Does a 100% reliable compact 1911 exist?

[TurboFC3S]

I really want a compact 1911 for carry, chambered in .45 ... no 9mm for this discussion. Thus far I've had a Para Warthawg and a Kimber Ultra Covert II, neither has been reliable. I sold the Kimber, and am planning to send the Para back for service - the Para tech I spoke with guaranteed 100% reliability after service, so I'm giving it a shot. But I'm not too optimistic.

So assuming it doesn't get fixed to my satisfaction, what else should I be looking at? Does an honest 100% 3" 1911 exist?

 

[geronimo509]

my kimber ultra carry II has been 100% reliable, so is my brothers, but it seems to be a hit or miss with them. Good luck in your search.

 

[TurboFC3S]

How many rounds do each have through them, approx?

 

[Jim Watson]

I have a Colt OACP and a SA Ultra Compact that do very well. But neither one is like it came out of the factory. I am blessed to have a local gunsmith who knows his way around the type.

 

[geronimo509]

Somewhere around 2k I believe

 

[EHL]

My Kimber Ultra Eclipse has been great! I did have a few tweeks that my local smith took care of, but this gun is great! She'll chamber anything and everything, and is reliable as anything else I could compare her to.

 

[John Parker]

Is there any 100% reliable gun anywhere in the world?
The answer is a resounding no.

 

[wditto]

no, not 100%

 

[krs]

My Colt New Agent hasn't hiccuped even, so far. I fire lead SWC reloads in it almost exclusively. Others say that the gun feeds their HP ammo just as well, but I've never tried any. Big lead slug makes sense to me, loaded to under 800 fps keeps the gun friendly to shoot. We're getting along just fine.

 

[Tirod]

No gun is 100% reliable.

Worse, no gun owner is 100% dead accurate and always checks their backstop, carries locked and loaded at the exact right time, perceives a deadly situation omnisciently, and lives in a crime free society.

There is no guarantee of screwing up. Just do your best and buy a firearm that is inherently more reliable - and that tends to lean toward 4" striker fired late models.

Your search confirms what a lot refuse to acknowledge - the 90 year old chopped and channeled hot rod 1911 is not dead nuts reliable. The military and LEO users don't support it anymore. They want what Browning moved on to - a double stack DA in a modern design.

Those seem to be a lot more reliable - and they have more firepower.

 

[cocojo]

Wait and give the Para a chance see what happens. If the gun acts up again you may want to look into another pistol. The problem is that the 1911 was designed from the begining as a 5 inch gun not three.To get the three inch gun to function is not an easy task, so reliablity percentages starts to drop off. Like stated above nothing is 100%. Anything in the 90's is a fine working gun. Lets not forget it's a machine, nothing more. Look at your vehicle you drive is it 100% forever. Price of a car is much more than any pistol. Give the para a chance. I do have a Para PDA but it's 9mm and it functions superbly. I love the 45 caliber, but I have no problems with the 9mm.

 

[boatingboy]

My colt defender has been 100% reliable

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

These seem to be a "hit or miss" proposition. If you get a good one, keep it. Others seem to continually malfunction despite several trips back to the maker and can never be fixed.

 

[Walkalong]

Yes-------------------. (reread the title....compact...arghhh

The military and LEO users don't support it anymore. They want what Browning moved on to

Nonsense.

 

[orionengnr]

I've owned two reliable Para C-6s (one required a bit of extractor fiddling), a Colt Defender that worked just fine, three Kimber Ultras that have been perfect (still own two of them), and my GF recently purchased a Springfield Micro that has been (so far) perfect.

On the other side, I owned a Charles Daly 3" that started at 50% (every other round would mis-feed). I managed to get it to about 95%, but that wasn't quite enough, so I sold it to a guy whose FIL was a gunsmith. Yes, I sold it with full disclosure and took a loss on it.

In my limited experience, 3" 1911 unreliability is a myth. I have had about the same success rates with 4" and 5" 1911s.
Actually, I've had more troubles with 5" 1911s than with 3"ers.

 

[mljdeckard]

Military and LE users support SA autos plenty. It's their leadership up in the adminisphere that don't.

