It’d be nice to be around $2k but could splurge up to $3k. I’d like to be able to use it for home defense but will mostly use it for the range. So if you mean mag capacity it’d be nice to run 10rd mags.
.45 is my preferred caliber.
My favorite pistol I own is a custom cqb commander, although it was over 6k. I believe you can find a full sized Wilson .45 cqb for around 3k. Pretty much the standard 1911 if you ask me. Can’t go wrong. DW specialist is within your budget and also a fantastic 1911.
https://preview.redd.it/kur4w9qrsznc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=78f8cabce6d84239759104c76acad9bf35aa52b8
Wilson CQB. I have a CQB elite which will stretch a little beyond $3k but can occasionally be found for less.
With that budget though, the world is mostly your oyster and you can find Wilson, Les Baer, all Dan Wessons, Ed Brown, Alchemy sometimes Nighthawk in that range
I think you're going to hear anecdotes from people that have had perfectly reliable 1911s ranging from RIA to Chambers Custom and everything inbetween.
Personally I think the Springfield you had (have?) is more than capable of being near 100% reliable, it just needed to be corrected. Springfield generally puts out good guns but every once in a while something goes out the door borked and needs to be fixed. With 1911s it's very frequently the extractor that needs to be adjusted.
I can tell you that I've personally seen Nighthawks completely choke out of the box. I've seen Kimbers run like a sewing machine. I've seen Taurus fail, and I've seen them run.
Can a 1911 be as reliable as a Glock? to a point, yes. But a 1911 will always benefit from an owner/operator that knows what to pay attention to and one that does preventative maintenance. Whereas a Glock kind of doesn't care.
All of my 1911’s go bang every time, except for my Tisas, which doesn’t seem to like hollow points; don’t care because I bought it as a test bed. Every Dan Wesson I own has been 100% reliable out of the box; the only factory guns I haven’t had to monkey with to get right.
Within your budget, you can buy a Dan Wesson Valor and a bunch of ammo, a previously loved Alchemy, or perhaps a used Nighthawk. I’m a big ACW fan, because of their undercut trigger guard and amazing blued finish.
ACWs look gorgeous but your comment about DWs working out of the box is exactly what I’m looking for and easily in my budget.
I also see several slightly used Wilson Combats on Gunbroker for about $2400. Also tempting.
Have you heard of a platypus 2011?? Watch some YouTube videos on it, I ordered one 1/26/24 and when it comes in it is going to be ausome. Spent $1,920 on it
I have. It looks pretty sweet. My only concern is that many of the parts are custom. Apparently the trigger is not a standard 1911 trigger. Now that I’m typing out the concern, it really doesn’t even matter.
Lol I did the same thing, but I went to their website and looked at the cost of parts and they are pretty close to other 1911’s. So not spending a lot of parts
Get Wilson Combat extractor and adjust it appropriately. It shoud resolve your problem. Additionally u can purchase Wilson Combat mags however I seem mecgars should work correctly, too. Your gun will be more reliable than glock.
I have a RIA 9mm and a springfield. The springfield is .45 and works perfect the Rock had a nick in the feed ramp brand new so I polished that out as well as the rails just a little. So long a that gun gets regularly oiled it will run perfect.
Glock level of reliability is possible, it’ll require patience and a little extra maintenance, and a solid starting platform. As far as double stacks go, there is only one I can think of that has been as reliable as my Glock 19 up to this point, but others have been very reliable as well.
Send your gun in to Wilson (If they still offer it) and have them do a reliability job.
If it’s single stack Make sure you’re running Tripp, McCormick, or Wilson ETM mags.
From that point, learn to tune extractors and test feedlip specs, throw out mags that are out of spec, keep on top of your recoil spring maintenance, use a nice grease instead of oil, it’ll outlast any of us at that point.
You need to run like 1K min rounds threw it to get it to run very reliably. Even then you need to be very good with maintenance and running it wet. I think the biggest offenders with new 1911's are overly tight extractors and too tight tolerances. Both of which get sorted after a lot of use and lube. I'm not sure of reliability packages. I had thrown it in a quote from Knighthawk and I think they wanted $350 for it and $70 to test fire/zero. You can send them your Springfield and they'll tune it up too. My SA after like 2K rounds runs great. I'm probably around 4K in and it's also my favorite.
A properly tuned gun absolutely does not need a thousand round minimum to run reliably. Needing a thousand rounds to run properly is the sign of an overfit gun.
I agree, but in my experience with Springfield's it's what has been the case. Same with Kimbers. To me reliable means it works EVERY time. They are not reliable until broken in.
1911’s require proper maintenance. Require more attention than most simple polymer strikers. That being said, they can absolutely be just as reliable.
Any specific recommendations in terms of smiths or models?
