Should anyone other than Colt be releasing a 100th anniversary 1911?

i think the cold would be the most sought after, but sure its a free county let em make them!!! kimber already has one, its in this months american rifleman .one will be auctioned in may at the nra meeting in N.C.!

Of course if Colt does issue a 100 year commemorative edition, they will propose making 5,000 examples, put on a big marketing hype, subcontact the work, have a falling out with the subcontractor and the 238 guns actually made will end up for sale at a discount at CDNN in 2018.

As we approach 2011 every 1911 manufacturer with an ounce of marketing knowledge is going to release a centennial version.

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That is fine with me. Colt has no exclusive right to it.

Other people been making them at least since WWII. No reason to change now.

Every manufacturer will produce them, But a Colt would be the only one I'd buy. All the rest will just be another pretty handgun.

(not that there's anything wrong with that)

Like I said in the other thread.......

Kimber making a centennial model of Colt's 1911 is like Ruger making a anniversary model 29.............

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But I voted for "I could not care less". Centennial Models do nuttin' for me, especially when they are covered with bling and do not resemble the model they are celebrating. Maybe in a hundred years, like the originals, they might be worth sumpthin'.........

Colt has been making them for 100 years. Where I went to school that is a hundred year anniversary.

All the others would be celebrating a Colt pistol's anniversary. After all if ain't a Colt 1911, it's a copy or knock off.

Is it important, of course, not. Just something to argue and fight about.

Go figure.

Fred

I would like to see Singer and Union Switch and Signal make them for the 100 year anniversary too.

IMO...
Others could make one, but a Colt made one would have more meaning.

I have to agree with what was said above. If Colt makes one, they will manage to screw it up in some way. Quite possibly, it will end up being another one of those silly commemorative display guns. Or they willl issue an original 1911 (not A1) style gun but screw up and give it features that weren't on the original 1911.

Nothing like the original Colt, of course it wasn't designed by Colt, but by Browning.

I don't care who makes them. They will all be too expensive for me to want to purchase anyway (I like 1911s, but I'm not a die-hard 1911 nut)

At this point who cares? Colt isn't the same company that made them a 100 years ago as well. So the point is kinda mute! The more 1911's on the market the better as long as the quality and are tasteful and not like most of those other commemorative monstrosities!

I am gonna have to say who cares. Colt bought the design from Browning and has reaped all the benefits. They are unoriginal in that it took them nearly 80 years to move away from the Original design.

I've had Colt's and several other brands of 1911's and have enjoyed almost all of them (There was a Hardballer and Thompson I should tell you about sometime).

I buy my guns to shoot, not as safe queens or long term investments.

A 100th anniversary 1911 will probably be too pimped up in one way or another for me to relax and enjoy shooting it for fear of getting a scratch or whatever on it.

For the poll: I could not care less.

Since JMB designed, maybe Browning should do it...........they could make 50 variations (like their shotguns)......

I don't care. Who ever does it will just tack on more to the price for some extra graphics or engraving etc, which I don't like.

It's a gun, not jewelry. Matte black works for me.

Springfield Armory was the other pre WW1 M1911 maker.

Why should Colt be the only one allowed to make a 100th Anniversary model?

If you want a Colt, pay Colt prices.

Wasn't Remington Rand one of the original makers? I'd say S.A. would be another that should make one.

A Browning would be neat....since they have never produced one but designed the original.

Nothing like the original Colt, of course it wasn't designed by Colt, but by Browning.

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A Browning would be neat.

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The gun was designed by a team of engineers at Colt led by Browning, and with features dictated by US Army ordnance officials. It was no one individual's unique effort. And to be clear, "Browning Firearms" was not even started until a decade or two after the 1911 was finished.

Colt hired Browning to help with the process and direct it. They laid out the development capital, and spent years spending it and developing it. The design and development of the gun was on their dime, under their roof, and at their risk.

This does not imply that no one else can or should make a 100th tribute pistol. But an understanding of the facts of its development are worth keeping in mind. Under military and war time necessity, others have made copies of Colt's gun. But it was Colt's gun.

I have no objection to Kimber making a 100th tribute. But what disturbs me is their product is, from a "tribute" aspect, truly awful. It's finished in a silly way that is not in any way historically associated to the 1911, and it's features are just a modern Kimber and nothing reflective of the original 1911 design. It was a truly lazy effort to shamelessly cash in and not a serious "tribute."

The "buzz" is that Colt will be doing something very authentic and sensitive to the original design. I'd expect two levels - a fairly affordable gun along the lines of the O1911 and O1918 reproduction models, but with a more refined finish like the first few hundred military models and the commercial variants. There will then also likely be a higher-dollar "Presentation Grade"

I would like to see an authentic original 1911 as issued back in 1911. No fancy modern materials, or design changes. Old style trigger, no beavertail to prevent hammer bite, etc.

I think that would be pretty cool, I'd buy one.

Hatteras Guy said:

I think that would be pretty cool, I'd buy one.

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Look at the O1918 models still available right now. Street price is about $950 to $1000. Word is they finished the production last November; the final models appear to be working through distributors and dealers right now. They made two runs of 4,000 - one in an oven blued finish (model O1911, 2003 to 2006) and another in the late WWI "Black Army" finish (model O1918, 2006 to 2009). The fit, finish, and accuracy are outstanding. All the original small military and inspection stamps are correct and present, too. The packaging is nice, also. Wrapped in vapor paper in a brown Kraft box like the original, then padded inside a blue Colt Custom Shop box.

Nice, now I want one!

I'm with the folks who say let everyone in the 1911 business make one.

I'll be looking for the one who does the best working man's version; the one that honors the design with great fit and reliability, for a price that puts a good weapon in the hands of anyone who really wants it.

That's the centennial legacy. I'll leave the inlay and gold frippery to folks who want it (nothing wrong with that, either, just not what I'm after personally).