Best 1911

What is the best 1911?

  • Colt

    Votes: 51 29.8%
  • Ed Brown

    Votes: 27 15.8%
  • Kimber

    Votes: 18 10.5%
  • Les Baer

    Votes: 24 14.0%
  • Para Ordnance

    Votes: 1 0.6%
  • Rock Island

    Votes: 9 5.3%
  • Rock River

    Votes: 4 2.3%
  • Sig

    Votes: 6 3.5%
  • Smith and Wesson

    Votes: 14 8.2%
  • Springfield

    Votes: 17 9.9%

  • Total voters
    171
  • Poll closed .
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STI make the best 1911 these days, in days gone by it was Colt. Baer and Brown make good semicustom pistols as do Wilson and Nighthawk, the STI may not be the prettiest girl at the dance, just the best dancer.
 
I don't claim it's the best 1911 ever made or being made, but my favorite one is a Colt Series 70 Gold Cup that I bought new in the early seventies. I've shot it extensively over the years in Bullseye meets and it has never let me down, shooting mostly my own reloads.
 
What is the best 1911? The one in your hand when that bad day comes and some bad man tries to take your life or the life of a loved-one and you drop the bad man with your 1911, that's the best 1911 in the world.
Bob
 
I have a Rock Island, and love it. After I had my gunsmith do a throat and polish job and install a heavier recoil spring, it has been 100% reliable and accurate. However, if I could do it all over again, I'd probably spend a little extra money and get a Springfield just because of the higher resale value.
 
My Les Baer is like one solid chunk of steel but it works 100 percent and is super accurate! YMMV, but I voted the best in my stable of about a dozen different models in my possession.
 
The semi-custom guns are great, like these from Nighthawk, RRA, Les Baer, Springfield, Wilson, Guncrafter, Ed Brown, and Volkmann.


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However, the full custom guns from the top builders are where the best 1911s lie.


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I voted Ed Brown.

I either own, have owned, or shot all of what you have listed. You asked which was BEST, not, best value, for the money.
 
STI make the best 1911 these days, in days gone by it was Colt. Baer and Brown make good semicustom pistols as do Wilson and Nighthawk, the STI may not be the prettiest girl at the dance, just the best dancer.

I'm surprised there are a couple votes for STI, to be honest. I like them myself, but I don't feel they're on par with even the semi-custom guns, let alone some of the full blown custom 1911s.

My favorite STI is the now discontinued Legacy.


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Now, I could certainly see an argument for SVI to be among the best 1911s. These are top quality, full custom builds.


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Now, I could certainly see an argument for SVI to be among the best 1911s. These are top quality, full custom builds

My thoughts exactly. The only reasons you see STIs dominating the ranks of the run-and-gun shooters is because they build several thousand guns a year and SVI makes about 300. Also, SVI do not sell their frames to gunsmiths.
 
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