Best 1911 Manufacturer

[Raspu10]

I'm Looking Into Buying A 1911 And Was Wondering What Would Be The Best Manufacturer Of These Three Manufactures To Purchase From?

Note: PICK ONE OUT OF THESE.. I realize Customs Are Better, But I Will be Getting One Of The Following.

I apologize for not being as specific when i made the post.

 

[Raspu10]

If you have another option in mind please feel free to post your opinion.

 

[f4t9r]

The best are not on the list. Ed Brown, Les Baer & Wilson would be the Best with Nighthawk & RRA included. The ones you listed are all good without alot of difference. Go to a shop and handle each one or rent them from a range if possible. Then pick the one you want. Asking which is best is like asking Chevy or Ford. I would like to have dollar for everytime this is ask. You could do a search and find out peoples opinions on this subject all day long. I have one Springfield and two Kimbers and one RIA. Would love to have a high end 1911 like a Baer or Wilson. Maybe someday

 

[Raspu10]

best among the group i listed... i dont want custom.. too expensive Lol

 

[Newton]

Wow short list, needs to be about 3 times as long for a decent comparison and specifically include Nighthawk, which would be my pick.

 

[Raspu10]

well i made the same post in "TFL" But It Came Down To These Three Out Of 15 I Listed And I Didnt Want Customs Like Nighthawk Because Of There Price.

 

[trbon8r]

Colt makes the best quality gun of the three companies listed. Colt uses mostly bar stock parts instead of the MIM parts which Springfield and Kimber use to a large degree. Colt uses the proper spring steel for their extractors, and bar stock hammers and slide stops as it should be while others use MIM for these components. Colt does use MIM for the sear and disconnector, both of which can be replaced for a small amount of money if you desire while getting a trigger job done on the pistol.

Kimber and Springfield may have a lot of bells and whistles on their guns, but the Colts work great right out of the box, and Colt doesn't lie to the customer about "break in periods" or other such nonsense. Any production 1911 should work, and work right out of the box, period. Colts do that.

It's common knowledge the tooling in the Colt plant is on the vintage side. Colts are made the old school way and don't take advantage of as much of the modern CNC machining as the Kimber or Springfield. This is both good and bad. Building a Colt is dependent upon more work being done by the human hand than the Kimber or SA. The downside to this is Colts sometimes suffer from some strange defects on occasion. It's not unheard of to see a Colt that has the hammer pins drilled a little off center in the frame, causing the hammer to lean to one side or the other when looked at from the rear. The other famous defect is a recoil spring tunnel which can be drilled slightly off center when looking at the front of the pistol.

I recommend that if you buy a Colt, you look at the gun first before buying to make sure the gun doesn't have either of the two above defects which Colt for whatever reason seems to refuse to address. If the gun checks out good, by all means buy it!! You will be getting an excellent pistol.

 

[Raspu10]

Excuse Me For Being a NOOBLET But Whats "MIM"?

 

[alucard0822]

If you don't want a "custom" 1911 and don't want to spend a lot, look at Rock Island Arsenal, springfield mil-spec, kimber custom II or Colt series 70. I have a Kimber custom target, I like it, but the finish on the MIM controls is crappy (started rubbing off after a couple thousand rounds, it gets the occasional misfeed, but shoots cloverleafs all day long. My RIA is in 38super, was inexpensive, fairly accurate, and functions perfectly, the finish is a little rough but durable. I would suggest either saving your loot for a wilson/baer/brown/nighthawk, or going with a RIA, base colt (nicestof the three mentioned), or springer mil-spec.

Excuse Me For Being a NOOBLET But Whats "MIM"?

Metal injection molding, basically metal dust is injected in a mold under presssure, and high heat, causing the parcticles to weld themselves together. Jurys still out on this one, makes a strong, but sometimes brittle part made to exact tolerences for a low cost.

 

[Hunter0924]

trbon8r is exactly correct. I have seen the Colt plant with my own eyes and their pistols are hand built by quality materials by craftsmen and craftswomen that know their job well.
My vote goes for the Colt hands down.

 

[possum]

well i tell you that i would sa springfield, kimber in that order. there are many great models made by both companies, and sa takes care of thier customers and you will have a liftime of support for your weapon. there is one man in particular that i respect his opinion very much his name is James Yeager and he has stated that of the 1911s that he has seen at tactical response in the many courses that kimber, sa, and sti are the best.

 

[Raspu10]

Is MIM A Bad Thing Cuz From What I Heard It Doesn't Sound Half Bad.