When I first saw the Para Hawg-9, Nite-hawg, etc, I was drooling. But every single one I have heard of has had problems. (I've seen some pretty "Are you kidding me" problems with their full-size 1911s too lately,) I think I'd look at pretty much anything but right now.

I have heard good things from more than one place about the Springfield Armory EMP, I wouldn't mind giving one a look. But if I was lookijng for the most reliable sub-compact on the market, I would probably get a sub-compact Glock in my preferred caliber.

 

[weisse52]

Quote:
The military and LEO users don't support it anymore. They want what Browning moved on to
_____________

Quote:
Nonsense.
_____________

That is way more than nonsense, it is misleading and wrong.

JMB started the design of the BHP, not seeing many of either carrying that.
Military moved on to standardize on the 9MM that NATO used. And LEO selection process is more a function of cost than anything else.(exceptions do exist somewhere I am sure)


Now, having said that, NO 3" 1911 is 100% reliable. It is a hit or miss propotion for sure.

And yes I owned one, and no it was not 100%

 

[Bushwacker1962]

Turbo, My advice is to buy good defense ammo. Buy a Colt Officer, shoot alot of ammo through it to break it in. At least 500 rounds. Magazines should be original or of very good quality like Chip Mcormik, or Metalform. An auto can be finicky to say the least. Many factors can cause problems. Weak or to strong of recoil springs and such. If that fails you send it to a smith for a reliability job. Best wishes.

 

[distra]

My reading has lead me to believe the Para is not a weapon to rely on with multiple failures. I have a Springfield Micro compact 1911 that has been 100% reliable with Hornady TAP, Win JHP, and Speer Gold dots for defense and pretty much any FMJ RN. The Kimber is supposed to be a great little 1911 too, but I've seen too many Kimbjammers to trust it personally. So to answer your question, yes there are compact 1911's that are very reliable. Colt defender is another that has gotten good reviews.

 

[Clarence]

I've owned 3 compact 1911's. 1 of them was completely unreliable, 1 was unreliable occasionally, and the last one was completely reliable if you changed the recoil springs every 300 - 400 rounds.

That is why I'm currently carrying an Ed Brown Special Forces. I have over 3000 rounds through it without so much as a hiccup.

 

[KyJim]

Reliability is real hit and miss on 3 inch barrel guns. Colt probably does them better than anybody else. I would move up to a 4 or 4.25 inch barrel. Except for pocket carry, they are just about as concealable as the smaller guns, especially if you get one with an officer length grip frame.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

The hit or miss issue is due to timing. The .45 acp was originally designed for a 5" barrel and appropriate length (and mass) of slide that would move a given distance with a given weight of recoil spring while firing a 230 grain bullet 830 fps (or 850 or whatever it was). Basically, the standard is the ammo that is designed for the original gun parameters. So when you get a 3 or 3.5" barrel, you have removed much of the mass such that during recoil, it tends to travel overly fast, too fast for proper cycling. So recoil spring weights were increased to simulate more mass and reduce slide speed. That worked fairly well, but then 2 stage spring sets were found to work even better, all in the name of slowing down the slide so as to retain the proper timing.

 

[Jim K]

One way to approach 100% reliability is simple - go with a good revolver. That eliminates most of the problems of autoloaders.

But I agree that no gun, or any other device made by man, is 100% perfect.

Jim

 

[Lookn4Brass]

Double Naught Spy hit the nail on the head. I've just spent ALOT of time with a 3.5" Colt 1911 gun, and the reliability issues are definitely coming into play because of all the extra rockin and rollin going on in the slide/barrel/linkage/timing issues. I thought I liked Officer's ACP models enough to own one, until I had to work on one recently. If someone shoots high velocity or heavy recoil loads out of one for a while, it really causes problems. There has been an untold amount of man hours and $$ on this one. The guy who owns it has really dug himself a hole trying to fix it. I had alot more success with a 4" gun years ago when I built up a custom carry gun out of a Springfield Compact with 4" barrel, the first edition series, in stainless. I miss that gun. It was as good as my custom 5" gun, and would "run like a sewing machine". I'm glad that at least some of us have had success with the short .45's ... Personally, I can't trust my life to one. Right now I've got to stick with what works for me - a hand-tuned 5" 1911 or my Springfield XD Service Model 9mm.