Fair test or not: Colt 1911 .45 ACP

Status
Not open for further replies.
Not only is a sample of one for each gun tested insignificant, if you watch his videos, note how long each gun is placed in the mud or swished through the water ... he's totally gaming his "tests."
 
I can't see any reason I would ever subject my equipment to such things. If I go to places where I might fall in the mud, I take a Wilderness Safepacker. If I didn't bring one, I'll wrap my gun in clothing to protect it.

So I guess this means this particular 1911 doesn't pass this particular idiot-user test. I suppose if you want to stick a gun in a swamp and still have it go bang, you should get a Glock. That's why I bought mine, and I still had it in a Safepacker.
 
The subject of the viability of the 1911 series pistol is rather interesting. The gentleman in my life time whom was the biggest proponent of the 1911 series pistol and the modern technique of the pistol was Jeff Cooper. Jeff Cooper in his USMC service was never involved directly in ground combat during WW2. He commanded the Marine detachment on the battleship USS Pennsylvania. He did participate in naval gun fire assessment survey thou. During the Korean War his service was clandestine in the Far East.

Of those respondents' "to Fair test or not: Colt 1911 .45ACP" whom has actual military combat or law enforcement, or self defense experience with the subject pistol.
 
Devonai said:
Many years ago my buddy's Saab 900 got stuck in the mud on a NH back road. While digging it out, my Beretta 96 worked its way out of my shoulder holster and went into the soup. Fortunately I also had my 92 in the car, but there was no way I was going to attempt to fire the 96 in that condition.

It took hours to clean after I got home, and the holster went into the trash.
Click to expand...

Both my buckmark and my LC9s have had the distinction of getting submerged in mud. The buckmark because I forgot it in my hip holster before going wheeling, and the LC9s was in my jacket pocket when I when I fell in once.

A7_E32_A9_A-3528-4_B5_F-_A2_F7-_B805_B458_B668.jpg
 
Maybe the 1911's time has come. God knows in its original form it is heavy, has a limited capacity, and shoots a round that doesn't perform significantly better than anything else on the market, while being more difficult to recover between shots. But you can do almost anything with it. It is chambered in rounds from 22lr on up to 50 GI. It is available in steel, aluminum, titanium and polymer. The barrel length can be had from 3" to 6". You can get double stack versions. The trigger can be adjusted from heavy on down to hair trigger levels. There are different grips, main spring housings, thumb safeties, grip safeties, trigger lengths, slide stops and sights. I resisted buying one until I started pin shooting, and that one was so reliable it soldiered on until the extractor finally failed at about twice the number of rounds the manufacturer recommended replacing that part. They are reliable guns, but a design with an exposed hammer will be more likely to get grit into the mechanism than a striker fired gun. I don't put much weight in single example tests, and Mac's torture tests are absurdly extreme, almost pointless, in my opinion.
 
What amazes me is how un reliable mechanically the whole 1911 series was in the trenches of WWI and North African Desert, Sicilian and Italian mud, Northern European summer and winter, the pacific coastal and highland jungles of WWII and the frozen wastes of Korea and the crap that was formerly called Indochina and .......oh, wait.......

-kBob
 
I have a Colt Govt with 27K rounds through it now. It is one the most reliable pieces of equipment, of any kind, that I have ever owned. I haven't put on a face shield and rain jacket and wallowed around in the mud with it yet. But for everything else I couldn't want for anything more reliable and accurate for the price I paid.
Click to expand...
Yep. My Gold Cup is approaching 100k rounds. Could not ask for a better gun.
Pete
 
More has been forgotten about the 1911/A1 than has been learned. I highly suggest googling 1911Tuners take on the old war horse. Not all 1911s are the same, most people have never shot an un-molested USGI 1911/A1. The too many parts thing makes me giggle.
 
kBob said:
What amazes me is how un reliable mechanically the whole 1911 series was in the trenches of WWI and North African Desert, Sicilian and Italian mud, Northern European summer and winter, the pacific coastal and highland jungles of WWII and the frozen wastes of Korea and the crap that was formerly called Indochina and .......oh, wait.......

-kBob
Click to expand...
This has been covered in the thread already.

Those guns of old rattled when you shook them.

These days manufacturers seem to keep tolerances really tight.
 
If anyone goes to MAC's youtube page and searches his videos (oldest first), you can find a 1911 torture test a creek well before he had a popular and well made channel.

I believe it was a Springfield Armory GI. It did well. So no, I don't think MAC/Tim has an agenda or "gaming" his tests.

Having said all that, the 1911 has had its time as a combat or duty firearm. It's been far surpassed in almost every way unless you consider cost, weight, low capacity, hating hollow points, and stove-piping as a good thing.

Yeah, some brands are better than others and was in "TwO WuRLd WaRs", but it's uses should be collecting, fun, maybe tuned competition. I'm sure there are plenty of anecdotal evidence of people who have "200,000 rounds of out-of-spec hollowpoints in-snow up-hill both-ways"... but I'm sure people hated when they stopped making the Model T and this debate will continue even after they invent laser guns because old-is-cool sometimes.

I like 1911's, but it might be my 37th pick as a sidearm.
 
