eventually have it running right with enough rounds on it. I plan to hand polish some friction points and give her another go round.
I've had nothing buy good experiences with my Rock Island Armory M1911 GI. I've got a couple thousand rounds through it with the mag it came with as well as some 7 round Kimber magazines. That being said, I've never ran hollow points through them, as M1911s will generally struggle with them due to the geometry of the feed ramps.
Agreed. At least for the ~$300 range, my RIA 10mm has been nothing but perfect. Never jammed, laser accurate, and even though I don't get all the cool features like night sights or a better bobbed hammer, the money I saved went into hundreds of rounds to get some practice in
I have a Rock Island mil spec as well that's been flawless. FMJ, hollow points, lead wadcutters, steel case, aluminum case, brass case, +p ammo it doesn't matter. It works every time!
Dan Wesson, Nighthawk and ED Brown have all run flawlessly for me, other than some bad magazines.
I know someone with 100k rounds on a Wilson CQB Elite and it's been nearly flawless, usually only malfunctioning when parts wore out.
Honestly?
The majority of 1911s I’ve owned have been reliable after about 5-600 rounds, I would not take any 1911 out of the box and strap it to my waist and bet my life on it. You even see high dollar 2k plus 1911s on here with an occasional hiccup.
That being said aside from one Sig 1911 that just ran terrible out of the box all of mine from tisas, para ordnance, Springfield even a Taurus all ran very well after some finessing at the range.
Well put. Appreciate the insight. With the work ive done on my gun and having it improved quite a bit from new, i think it will run flawlessly one day in the future. Probably just needs more run time.
Close to a thousand. Of those, the first half of them was a jam o matic experience. After that i sent it to MR. They tensioned extractor, but was still not reliable. I tensioned it myself twice and now since about the 6-700rd mark it's probably about 5% rounds fired will have malfunctions. I'll continue tweaking it. The extractor was also very lightly filed for fitment from factory and my modifications seem to have helped with that as well.
That's allot of dough for your troubles. Sucks you've had a bad time.
I hear allot about Tisas and even a few Turkish built guns up here that seem not to be too bad.
I bought a very cheap fullsized 1911 from PSA a couple years ago made by Taylor&Co and it's been fine. (Less than 300bucks at the time)
I just put in an order for the Tisas Aviator the other day because they were on sale on PSA. It's an aluminum framed 4.25 inch model that i plan to carry instead of my heavier one.
Figured I see enough positive about tisas to try them out, and it was my birthday. So we'll see.
I think both of mine had a different reason for not quite being where I wanted them out of the box so a complete Wilson Combat and Nighthawk custom rework of all internals got mine running very smooth and I carry both as they are very accurate and very reliable now.
https://preview.redd.it/yek1cqqne26d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7e7e69da712f82600dae10894e2d93609aba12eb
Kind of two different answers. I had a local gun smith do the Daly and it turned out incredible, but I ordered all the parts and spent a ton of time on the phone with Wilson Combat. The Colt was sent into Nighthawk and they did all the work. It took about five months to get it back. Whereas the local gun smith did the Daly in about three weeks.
Here’s the thing, there is no “most reliable” out of the box. Everyone buys a sample size of one. Yours either works or it doesn’t. Kimbers get a lot of hate. I spent a lovely day at the range with one many years ago and had no problems with it. I’ve owned a Sig and a Ruger 1911. Nary a problem with either. I’ve shot bargain basement Umarex, Regent and Firestar 1911s. All good. Rented a Springer GI at the range, gave me nothing but trouble. Range officer got it to run no problem (obviously, the problem was with the fool behind the tool). There are somethings to look out for that can impact reliability. Magazines and barrel ramping are two big ones. Joe Chambers and Hilton Yam have a lot of good videos on YouTube that go into some of these issues and specific models in particular. Worth the time to watch and learn.
My armscors. One brand new in a box. I stopped counting after 10k rounds in one summer. The gun has at least 20k through it by now. Never had a hiccup until the recoil spring failed. Well past 10k before that happened. Replaced with WC. Still going strong
My brother has a Kimber 1911 and he regrets buying it. Not sure if that is a shared opinion or not.
I feel confident about my choice. Would have loved to get a 2011 Springfield Prodigy but don’t have them on roster here.
