Originally posted by
bannockburn:
My Springfield Armory M1911-A1, acquired new in 1988, was manufactured in Brazil and assembled here in the U.S. I believe the retail price was somewhere around $279 and at the time it seemed like a real bargain, compared to what Colt Governments were going for (that is if you could find them). Fit and finish were first rate, the gun itself was nice and tight with close tolerances, and it had a decent trigger right out of the box.
When I got it my first intention was to eventually have it customized by a leading M1911 gunsmith with all the bells and whistles. But the more I used it the more I came to appreciate it for its reliability and performance in its original stock configuration. So I left it as is and still continue to enjoy it just the way it came from Springfield Armory.
__________________
I bought a couple of Springfield GI 1911's back in the mid 80's. They came in a plastic bag, as a "kit", and sold for $250. They were "the best" Springfields Ive owned, and Ive owned quite a few. They were also the only Springfields I owned that closely followed GI/Colt specs. Everything beyond, was all over the place.
If you look closely at the frame, especially the radius on the dust cover, and the radius of the front strap, and the gap between where the radius ends and the edge of the grip, you'll see what I mean.
Now compare it to the Springfield in SP2000's pic. See how boxy the dust cover is, and how the front strap isnt radiused properly, and the gap between the grip and radius has grown.
The feel in your hand just between later Springfields and earlier guns, is quite dramatic. The "reach" fore and aft feels off and considerably longer.
Many of the later guns, will not fit in kydex holsters adjusted for a GI/Colt gun at all, and often wont fit properly molded leather holsters as well. That boxy dust cover, with the sharp, squared off corners, tears up leather holsters something terrible too.
To make matters worse, those frame dimensions vary widely, even in the same run of guns.
Here are a couple of my last Springfields along with a Colt GM for comparison.
The two on top are the Springfields. They were "GI" models Springfield brought out in the late 90's, and were bought about a week apart, and are only a couple of hundred numbers apart in the serial number range. If you look closely, you can see quite a difference in the frames.
