Is there a serious glut of 1911's on the market or what?

[CWL]

I believe 1911s should go for about $550 or so out of the box

They do. Springfield and RIA come immediately to mind.

For $900, you can get some very nice loaded versions.

For a little bit more than $900, you can get an incredible Dan Wesson Pointman or Commander bobtail with the works including high-end fixtures and fitted as tight as a Les Baer.

 

[Confederate]

People like 1911 because they fit their hands. Enjoy your Smiths but you could not pay me to take one. They are big and blocky and feel like a brick in my hand.

I can't tell much of a difference between a S&W 645 and a 1911, except the sights, reliability and the trigger pull are generally superior on the 645. But regardless of design, the materials, fitting and so forth should be about the same for the Smiths and the 1911s.

If the 1911 is less blocky than the 659/5906, that should not affect cost. With the Smiths, I'm getting stainless steel, a double-action trigger (which is more complicated to manufacture) and a gun that doesn't have to be gone over by a gunsmith to get flawless functioning. I can't begin to tell you how many jammed 1911s I've seen on firing lines. I do see some 9mm malfunctions, but they tend to be extremely rare, especially on guns like the Berettas, Sigs and Smiths.

So six hundred bucks for a bargain entry-level 1911 that probably needs work to get to where the Smiths already are seems to be not that great of a deal. Perhaps it's the collectors who want one of each 1911 they can get hold of that makes them so expensive. A 1911 in the $600 range I imagine would be rather clunky. For all their appeal, the only 1911 that didn't feel like a military-issue arm was the Colt Gold Cup. I've seen high-end Kimbers and others that seem built very well, but I also remember thinking they were overpriced.

 

[MAKster]

If there is a glut of 1911s on the market it sure isn't reflected in the prices. Springfields have gone up at least $100 in the past year. If the price of ammo stays this high eventually it should cause the value of 1911s to go down. The price of used SUVs and trucks have dropped significantly because of the price of gasoline.

 

[Confederate]

Yeah, but the cost of living for the people making the guns also is going up, so the market will have to make the call. First the companies may have to cut production, then they may go out of business. After that, it will strictly be supply and demand.

 

[dogngun]

I have 2 1911's now, plan on a third by the end of the year.
All are (or will be) made by Armscor. I have been shooting their guns for nearly 10 years, and really like them a lot.
I also have a 1917 S&W and a 1917 Colt revolver in .45 ACP. I have been selling off many handguns in other calibers to concentrate on a few because of ammo cost.

I now have .45 ACP and .45 Colt, and .32 ACP and .38 Spl and that's about it.
Of course a few .22's but they are still cheap to shoot.

mark

 

[outerlimit]

I think the glut is more in the fact that about 90% of 1911's now all have the same "Custom" features that I don't want. Apparently a lot of other people don't want these features either since the plain jane 1911's fly off the shelf and the case of Kimber/Wilsons always stays full.