JeeperCreeper said:
Having said all that, the 1911 has had its time as a combat or duty firearm. It's been far surpassed in almost every way unless you consider cost, weight, low capacity, hating hollow points, and stove-piping as a good thing.
Click to expand...

Go ahead and watch Mac's M9 test and then the MK25 and then sig 320. That pretty much covers our military guns up to the modern age.. I'm sure you'll be impressed by how far our combat guns have come.

Speaking of. You might want to remember that whole Geneva Convention thingy with hollow points being a no no in real combat.
 
His test doesn't diminish my enjoyment shooting the 1911. For my uses finding the point these fail to operate isn't necessary, I'm amused at these types of videos though. Similar to Iraqveteran8888 doing melt downs as well. If these are the types of conditions your environment presents then there is relevant background to have.

I don't need to know how far-long a prospective car will run without coolant or oil while revving to red line either. ;)
 
Hey F-Trooper,

Between 1968 and 1982 I rattled a lot of those old guns and except when things were actually broken and in need of replacement they did what they were supposed to.

Biggest problem with service 1911A1s was "a loose screw behind the grips" that is to say "Operator Error"

Sure there are newer and neater looking guns out there to day but for those of us with five or so decades invested in shooting them they seem to work ok......even shooting against young fellows with the latest and greatest in club matches.

As to whether this was a fair test......I do not know. Basically so small a sample and inability to repeat with regularity. Certainly interesting and it may make some folks forgo the 1911 series. Still a test with a gun is not going to counter my opinion of a gun I have carried until it was form fitted to a multiple times wet holster and was red when finally snatched free and that still went bang and sent bullets where I wanted them to go.

A "modern" handgun might have more going for it for someone just starting out, but ain't nothing wrong with JMB's baby after over 100 years that makes me want to trade for anything else. Yep shot and carried a lot of more "advanced" stuff, but I am just comfortable with a 1911type, thank you very much. Now label me and file me under curmudgeon, but there it is.

-kBob
 
kBob said:
Hey F-Trooper,

Between 1968 and 1982 I rattled a lot of those old guns and except when things were actually broken and in need of replacement they did what they were supposed to.

Biggest problem with service 1911A1s was "a loose screw behind the grips" that is to say "Operator Error"

Sure there are newer and neater looking guns out there to day but for those of us with five or so decades invested in shooting them they seem to work ok......even shooting against young fellows with the latest and greatest in club matches.

As to whether this was a fair test......I do not know. Basically so small a sample and inability to repeat with regularity. Certainly interesting and it may make some folks forgo the 1911 series. Still a test with a gun is not going to counter my opinion of a gun I have carried until it was form fitted to a multiple times wet holster and was red when finally snatched free and that still went bang and sent bullets where I wanted them to go.

A "modern" handgun might have more going for it for someone just starting out, but ain't nothing wrong with JMB's baby after over 100 years that makes me want to trade for anything else. Yep shot and carried a lot of more "advanced" stuff, but I am just comfortable with a 1911type, thank you very much. Now label me and file me under curmudgeon, but there it is.

-kBob
Click to expand...
Don't misunderstand, I love the 1911 and some dude's 'test' on the internet isn't going to change my opinion of a marvelous design.

I am also the guy who takes meticulous care NOT to get my rigs filthy, regardless of the make/model.

I have gotten guns muddy and sandy before in 3 gun matches (a slip and fall into the mud will do that), but I will never likely be in a situation where my gun is 'tested' under the conditions in the video.
 
I do strongly believe his majority of his test have a discrepancy between them, that nullify the series.
Some of his reviews are very biased.
 
jski said:
Does this truly mean the 1911's time has come and gone?
Click to expand...
I didn't realize that there was still a question about this when compared to other modern pistols used for serious defensive purposes.

I really like the 1911, I've carried one both as a duty gun and for CCW, I even shoot it in competition, and I've spent way too much money having one built...but, in current times, it would never be my first choice
 
Internet nonsense.

I can make ANYTHING fail if I intend to.

Time come and gone?
Yup, just as with the widely noted passing of:
.45ACP in general
Revolvers
Single-stacks
SA/DA pistols
.45-70
9mm
Lever actions
Gas impingement
.30-06
.380 or.32
PP/PPK/PPKS
Ruger P series
My virility
The internet's veracity
Joan Rivers.... OK, THAT one's true... this time.


Todd.
 
Yet, Internet wisdom loves the phrase "Obsolete firearm" despite the fact, that a "modern" plastic-fantastic (Glock, HK, S&W) failed miserably the same test compared to the "obsolete" 70's design wonder nine (Arex)...

I would just add to your list:
16. Socialism
17. Human stupidity

P.S. They are both connected, you know... ;)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

D
  • Locked
".45 Short Colt" bullets in ACP
Replies
3
Views
763
Hunter0924
H
F
  • Locked
A new .45 acp
Replies
6
Views
631
JTQ
J
J
  • Locked
Wives and 45 ACP
Replies
24
Views
873
iblong
I
D
  • Locked
Laseraim Cooper 1911 .45 ACP
Replies
0
Views
427
drschooler
D
B
  • Locked
Cyl. & Slide - 1903 Colt Repo. in .45 ACP
Replies
8
Views
1K
Mac Attack
M
Back
Top