Please explain the allure of the 1911

I like my Springfield 1911 because it is a big .45 caliber auto handgun in a decent sized package. Shoots very well. Reliable as can be so far. People have different opinions on how to carry their guns of course. Unchambered in any gun would not work for me no matter what the configuration.

cocked and locked (and ready to rock)

there is no need to worry about DA trigger pull in defense situation...just flip that safety down and put two in the chest, one in the head, then safety up and inform the authorities

Try to imagine a rifle-like trigger on a pistol.

I understand your trepidation about the cocked and locked thing... but when you consider the pistol, and all it's safety mechanisms I'm not sure there is a safer pistol on the planet.

The 1911 has, perhaps, the largest following of any handgun in the world. There is a reason for that.

I think I would want to keep a 1911 unchambered with hammer down and safety off, even though this would require two hands to operate.

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Do you hunt the same way? I mean, when deer hunting, do you keep the chamber empty?

When duck hunting, do you only load 2 rds in the mag tube and pump one in when the ducks come in?

When rabbit hunting, do you keep the chamber empty until you see the bunny run?

Somehow, I doubt it. Yet those guns are cocked also, with a "safety" only blocking the trigger movement. The 1911 safety blocks the SEAR movement, which is safer.

Otherwise, the only difference is, the other guns have concealed hammers or strikers while the 1911 does not.

just flip that safety down

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An extra step. I'd rather just draw my glock.

Please explain what it is about the 1911 that gives it so many fans.

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I have always wondered this too. Is the trigger/accuracy really that good? People who really know guns, and rely on them for work love them..... then I shoot with them and their $1,500.00 gun jams. I just don't get the love for them.

There are plenty of guns that shoot .45. If you want to shoot that caliber. They only hold 8ish rounds in the mag. You have to carry them cocked and locked, which is less than ideal, they are heavy and they are unreliable. I don't get it either, but I feel like I'm missing something.

Cocked and locked is just a mental perception. The hammer is cocked, but then has 3 safeties that must be disengaged for it to fire. Grip, thumb, and battery. On a Glock, as was risen, you are really carrying the gun cocked and unlocked. The striker is partially cocked behind an approximately 5 lb trigger with no additional safeties. The 1911 pattern actually has an additional safety mechanism between you and the hammer falling than a glock does from the same "in the holster, chamber loaded" position. Imagine a 1911 where you couldn't see the hammer and then delete the thumb safety- that's closer to the glock's readiness position.

Beyond that, yes, the trigger and accuracy is that good. Is it right for everyone? No. Is it right for me? Yes.

Go out and try one, then make up your mind for yourself.

It's all about the trigger. Shoot a good one, you'll know what I mean.

Like the Colt Single Action Army, the 1911 has withstood the test of times.
It continues to serve well in all fields such as defense, sport, and pleasure shooting.
It is a concept of design that has been copied and recopied and modernized to keep up with the times and still performs on par with much more modern handguns.

Love it or hate it, the 1911 has become, and will remain, a classic handgun design and remains a true example of the pure genius of the inventor.

There are lots of reasons

Some love the history. A trusty sidearm that has seen many wars in the hands of our brave soldiers in years past. A work of mechanical art

Some love how they shoot. The wonderful trigger they are capable of (I say it like that because some have crappy heavy triggers out of the box, but that's fixed pretty easily) Very light and very crisp, it aids to accurate shooting. To most people they feel very natural in hand. Nice and slim too (so long as the grips aren't overly thick)

Some are just annoying fanboys though. oh its the only true american handgun, john moses browning and jesus himself created it and the .45 so everything else is stupid and weak

Me, I'm #1 and #2. I think they are an excellent choice for target, competition, etc. But they are not a gun I would ever carry concealed, or carry into war (with the choices we have today)

..the gun speaks for itself...when I bought my first Gov 45 and examined the safety lock with a cocked 45...well, anyways...I now have full confidence in a cocked and locked Colt 45...absolutely!

The 1911 is so popular as the 1912 is gold plated and gaudy as all get out.