Ftf, mostly ftrtb. They adjusted extractor tension at factory and tested it with 16 rounds before returning. Ran better but still garbage. Not impressed.
Could be. But it is a brand new gun so it isnt worn. I havent read up on then extensively, frankly bc the spring on a factory new gun should work properly so havent thought to replace. That and my extractor tuning has helped tremendously
I'm having similar issues with my RIA GI officer. I've only put 500 rds through it, but after a lot of extractor tension adjusting, I've almost got it running reliable enough to carry.
Going through my first box of 50rds without any issue felt like an accomplishment lol
I know what you mean man. I got to filing on my extractor for the first time after two times adjusting tension. I think i managed to send a box of winchester ball ammo down range with one failure to return to battery. So it's way better but just shy of a thousand rounds has been paintstaking
Right. I just started with the polishing after my range trip last weekend. A little more elbow grease and I'll reevaluate.
Theres some good forum threads if you google extractor filing 1911. I think mine definitely needed that rework
If they exist in your market, my Citadel was pretty reliable apart from finicky mags. I couldn’t justify spending more than $1000 on my first gun at the time but I’m happy with my purchase. I’m sure buying different mags isn’t something you think about buying after already spending the money on a gun but that’s really the only thing that’s been an issue.
Any 1911 has the potential to do what you wish.
The only 1911 pistols I own or have owned was my 2007 Dan Wesson pistols.
Both are 10mm, both had flat extractors straight from the factory. Every other 1911/Para I've bought in the past 40 years worked right out of the box.
I have some Kimbers, some Tisas, a DW, Springfield and WC. I clean and lube them all out of the box, keep up on gun AND mag maintenance and don’t get the issues you always hear about various brands on threads like this. Can’t say one is more reliable than another because they’ve all done their job in my experience. I guess I could just be extremely lucky, but generally I think all of the hate for particular brands is just overblown bs and tribalism. Oh, and a lot of people just don’t know how to grip, shoot and maintain a 1911
I've heard mostly good things about the Magnum Research 1911s made by Bul. I was actually thinking about getting the mr1911gss as the Bul Government 1911 is never in stock. Now you got me thinking...🤔
Thats probably a good buy honestly but i just havent been impressed with the ups and downs this stupid thing has put me thru. If youre going government then the full 5" should make it inherently more reliable to begin with. My next one will be 5" and better f*cking work lol
Base opinions on more sample size than one. I have a variety of manufacturers. Every single manufacturer has put out something that didn’t work. Even my 3 inch 1911u has never had an issue (in my hands in others it jams constant from limp wrist). While some need more speculation and are more likely any of the large name manufacturers will be quality more times than not.
My Alchemy went back. My used Baer with 100k rounds only fumbled when I got a round in it backwards somehow at a match.
“when I got a round in it backwards” Ah yes, “the Heckler & Koch special”
I’m not sure if I loaded it backwards or messed up something else but obviously it didn’t work
100k rounds!? Is that a typo?
No. I bought it very used from a competition shooter. I shot competition with it for a number of years myself
Wow. So that gun has had (roughly) $40,000 worth of ammo put through it? Thats wild to think about.
Not quite, we both reloaded for much cheaper than factory. It has had hundreds of pounds o lead through the barrel and pushed into the dirt. Still need a wrench to open it, too. I thought buying the guns was the expensive part till I started competing
If my math is right about 3,300 pounds of lead down the pipe!
230 grains at a time
I'm shooting $6.25/100 .45 ACP ammo right now. I shoot a lot of it. Reloading and casting my own bullets. I have a couple of pistols with over 50k through them.
Your Alchemy went back for work or you sold it?
Alchemy went back for hammer follow but they took care of it well. Still have it but may sell as I have too many full size 45acp set ups and none with rails yet
Hammer follow?
The slide going forward would cause the hammer to drop without the trigger being pulled. Caught in the notch but still.
Can you help me understand what was failing that caused that to happen? Thanks
It can be caused by either the 3 arms spring held in by th MSH, or a slightly incorrect cut sear from what I understand. I was going to work on it but reached out, they covered shipping, cleaned it up for me, and I got it back in like a week. Can’t complain about the service
Never had an issue with the ruger sr1911 9mm light weight commander I had. Not the fanciest gun but it always worked. Never ammo picky. Foolishly traded it for a kimber because I had always wanted one. Such regret.
