uh oh you've stirred the hive now.......!
what i am about to say is based on the posts i've put out in the past 6 months, at various times asking approximately the same question. and on the experiences of the FFL dealer that i do most of my shopping a buying through (my dealings with the man lead me to take what he says as truthful to HIS experience) be warned there is a part of this post where i will speak "1911 blasphemy" .....
i'm betting that one of two things will happen now. you'll either get a roaring silence, or you'll see the majority of the resposes coming from, folks who don't own an A-O gun of any sort , and never have. telling you to stay away from them (auto-ord) for a multitude of reasons. ranging from "they're not fit for trotline anchors" to objections to buying ANYTHING that gives money to Kahr, b/c Kahr is owned by Justin (son of Sun Jung) Moon, and "one should not support them Moonies!!".
so i will give you MY (another person who has looked as deeply as he could into the question of getting an Auto-Ordnace 1911) take on the situation. eventually i WILL be getting one of AO's parkerized 1911A1s. adn here is my take on the major objections.
1. the fact that Kahr and thus AO is owned by the business arm of the "moonies" (never can remember the offical name). ok answer this question. if you're Catholic would you buy from a company owned by a Protestant?? a person of the jewish faith?? even if they've made a pledge to tithe back a portoin of their profits to their church. i bet you say "YES! of course!! why the heck not?!?" to me it's the same deal a religion is a religion (with very few exceptions satanism amoung them). but it's YOUR choice.
2. the level of quality control assurance under the previous owners (numrich inc. aka "Gunparts"). if we hold to this logic no one would buy ANY product by any company that had ben through a bad spell b/c of a change in leadership or being sold to a company interested only in the brand name. (winchester, and Harley Davidson come to mind) truth is the QC since Kahr took over has steadily improved (this from the mouth of my local FFL dealer who stands behind all his sales) to the point where (again in my dealer's words) the "lemon rate" is about the same as that of springfield.
the local FFL dealer i go through for almost all my "gun dealings" perfers to sell Auto-ordnace over all the other common "entry level" 1911s on the market. but has had quit stocking them b/c he's a very small shop and the bad rep built during the "numrich years" makes them rather slow sellers compared to say charles Daly and Springfield. but if asked his oppinion on an inexpensive decent 1911, by a customer that is willing to wait a day or two fora gun to come in, he'll still suggest the AO as a first line choice.
like i said others are very likely to rip my statements to shreds. and again, this is ONLY my milage on the subject. what i have observed, and been told by a reliable source that could have told me that the AO was a cheap piece of trash, simply to get me to buy a more expensive gun from him. i have not yet bought ANY 1911 from him, and in truth my next pistol purchase will be a springfield Mil-spec, but this is due to the gun being for the mutual use of myself and my wife, and my wife wants the Springfield b/c she can see the 3-dot sights on it better than the "millitary minimal" sights on the AO "Parkerized"
good luck
