Need help choosing 1911's

[Bazooka Joe71]

Whats the difference between carbon and stainless as far as durability?

 

[ugaarguy]

Whats the difference between carbon and stainless as far as durability?

Stainless is easier to maintain, assuming it's a matte finish. If it gets roughed up from honest use you can detail strip the pistol and it can easily be bead blasted back to a nice even matte finish. Further it's less expensive because a good bead blast is usually the process used to prep carbon steel before applying a parkerized, blued, or other final finish. If you go with a high polish stainless it will show scratches pretty easily but with some effort you polish it back up yourself.

On the other hand with carbon steel old fashioned parkerizing, along with many of the other new finishes of the armorykote, black T, etc variety are quite durable in their own right, just a little harder to get refinished in some cases. Traditional blueing will be the hardest to keep maintained.

As far as frame durability from what I've seen in Tuner's postings a forged/machined frame & slide of good steel can be tightened back to specs where as even a good cast frame won't handle it; both regardless of whether it's carbon or stainless steel. My thought would be decide what you like better; a stainless gun, or a carbon one with a tough finish and then find a good machined or forged frame & slide pistol in that configuration. Tuner, Fuff, others, please correct me if I've drawn improper conclusions.

 

[Bazooka Joe71]

Thanks ugaarguy for the detailed response! For the most part that made sense but it got slightly foggy at the end

My apologies to everyone for my ignorance with all of the questions ive asked, but I'm buying my first 1911 this Saturday, and I'm trying to do as much research as I can before I make my final decision.

 

[Correia]

Well, if you want to make life really complicated, I'm doing another group buy on STI 1911s starting in a week. I've got the Trojans down into regular Kimber prices.

 

[BrennanKG]

Joe,

You never need to apologize about asking 1911 questions!

The more folks shooting the old work horse, the better the world is!



B.

 

[BrennanKG]

Well, if you want to make life really complicated, I'm doing another group buy on STI 1911s starting in a week. I've got the Trojans down into regular Kimber prices.

PM headed your way, you bad, bad man.

B.

 

[Spartacus451]

Stainless is a very practical and economical finish, but carbon steel provides more options when it comes to refinishing. Metal treatments that will work on carbon steel such as parkerizing or blueing will not work on stainless steel. Blueing and parkerizing are not very practical finishes in terms of wear or rust resistance, but they have cosmetic value to some as they had alot of use historically on firearms and blueing can look really terrific. That being said, you won't find a gun with esthetically decent blueing in your price range. Both types can be refinished with hard chrome, powder coat, or any of the applied finishes (blueing and parkerizing is actually a change done to the base metal itself).

If this were my first (or only) 1911 I would get a stainless gun unless I had an esthetic preference. You might want to take where you live and your own personal body chemistry into account. No gun I touch ever rusts... maybe it's the Eezox, but my carbon steel S&W 1911 goes away dirty and covered in hand oil + other junk all the time and what blueing it has is definitely worn at some points, and I see no rust. Other people have to wipe down a gun every time they touch it and it will still rust.

 

[Bazooka Joe71]

I'm still up in the air on what finish I'm going to get...I do live in a very humid area, but I have a sick fetish with cleaning an lubing my small gun collection all the time, so hopefully rust isn't a huge factor.

 

[ugaarguy]

For the most part that made sense but it got slightly foggy at the end

To clarify on the cast vs. forged or machined steel frames. Again, reading on my part but no personal experience. After many thousands of rounds the frame to slide fit will loosen up. Using proper tools like a vice with jaw blocks and a leather mallet the frame and slide can literally be squeezed and hammered back to specs and tightened back up. According to what Tuner has posted here the forged/machined frames & slides handle this quite well while the cast frames tend to be a bit brittle will break rather than bend. Basically that's why I feel the forged/macined vs. cast is a bigger issue than carbon or stainless. Again, I'm not an expert, Tuner, Fuff, and the true experts here can expand on this and correct anything I said that's wrong.

 

[Bazooka Joe71]

Ohh, OK, now i understand what you were saying...Thanks for the clarification ugaarguy. I will definately keep that in mind too.

I have the biggest peice of paper here, with different opinions/answers on just about every topic ive asked a question about that im going to take with me to the gun shop with me...Like i said, all i can do in my area is look at the guns and i have to go out of town to rent them, so obviously no decisions have been finalized just yet.

With that said...once again, thanks everyone for explaining to my ignorant a$$, all these novice questions ive been asking. I appreciate each and every response and will take each of them into consideration when purchasing my 1911 this weekend!

One last question though(for now )...I have two brands in mind; Colt and S&W, both have a nice selection on what im looking for, but the only thing that has me questioning the S&W is the external extractor...How do you guys feel about it as far as problems that will occur when taking the gun apart and cleaning it, opposed to the internals with the colts?

 

[exar]

but the only thing that has me questioning the S&W is the external extractor...How do you guys feel about it as far as problems that will occur when taking the gun apart and cleaning it, opposed to the internals with the colts?

Well...some will tell you that it's not a true 1911 if it has an external extractor but the real kicker is the difficulty in cleaning and disassembly of the external as opposed to internal. I've never owned one but I wouldn't be against getting one.

 

[D-Man]

I'm a gun novice, though I do own a S&W 1911 model. So far, just about 1,000 rounds shot, and no problems at all.

From my understanding, the external extractor is not something a gun owner should mess with unless they know exactly what they are doing. Internal extractors can be adjusted if needed by experienced owners.

You should not ever have to adjust an external extractor, and if there was a problem, it would be best to send back to S&W for repair. Everything I have read about S&W customer service has been excellent.

Hopefully those more experienced (both gun and 1911) will respond and give a more in-depth explanation.

 

[Harold Mayo]

Look around and find yourself a series I Kimber.

 

[MassMan]

cHOOSING 1911'S

I have a stainless S&W 1911 and use it in practical shoots. Lost count of rounds fired (thousands) and never a hiccup. I love the gun and wouldn't hesitate to buy another S&W 1911.

 

[Bazooka Joe71]

What kind of warranty does Kimber and Colt have?