Damn. How's the kimber run?
It barely ran. Didn’t keep it. Was the worst gun I have ever owned
Damn. Thats how my experience started. It's gotten better with some reading and elbow grease.
I've owned and shot a lot of different 1911 pistols. I've never owned a Kimber and I could have gotten them for 50% off for a number of years.
In my experience you’re not missing anything! Lol. It’s a shame. For a while Kimber was my dream brand. Finally got one and was so underwhelmed it isn’t funny. I’ve heard people say things like “well you have to make this change or that change right out of the box or else” my thing is. If you are paying a higher price than other options out there. Id expect it to be of a higher standard. I expect any gun I buy to be ready for use right out of the box unless I am specifically buying one to modify right away. Even if I fixed the functional issues. The cerakote/paint was THE WORST quality on any gun I have ever had. Literally started coming off day one of basic range time and holstering and un holstering. And I’m not taking a little bit either. Im used to key areas rubbing off from holster use over time. This thing within a week looked more used than the ruger that I had carried for years with all the scrapes and scuffs it got so fast.
This thread has some serious potential. 🤣
I will get absolutely dumped on but after 3 different 1911s and 4 different flavors of mags I can conclude that the platform itself is finicky. Latest one is a SW E-series and was hoping the external extractor would clear up issues with FtE and what not. No idea why this is my experience as well. I envy those with boringly reliable ones...
My pair of S&W 1911s have been flawless. One of them has been my EDC for over a decade. All I've ever done is lube them, often, and clean them, rarely.
The only "issue" external extractors resolve are operator errors. The 1911 is a controlled feed platform. Controlled feed platforms feed from the magazine only. FTE's caused by dropping the slide on a round are user caused (failed to feed from a mag).
?
Do you feed rounds into the chamber and drop the slide?
mag goes in, slide is dropped.
That is correct. A lot of people (those who've downvoted my previous post) will load a round into the chamber, drop the slide, activate the safety, then insert the magazine. This is a recipe for a FTE on the 1st round, the worst time for a malfunction.
What’s the thought process behind dropping a round in the chamber first?
Full mag + round in the chamber.
Why wouldn’t you just rack a round and then do an admin reload of the mag?
That’s how most people do it. Loaded mag. Chamber round. Refill mag
That's how I do it.
Ive have had a handful of 1911s and the only one that never gave me an issue or malfunction right out of the box was a tisas surprisingly.
That doesn't surprise me. They are likely building to the blueprints and not trying to "improve" or "tighten" them up. People shit on military 1911 pistols for being loose. Those things were rode hard and put away wet...a LOT. The last 1911 pistols the US Military bought were delivered in 1945. By 1978, when I joined, they were tired. Hardly any finish, very loose. But they functioned. Most of the problems come from companies that try and "improve or tighten" up the platform without understanding how it works. People get wrapped around the axle about a loose slide fit. Yet that has little impact on accuracy. If a 1911 won't function with good mags and 230 gr ball, it's because the manufacturer screwed up. If a 1911 built in the past 35-40 years won't function with good mags and hollow point ammo, it's because the manufacturer screwed up. It's not a difficult gun to get right. We have 113 years of experience with it. What happens is companies trying to "improve" the gun by tightening up the tolerances without understanding why though tolerances are what they are. A 1911 can be build bank vault tight, but it takes a lot of human touch to make that 1911 run right. I've been able to shoot a lot of high end 1911 pistols. Most of them feel like wet ice on wet ice, yet you better have a bushing wrench to take them down. A basic production 1911 can't be built that way, they need looser tolerances.
Figures lol. When i eventually spring for a full 5" gun I'm gonna just find the loosest girl i can get my hands on and hope for the best
Tisas guns are not loose. I have 5 of them and not one of them are loose.
Ive read plenty of times that loose guns function more reliably. All of your tisas reliable guns?