Real answers on my opinion tho.
Its a .45acp
Its very thin.
Very reliable.
Not plastic.
Looks like a work of art.
Handles the .45 ammo better than any other gun ive shot recoil wise.

They look nice propped against ammo boxes.

Sorry, slim grips fit my small hands perfectly, natural pointer. Slender slide seems to tuck in next to my fat body for carry. I don't even think about taking the safety off, that's the way I hold the gun, thumb on the safety and pad on the trigger. I never walk in the woods with a rifle with an empty chamber.

Oh, and you can spend a gazillion dollars on ONE GUN!!!!

If you have to ask, you really wouldn't understand. My first experience with a pistol was a Colt 1911 A1 that Uncle Sam so kindly loaned me to carry. When you grabbed it up and shook it, it sounded like all the parts were bouncing around inside the pistol. The accuracy of it was at best, poor. But shooting the damned thing was flat out fun. It felt natural in your hand. Add to that equation the fact your father possibly could have used the same pistol, or it's exact clone, in his time in the military. Nothing is more alluring than holding history in your hands.

The design remains unchanged significantly since it's inception nearly 100 years ago. Glock owners preach that their pistol of choice is perfection, they got a helluva long way to go to match John Moses Browning's creation, if someone here is still around when Glock celebrates their 100th anniversary, let me know. I won't expect a report.

lonegunman summed it all up as well as can be done:

Sure the 1911 is an old design, 100 years old. But it has performed very well for 100 years, the cartridge is still popular and the gun still performs its designed task as well as anything on the market. Old design does not equate to poor design or bad design. I think they still use the old aerofoil technology to make planes fly, since 1903.

So you complain about only having 7 or 8 rounds? Here is an idea. Learn to shoot already. Missing 17 times because you suck is not a firearm problem, when you are down to random chance for a hit probability and demand 17 rounds you really might just want to hire a body guard and stop worrying about carrying a gun. You are a danger to bystanders more than a toughguy.

It's heavy? Go to the gym once and a while buttercup. Not having the strength to carry a gun means you need to stay home already and just sit by the computer looking at one on the table.

It's an old design, obsolete and not needed? Really? Trojan is still making the same design of rubber and it still works. M2HB has been flattening villiagers for 90 years and we love it. Some idiot at Picatinney Arsenal is still trying to make a plastic Browning with a smaller but equal 50 cal round and still failing. Why? He is fixing a non-exisitant problem so nobody cares.

They are not realiable? Really? I have one at home that has fired 12,850rounds with one stoppage and it is documented. I doubt 99% of the internet experts have even seen 12K rounds in one place EVER. I have another that has been in competitive use for twenty years and had one barrel replaced.

There are more modern designs. Really? Have you looked at the Glock, it is slightly different but still the same as every semi-auto pistol ever built. The difference is that it is cheap and plastic. Cheap stamped metal and plastic guns have been around since WWII. The double stack magazine has as well. 9mm parabellum has been around since before WWI. Fixed sights since the gun was invented. Hammer forged barrels for decades as well. Polygon rifling has been in German guns for quite a while. DA only autos, or as they call it, "Safe action", mushy DAO with lousy feel, no as uncommon as you might think.

While materials have improved over the last 100 years and we can make many parts from plastic, carbon fiber, aluminum or some other space aged metal or material, very little has changed in design or function. Ballistics has not improved either, bullet technology has made some advances. But making a bullet that is shaped in a way that impacts the feeding as designed is not a real improvement.

A Glock might be different, hold more ammo that was designed 100 years ago, cheap or lighter to carry but it is far from new and innovative. Glock is a thirty year old design as well.

When the caseless ammunition, limitless feeding, electromagnetic rail gun arrives then you have something new.

The 1911 is my favorite handgun by far.

Everyone forgive me if this has been stated, I have only glanced at the responses so far, but I'm confident the information is very good and I could scarcely add to it, so allow me this little indulgence...

The explanation for the allure of the 1911 is that the allure of the 1911 requires no explanation.


...hence it's popularity and endurance all these years.


