Wilson compact or Ed Brown Kobra Carry

Well it wasn't free, but my Ed Brown Kobra Carry just spoke to me. It said, "Hey, buy me!"

I couldn't shoot the two to compare, but the EB was, and is my ultimate 1911.

I'd pick the Kobra Carry for free. I specifically want that model. THEN since the Ed Brown was free, I'd BUY a Wislon.

I'd take the Wilson Combat any day of the week and twice on Sunday...though I have a slightly biased opinion as I own and carry a Wilson CQB.

For me my CQB is the best package out there for daily carry. My Wilson CQB was ordered with the intent of carrying and my specs are indicative of as much. I ordered it all steel with the unerside of the trigger guard checkered and the back of the slide and extractor serrated. I also opted for the then standard night sights and upcharge round butt all finished in black Armor-Tuff. I did end up changing the finish a while back to NP3 because as nice as the Armor-Tuff looked and worked, curiosity got the best of me and I had to try NP3 myself. I've been abundantly happy with the decision thus far.

I really like the shorter round butt grip on my Wilson, it fits my hand perfectly and conceals beautifully for me (I'm not a big guy at 5'8" and 135 lbs), the all steel construction makes for great controllability during shooting and allows for quick accurate follow up shots. The trigger is a dream at just over 3lbs with no creep or bounce and minimal take up. The night sights are ridiculously easy to align properly in low light with the yellow tritium dot rear sights and the green tritium front, there's no guess work.

Don't get me wrong, Ed Brown makes a fine pistol, but They make a standard Commander length grip with makes concealment a little tricky for me, even with the bob tail treatment that I've never cared for in terms of in hand feel. I would simply prefer a shorter grip than the slightly odd feel of having the lower rear third of the gun lopped off.

Between Wilson and Ed Brown, I'd say it's anyone's guess as to which is more accurate; for these two it's really splitting hairs. Same for reliability, but I will say that Wilson is reputed as havig the best customer service out there whereas there are many reported horror stories relating to Ed Brown's customer service.

So, in case there was any question about it after reading the above my vote goes to Wilson Combat all the way.

^^^^^^^^^^ What he said ^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I've already got a Kobra Carry and although I have a Wilson, it is a full-size.

I'd REALLY like a Kobra Carry on the aluminum frame!!

Either way, very, very, VERY nice equipment. I do however have one recommendatino that most you experienced 1911 guys will take for granted or even laugh at, but because of the close and tight tolerances of these makers I would do two things before I trusted my life to these weapons.
First, I would coat the slide rails, hood sides, and the area where the barrell engages the slide all with a polish or super fine compound of some type.
I would NOT put polish or compound or anything but oil on anything in the hammer/sear/safeties areas and or on the link pin or lockup mechanisms.
I would then shoot HUNDREDS of rounds of your specified self defense use ammo, (not the cheap round ball target lead, but the stuff you're going to carry with,) and see what happens.
AFter you've shot three hundred or so rounds of that ammo with the polish clean the gun completely and lube up and trust it.
Many of you believe that a brand new out of the box gun is the most trustworthy it'll ever be, and this of course, is exactly the opposite. A new, tight, gun is the least trustworthy as far as feeding goes. For bullseye competition where ftf doesn't mean anything, fine, but for carry, hundreds of rounds done without failure are required before you should trust any gun.
Unless of course, it's a plastic framed glock, then the flex in the frame gives way during the feeding process, and I would completely trust one of those after about a hundred rounds.
Now, before you guys get all riled up, I"m not saying one design is better than the other. I own both, and love both, and recognize them for what they are. I'm simply saying that plastic flexes and gives more than steel. That's all I'm saying. Don't flame up and roar about because I'm not saying I appreciate a 500$ plastic gun over a $2500 EB or WC, because I don't, I see the advantages of both.
What I AM SAYING, is that because cold steel, or stainless, or TI, gives less and flexes less than plastic, you should give LONGER break in periods and tune/adjust until MORE ROUNDS are fed without any hiccups.
Nice guns, post a pic when you get it.

Ed Brown answers this exact issue on his site:

What type of accuracy are your handguns capable of at 50 yards? Which models are most accurate? Does a 1911 barrel/slide/frame fit have to be super tight to get the most accuracy possible?

Ed Brown guns are capable of producing the accuracy the highest quality ammunition is capable of. With a 45 ACP, this is about 1 1/2" at 50 yards. A common misconception is that a gun has to be extremely tight to be accurate. What is required to reach the accuracy potential is consistent lock up of the critical components. Any tighter than zero movement is useless, and can only reduce reliability and detract from handling. It doesn't have to be tight, it just has to be right...