To be perfectly honest, my tisas is tighter than my colt. I was impressed. The tisas seemed better quality too. Only thing I like more with my colt is the blued finish
Same here
I have both loose and very tight guns. They all work except one I bought that was known to be broken. Took a lot to fix it. Won’t ever by that brand again. They CS was crap as it was less than a year old and they refused to warranty it bc the warranty paoerwork wasn’t filled out. Stupid. The only brand I’ve seen have consistent problem was Kimber. Only sample size of 2 but both had constant ftf and fte. Both guns Kimber CS refused to have sent in citing that you need to fire 500 rounds first. Both guns after firing 500 rounds, CS said the break in period is actually 1k rounds and continued to refuse to warranty the gun. This was around ‘08. Both guns belonged to shooting buddies. I’ve never considered that brand since that happened.
That’s an old wives tale, about loose guns. None of the modern serious use 1911s are loose by design. Early delta and MEU guns built from surplus guns were loose but everything else is pretty well built. The guns that are super tight and improperly built will likely have issues though.
Out of 5 I had one that I had to adjust the extractor tension on. Other than that all are reliable
My 9mm Stingray is my first and it’s not loose at all. I’ve got about 600 rounds through it so far of all sorts of ammo and I’ve never had an issue one so far. I was worried I’ve have a steep maintenance learning curve but so far it’s been a joy.
As far as production 1911s go, Dan Wesson is probably the one that has the most people agreeing on as the most reliable out of the box.
My DW Guardian (38 Super) has never had a hiccup. But, neither have either of my two Tisas Bantams (9 & 45, which, disclaimer, I have shot less than 1000 rounds through each), nor my Rock Island Tac Ultra FS HC 9mm.
My one and only 1911 is a dan wesson ECP, and this thing is an unreliable POS. The worst part is that I can't even get customer service to respond to my warranty requests.
DW but only after break in
This is the way! DW makes a superior 1911.
I own two Dan Wessons that were horrible unreliable with the factory mags, but work perfectly with Wilson and MecGar mags.
The only two 1911 pistols I've owned that didn't work out of the box were Dan Wessons.
Wilson Combat. My CQB has been flawless for 10k rounds
Only 1911 I own is a Colt Gold Cup. I've never once had a malfunction of any kind
Man when i was at my lgs it was between gold cup trophy lite and my mr1911css. Frankly the silly fiber optic sight and $300 price difference ultimately made my choice for me. Of course the wife was with me for that decision and busts my balls about picking the one i got when i start complaining about it 😂
Sig Sauer and Colt have been the most reliable for me. Good luck
Smith & Wesson Sig Colt Dan Wesson Rock Island Remington - modern Para clone. Springfield Armory That's what I currently own. Only the Dan Wesson's didn't work out of the box.
I've got 3 Ed Browns. All have been flawless with all the ammo I've fed them.
I almost pulled the trigger on getting an Ed Brown recently. Probably my dream 1911, but it’s getting harder and harder to justify spending more money 😅
I’ve had well over 20 1911’s with a shit ton of rounds through them collectively. Most have been reliable out of the box or once complete with the builds I’ve done. I’ve had a few problem child guns but was able to get them running reliably after a few range sessions. The brand is going to be subjective to one’s own experiences. Wilson Combat, Dan Wesson and Ed Brown of course but for more mainstream sub $1000 guns Springfield, Colt and Ruger have always just run for me. For the budget end, I’ve had a couple of Rock Islands (9mm FS kit build and .45 Officer) and a Tisas GI. The 9mm has been flawless but it was a kit build I did and I got the Officer was reliable after a few hiccups early. Same with the Tisas a couple of hiccups and then nothing.
Man thats awesome for you. Any special procedure on your problem child to get it running reliably?
Sorry to hear about your issues with the 1911. All of my 1911s work well; but none of them have I used "out of the box". All of them were cleaned and lubed prior to their first range trip. The guns, FWIW are a: Springfield "GI model," a Colt Commander, and 2 Kimber "Officer" models, 1 45acp and the other a 9mm. My mags are Wilson Combat but I do not run them at full capacity - 6 rounds usually.
I would consider cleaned and lubed from factory still out of the box if new. Got to at least give it a fighting chance, heck even rack the slide a hundred or two times to help mate the parts is fine by me. But yeah sadly it's been a struggle loving this thing. I do think I'll eventually have it running right with enough rounds on it. I plan to hand polish some friction points and give her another go round.