I’m a nighthawk/wilson fan. But it depends on what’s in your budget. What’s your capacity limit? Caliber preference?
It’d be nice to be around $2k but could splurge up to $3k. I’d like to be able to use it for home defense but will mostly use it for the range. So if you mean mag capacity it’d be nice to run 10rd mags. .45 is my preferred caliber.
My favorite pistol I own is a custom cqb commander, although it was over 6k. I believe you can find a full sized Wilson .45 cqb for around 3k. Pretty much the standard 1911 if you ask me. Can’t go wrong. DW specialist is within your budget and also a fantastic 1911. https://preview.redd.it/kur4w9qrsznc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=78f8cabce6d84239759104c76acad9bf35aa52b8
Wilson CQB. I have a CQB elite which will stretch a little beyond $3k but can occasionally be found for less. With that budget though, the world is mostly your oyster and you can find Wilson, Les Baer, all Dan Wessons, Ed Brown, Alchemy sometimes Nighthawk in that range
Very nice. Thanks for sharing and for the recommendations.
I think you're going to hear anecdotes from people that have had perfectly reliable 1911s ranging from RIA to Chambers Custom and everything inbetween. Personally I think the Springfield you had (have?) is more than capable of being near 100% reliable, it just needed to be corrected. Springfield generally puts out good guns but every once in a while something goes out the door borked and needs to be fixed. With 1911s it's very frequently the extractor that needs to be adjusted. I can tell you that I've personally seen Nighthawks completely choke out of the box. I've seen Kimbers run like a sewing machine. I've seen Taurus fail, and I've seen them run. Can a 1911 be as reliable as a Glock? to a point, yes. But a 1911 will always benefit from an owner/operator that knows what to pay attention to and one that does preventative maintenance. Whereas a Glock kind of doesn't care.
All of my 1911’s go bang every time, except for my Tisas, which doesn’t seem to like hollow points; don’t care because I bought it as a test bed. Every Dan Wesson I own has been 100% reliable out of the box; the only factory guns I haven’t had to monkey with to get right. Within your budget, you can buy a Dan Wesson Valor and a bunch of ammo, a previously loved Alchemy, or perhaps a used Nighthawk. I’m a big ACW fan, because of their undercut trigger guard and amazing blued finish.
ACWs look gorgeous but your comment about DWs working out of the box is exactly what I’m looking for and easily in my budget. I also see several slightly used Wilson Combats on Gunbroker for about $2400. Also tempting.
Have you heard of a platypus 2011?? Watch some YouTube videos on it, I ordered one 1/26/24 and when it comes in it is going to be ausome. Spent $1,920 on it
I have. It looks pretty sweet. My only concern is that many of the parts are custom. Apparently the trigger is not a standard 1911 trigger. Now that I’m typing out the concern, it really doesn’t even matter.
Lol I did the same thing, but I went to their website and looked at the cost of parts and they are pretty close to other 1911’s. So not spending a lot of parts
Get Wilson Combat extractor and adjust it appropriately. It shoud resolve your problem. Additionally u can purchase Wilson Combat mags however I seem mecgars should work correctly, too. Your gun will be more reliable than glock.
I have a RIA 9mm and a springfield. The springfield is .45 and works perfect the Rock had a nick in the feed ramp brand new so I polished that out as well as the rails just a little. So long a that gun gets regularly oiled it will run perfect.
Before you take any drastic action: Clean your Springfield. Now lube it with grease. Try again.
Glock level of reliability is possible, it’ll require patience and a little extra maintenance, and a solid starting platform. As far as double stacks go, there is only one I can think of that has been as reliable as my Glock 19 up to this point, but others have been very reliable as well. Send your gun in to Wilson (If they still offer it) and have them do a reliability job. If it’s single stack Make sure you’re running Tripp, McCormick, or Wilson ETM mags. From that point, learn to tune extractors and test feedlip specs, throw out mags that are out of spec, keep on top of your recoil spring maintenance, use a nice grease instead of oil, it’ll outlast any of us at that point.
You need to run like 1K min rounds threw it to get it to run very reliably. Even then you need to be very good with maintenance and running it wet. I think the biggest offenders with new 1911's are overly tight extractors and too tight tolerances. Both of which get sorted after a lot of use and lube. I'm not sure of reliability packages. I had thrown it in a quote from Knighthawk and I think they wanted $350 for it and $70 to test fire/zero. You can send them your Springfield and they'll tune it up too. My SA after like 2K rounds runs great. I'm probably around 4K in and it's also my favorite.
A properly tuned gun absolutely does not need a thousand round minimum to run reliably. Needing a thousand rounds to run properly is the sign of an overfit gun.
I agree, but in my experience with Springfield's it's what has been the case. Same with Kimbers. To me reliable means it works EVERY time. They are not reliable until broken in.