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With Ed Brown, Wilson, Nighthawk or Volkmann, I'd say it's unnecessary to use the polish/fine cut compound on the slide/frame rails. Just take it out of the box (or bag as it were) and run 500-700 rounds of hardball through the gun. DO NOT CLEAN THE GUN DURING THIS PERIOD. From there, clean the gun thoroughly and lube it and then run 300-400 rounds of your intended carry ammo through the gun, again without cleaning the gun in between. After that, disassemble the gun to its base parts (i.e. detail strip it), clean and lube thoroughly, re-assemble, run 50 or so more rounds of your carry ammo, clean, lube and put to use for carry.

Running the gun 'dirty' as described above will accomplish the same thing as running the gun with a bit of polish or light compound, but is a lot less abrasive and less likely to screw with the slide to frame fit, barrel to slide fit and barrel to frame fit.

FWIW, the only gun I've found it necessary to run with a little abrasive on the rails is my Les Baer Thunder Ranch. There are tight 1911s and then there are Les Baer's 1911s. To give you an idea, I have about 5000 rounds of ball ammo through my Baer and it's still tighter than any other gun I have, nearly to a fault as racking the slide from battery with the hammer down can be a chore as can disassembly for basic cleaning.

When you're deciding between an Ed Brown & a Wilson Combat you're picking the fly scat out of the pepper. There are NO subjective reasons why anyone could possibly justify one being clearly superior to the other. What I find most amazing is that 1911 variants of this quality are considered simply high-end, off-the-shelf factory offerings & not FULL-ON CUSTOMS! We all are very fortunate to be living in the Golden Age of the 1911.

Wilson, just because I don't really like Ed Brown. Something about them is just sorta... "eh" to me.

800-100 rounds to break in a pistol? Really?

I'd just stick with my Browning Hipowers and Springfield XD's if I believed that was the case.

browningguy said:

800-100 rounds to break in a pistol? Really?

I'd just stick with my Browning Hipowers and Springfield XD's if I believed that was the case.

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Not really necessary by any stretch, generally 400-500 is sufficient, but before I carry a gun, I'll run anwhere between 800 and 1000 rounds without it failing for any reason...just makes me more at ease about trusting my life to the gun in the unfortunate event it needs to be deployed for its purpose.

This is why I would go with ED Brown VS Wilson, they have a legal written lifetime warranty, and Wilson does not.

"In addition to the excellent service we offer, effective April 10, 2007, all Ed Brown firearms include a legal written limited lifetime warranty as well. We are the only high end 1911 manufacturer to our knowledge who offers a legal written lifetime warranty on firearms, which demonstrates the confidence we have in our product. Anyone can claim their service is the best (and most do), but to go a step further and put it in writing in a legal warranty is something that Ed Brown Products, Inc. does, and the others avoid."

Wilson has this statement on their Website.

NO WRITTEN WARRANTY: Due to the complexities of complying with the Federal warranty law, Wilson’s Gun Shop, Inc. does not offer a written warranty. We continue to stand behind our products and services, and to care for our customers, but we cannot make guarantees or warranties of any kind. This general statement of policies and disclaimers is effective July 1, 1985, and no prior statements or promises shall be of any effect for transactions after July 1, 1985.

But side by side I believe both guns to be equal.

Porsche or BMW?

Only you can really answer your question. What's nice is there is no wrong answer.

For me, I bought a Les Baer and couldn't be happier!

the reason you want to use polish on the gun instead of shooting it without cleaning it, is because shooting a new gun without cleaning it can allow the metal machining edges and marks to collect into fragments that eat away at moving parts. With polish, the fragments from machining and tooling will not ball up, but will instead stay put and wear down in place. Shooting a gun with polish when it's new allows the metal to break in easier and smoother than shooting it a lot without cleaning it. This is the very reason GLock puts that copper colored grease on the slide where it pushed the disconnector back and forth. That copper grease has polish in it, so it "smoothes" the metal as it breaks it in, instead of just wearing it in hard, which can sometimes lead to galling.

I want to like the Kobra Carry but I just HATE the bobtail feel in my hand

For me it would be a Les Baer TRS. A training acquaintance has invested in more than a dozen high $$ 1911s, and found the TRS to be head and shoulders, above and beyond.

Since I have and carry the Dan Wesson copy I would go with the Kobra.

I like the bob tail.

MICHAEL T said:

I like the bob tail.

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Me too!!

I would choose the Ed Brown Kobra Carry or even a Dan Wesson V-Bob over the Wilson CQB Compact if for no other reason than they're both available with stainless steel frames and slides. Add in the bobbed frame, snakeskin checkering on the Kobra and 25lpi on the V-Bob and it's no contest. I would choose the 10-8 rear sight if ordering the Kobra Carry. The V-Bob comes with Heinie sights and a superior finish but less attention to detail. However, at $1,900 the V-Bob is still a great option.