It's OK if you don't get it, different strokes for different folks, and there are many valid reasons for owning any of the many excellent alternatives in the way of handguns.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled 1911 love-fest.
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I was nervous about carrying cocked and locked when I got my first one. So, I wore around the house and out working around the property with a snap cap in the chamber.

Within a week, I was fully confident that there was no way that hammer could fall, unless I pulled it out of the holster, squeezed the grip safety, disengaged the thumb safety, then pressed the trigger.

It's been several years now of almost daily carry and handling, and I've never had an accidental or negligent discharge with one.

Why do I like them?

They point more naturally for me than any other pistol I've tried.

They're narrow.

The single action trigger.

They are steel. The weight is great for absorbing recoil, an added margin of safety in the event of kaboom, and makes a better improvised club/hammer than a plastic gun.

I can pick up the phone and have every single part to build another one in my hands in just a few days.

And yes, the nostalgia. My Great Grandfather carried one in WWI, Granddad carried one in WWII, and my Dad carried one in Vietnam, and later, let me fire my first centerfire pistol rounds with one.

It is the original home of the .45 Automatic cartridge. It has a long history of being used in several wars by countless soldiers, as well as by colorful fictional characters. When properly set up, its crisp and clean trigger makes it easy to shoot. When carried "cocked and locked," it is fast into action and accurate, probably providing the best combination of both. Despite its overall size and weight, it is very slender and flat. If the size and weight of an all steel version is excessive for all day carry, there are aluminum-frame and/or shorter versions available. (Don't go too short.)

I am familiar with the DA/SA SIG 226 and HK USP in .40 S&W, but I am a bit spooked by cocked and locked.

I think I would want to keep a 1911 unchambered with hammer down and safety off, even though this would require two hands to operate.

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A handgun must be able to operate and shoot with only one hand. This would completely negate its biggest advantage, the speed into action. It is most efficient - and actually safest - when cocked and locked.

Do they come with LEft hand safeties?

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Yes, you can buy them with ambidextrous (i.e., levers on both sides) safeties already installed, or have an aftermarket one installed on a single-sided.

My beef with the 1911 is that neither of the two specimens I owned were reliable. This is not an indictment of the original design and engineering, but of so many makers building them to slightly different specs and variable quality control.

My beef with the 1911 is that neither of the two specimens I owned were reliable. This is not an indictment of the original design and engineering, but of so many makers building them to slightly different specs and variable quality control.

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So your beef is really with a certain maker (or two). I could say I have a beef with automobiles because I had a couple of lemons from Ford.

I'm in the same boat. I'll probably never buy another Colt or Kimber, but there are many other names I'll not hesitate to purchase.

1911 cocked and locked is far more "safe" to carry than a Glock or M&P with one in the tube.

imo, the lure of the 1911 is the trigger, ergonomics, history, and cool looks. for hd, i'd never choose one over my xd 45, though, just for the mag capacity. (i can also shoot said xd 45 as well as my 1911)

#1 SA trigger
#2 "soft shooting" pistol (full size), easy to control
#3 long proven to be amongst the very best of all handgun rounds for "stopping" power, based on real world

any one of the three alone, would be worth a lot, all three in combination....

I don't own a 1911 yet. I purchased one last week but don't have possession yet. But I did shoot my friend's Colt a few weeks ago. That Colt put up groups way better than anything I can do with my other guns. That was the allure for me.

#1 SA trigger
#2 "soft shooting" pistol (full size), easy to control
#3 long proven to be amongst the very best of all handgun rounds for "stopping" power, based on real world

any one of the three alone, would be worth a lot, all three in combination....

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You can get all three, together with a larger mag capacity, in a xd 45. Yes, the xd is actually a single action trigger, as the striker is fully cocked when the slide is racked. And, shot side by side with my 1911, the xd soaks up recoil better.

So I don't think that really explains the allure. There's more to it.

"then I shoot with them and their $1,500.00 gun jams."

couple of guys on this forum can explain that extremely well
(1911Tuner and old Fuff come readily to mind)
the difference between race guns, wannabe race guns, and combat guns