 

[hotwheelz]

here is another vote for "Colt" the new xse line has all the extra's that everyone else is selling but no " BREAK IN" required. This has allways been a wonder to me that you buy a gun and please run 500rnds to break in why? I say go with the original 100+ years of building and refining must say something.

 

[10-Ring]

In my mind, it has always been COLT

 

[possum]

MIM metal injected molding:

in my opoinion if done right there ain't nothing wrong with it just like everything else. i know that sa uses far less MIM in thier 1911 handguns than kimber does.

 

[Old Dog]

Judging by the results thus far, folks seem to be putting stock into what all the internet Kimber-bashers are spewing forth.

While I believe SA is more consistent in producing reliable pistols (and is unrivaled in the industry as far as customer service), I like Colt's (especially since the advent of the Series 70 reissue) and Kimber still puts out worthy, and some really cool pistols.

 

[gunman42782]

I don't know why there is so much Kimber bashing on the net. My Custom Carry 2 has been an outstanding performer so far. I admit I have only shot about 300 rounds through her, but the only stoppages I have experience were a couple times the last round in the mag failed to feed, and that was within the first 100 rounds.

 

[combatantr2]

No intention to sidetrack the poll, but I have yet to see a NORINCO owner that is not happy with them as far as reliability is concerned. NORCs may fail in the 'looks' department, though.

 

[Ala Dan]

I know that most will say "the prancing pony; but I voted for Springfield Armory~!

 

[Zach S]

Norcs are hard to come by now though. And some of them are beat to hell and priced higher than NIB mil-specs because they used to be a lot more gun for the money.

I'm on the fence. Nothing has ever broke on any of my Mimbers, the SA mil-spec I had ran like a top, and the Colt 1991 I had did as well, even though it rattled like a bag of bolts.

Used Colts are like used Harleys. By buying used you save a couple bucks, sometimes you spend more. The same could be said for Kimbers, the pre-series II guns anyway. However I have four of them, the least expensive being $500 and the most being $650.

I cant bring myself to vote for Kimber because of the front serrations and FLGRs. But I cant really vote for the other two since I've only had one of each.

 

[Geno]

For fact any company can turn out excellent examples of 1911s, and horrid examples of 1911s. That's just life and manufacturing. I've never owned a Springfield 1911, and so can't speak from experience. I have owned 15 Kimbers and still have my Warrior. Fully 33% of my Kimbers were factory defective and had to go back to the factory bewteen 1 to 2 times each. One needed to go back a 3rd time, but I sold it instead. I also own several Colts. None of my Colts has been defective. See sentence #1 again. Just because I have not had any defective Colt doesn't mean they don't exist.

Whichever you buy, give it a good once-over before you buy it. I suspect what you will get in such a thread as this is 99% opinion, and less than 1% hard-fact. Most people like what they own. If you use the search feature, you will find that this topic has been done to an unimaginable degree.

I suggest buying a used 1911, face-to-face. Take it to the range and put 150 to 250 rounds through it with no cooling down, just adding oil bewteen 125 to 150 rounds then continue. Best test there is. I did such a test with my Colt Series 70 reissue...in 3,000 rounds it never had any failures of any form. The 1911 adopted by the military had to pass such a test with 6,000 rounds. It was cooled every 1,000 rounds, and oil added around every 150 rounds.

JMHO.

Doc2005

 

[Walkalong]

Colt or Springfield. Both have strong points.

Kimber. I have had two that worked flawlessly, and just bought a used 9MM Tactical Pro, but they would not be my first choice if I was buying a new 1911, especially if I was forking out $1000 to $1100 for one.

My Series 80 Colt is my nicest 1911. My old LW Commander justs keeps chuggin' along after all these years.

My old box stock Springfield is still flawless after many, many years. It is the one I would take to battle with me. Loose, absolutely reliable, machined parts, plenty enough accurate.

 

[GunNut]

The ally put out fine weapons, and even a few duds.

I voted for Colt as it seems there are less complaints about them, with Springfield Armory being next and Kimber being last.

That's not to say one is better than the next. I've never had an issue with any of them, as have most, but the one that do complain profusely.

 

[REPOMAN]

Look into the Rock Island 1911's before you jump!!!!!!! You may not have to get as wet!!!!

 

[Ghost Tracker]

I was a mule-headed Colt Snob before anyone else made a serious dent into the 1911 market. I've owned & shot all the brands mentioned extensively. We should all be THANKFUL for the heavily crowded competition for our 1911 dollars because today's 1911-style pistols are better than ANYTHING made in the 70's-80's by anyone! CNC Machining Cells have made the fit & tolerances of even mid-grade 1911 pistols as good as the best were 20 years ago. Industry-wide 1911 sales competition has only made our buying options better, cheaper...and more fun!