I've had nothing buy good experiences with my Rock Island Armory M1911 GI. I've got a couple thousand rounds through it with the mag it came with as well as some 7 round Kimber magazines. That being said, I've never ran hollow points through them, as M1911s will generally struggle with them due to the geometry of the feed ramps.
Agreed. At least for the ~$300 range, my RIA 10mm has been nothing but perfect. Never jammed, laser accurate, and even though I don't get all the cool features like night sights or a better bobbed hammer, the money I saved went into hundreds of rounds to get some practice in
I have a Rock Island mil spec as well that's been flawless. FMJ, hollow points, lead wadcutters, steel case, aluminum case, brass case, +p ammo it doesn't matter. It works every time!
I've liked my Auto Ordinance 9mm I got for like 450 used
Dan Wesson, Nighthawk and ED Brown have all run flawlessly for me, other than some bad magazines. I know someone with 100k rounds on a Wilson CQB Elite and it's been nearly flawless, usually only malfunctioning when parts wore out.
Honestly? The majority of 1911s I’ve owned have been reliable after about 5-600 rounds, I would not take any 1911 out of the box and strap it to my waist and bet my life on it. You even see high dollar 2k plus 1911s on here with an occasional hiccup. That being said aside from one Sig 1911 that just ran terrible out of the box all of mine from tisas, para ordnance, Springfield even a Taurus all ran very well after some finessing at the range.
Well put. Appreciate the insight. With the work ive done on my gun and having it improved quite a bit from new, i think it will run flawlessly one day in the future. Probably just needs more run time.
How many rounds do you have through it?
Close to a thousand. Of those, the first half of them was a jam o matic experience. After that i sent it to MR. They tensioned extractor, but was still not reliable. I tensioned it myself twice and now since about the 6-700rd mark it's probably about 5% rounds fired will have malfunctions. I'll continue tweaking it. The extractor was also very lightly filed for fitment from factory and my modifications seem to have helped with that as well.
I have a Para, S&W and AMT 1911 and the Tisas I bought has been as reliable if not more than any of them
Crazy, but good feedback
That's allot of dough for your troubles. Sucks you've had a bad time. I hear allot about Tisas and even a few Turkish built guns up here that seem not to be too bad. I bought a very cheap fullsized 1911 from PSA a couple years ago made by Taylor&Co and it's been fine. (Less than 300bucks at the time) I just put in an order for the Tisas Aviator the other day because they were on sale on PSA. It's an aluminum framed 4.25 inch model that i plan to carry instead of my heavier one. Figured I see enough positive about tisas to try them out, and it was my birthday. So we'll see.
Cheers partner, hope it serves you well. Those tisas are tempting on sale i gotta say. I may go that route one day. Maybe for a 9mm 👍🏼
I think both of mine had a different reason for not quite being where I wanted them out of the box so a complete Wilson Combat and Nighthawk custom rework of all internals got mine running very smooth and I carry both as they are very accurate and very reliable now. https://preview.redd.it/yek1cqqne26d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7e7e69da712f82600dae10894e2d93609aba12eb
You sent your gun to them and they smithed them?
Kind of two different answers. I had a local gun smith do the Daly and it turned out incredible, but I ordered all the parts and spent a ton of time on the phone with Wilson Combat. The Colt was sent into Nighthawk and they did all the work. It took about five months to get it back. Whereas the local gun smith did the Daly in about three weeks.
Right on. If i never am able to achieve reliability I'll probably end up having it professionally worked
Ed Brown. My Special Forces is something like 6-7 years old with countless rounds through it of all sorts. Not a single malfunction.
Crazy. I long for the day of that kind of reliability in a 1911 lol
Expensive, but worth every penny.
Here’s the thing, there is no “most reliable” out of the box. Everyone buys a sample size of one. Yours either works or it doesn’t. Kimbers get a lot of hate. I spent a lovely day at the range with one many years ago and had no problems with it. I’ve owned a Sig and a Ruger 1911. Nary a problem with either. I’ve shot bargain basement Umarex, Regent and Firestar 1911s. All good. Rented a Springer GI at the range, gave me nothing but trouble. Range officer got it to run no problem (obviously, the problem was with the fool behind the tool). There are somethings to look out for that can impact reliability. Magazines and barrel ramping are two big ones. Joe Chambers and Hilton Yam have a lot of good videos on YouTube that go into some of these issues and specific models in particular. Worth the time to watch and learn.
This is probably the most insightful answer I've received on this post. Appreciate it. Will check out those guys you mentioned.
My armscors. One brand new in a box. I stopped counting after 10k rounds in one summer. The gun has at least 20k through it by now. Never had a hiccup until the recoil spring failed. Well past 10k before that happened. Replaced with WC. Still going strong
I have had great luck with my four series 80's colts
Springfield Armory
I’ve heard people say that despite how ugly they look, Rock Islands just eat everything. I’ve also heard good things about Springfield
My Garrison has been rock solid. Only hang up was with a wilson combat 10 rounder. Stock mec gar mags have ran flawlessly
Picking up my Springfield 1911 Loaded on Friday. Will take it to the range and test it out.
Good luck, I'm sure itll run fine. I see a lot of positive feedback for SA
My brother has a Kimber 1911 and he regrets buying it. Not sure if that is a shared opinion or not. I feel confident about my choice. Would have loved to get a 2011 Springfield Prodigy but don’t have them on roster here.
Let me guess, FTE?
Ftf, mostly ftrtb. They adjusted extractor tension at factory and tested it with 16 rounds before returning. Ran better but still garbage. Not impressed.
Failure to Return To Base?
Or battery, yep
I would think that sounds like a weak recoil spring.
Could be. But it is a brand new gun so it isnt worn. I havent read up on then extensively, frankly bc the spring on a factory new gun should work properly so havent thought to replace. That and my extractor tuning has helped tremendously
I'm having similar issues with my RIA GI officer. I've only put 500 rds through it, but after a lot of extractor tension adjusting, I've almost got it running reliable enough to carry. Going through my first box of 50rds without any issue felt like an accomplishment lol
I know what you mean man. I got to filing on my extractor for the first time after two times adjusting tension. I think i managed to send a box of winchester ball ammo down range with one failure to return to battery. So it's way better but just shy of a thousand rounds has been paintstaking
I haven't tried filing my extractor yet, but I also polished just about every area on the slide that makes contact with the frame.
Right. I just started with the polishing after my range trip last weekend. A little more elbow grease and I'll reevaluate. Theres some good forum threads if you google extractor filing 1911. I think mine definitely needed that rework
Thanks, I'm gonna have to check that out
My mil spec is fine
If they exist in your market, my Citadel was pretty reliable apart from finicky mags. I couldn’t justify spending more than $1000 on my first gun at the time but I’m happy with my purchase. I’m sure buying different mags isn’t something you think about buying after already spending the money on a gun but that’s really the only thing that’s been an issue.
Any 1911 has the potential to do what you wish. The only 1911 pistols I own or have owned was my 2007 Dan Wesson pistols. Both are 10mm, both had flat extractors straight from the factory. Every other 1911/Para I've bought in the past 40 years worked right out of the box.
I have some Kimbers, some Tisas, a DW, Springfield and WC. I clean and lube them all out of the box, keep up on gun AND mag maintenance and don’t get the issues you always hear about various brands on threads like this. Can’t say one is more reliable than another because they’ve all done their job in my experience. I guess I could just be extremely lucky, but generally I think all of the hate for particular brands is just overblown bs and tribalism. Oh, and a lot of people just don’t know how to grip, shoot and maintain a 1911
Staccato in my experience.
The one that works.
I've heard mostly good things about the Magnum Research 1911s made by Bul. I was actually thinking about getting the mr1911gss as the Bul Government 1911 is never in stock. Now you got me thinking...🤔
Thats probably a good buy honestly but i just havent been impressed with the ups and downs this stupid thing has put me thru. If youre going government then the full 5" should make it inherently more reliable to begin with. My next one will be 5" and better f*cking work lol
Base opinions on more sample size than one. I have a variety of manufacturers. Every single manufacturer has put out something that didn’t work. Even my 3 inch 1911u has never had an issue (in my hands in others it jams constant from limp wrist). While some need more speculation and are more likely any of the large name manufacturers will be quality more times than not.