Question about 1911 for carry

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tjoe20

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I am looking at getting a compact/micro 45. This will be my carry weapon. Right now price is a problem I can afford $500-$600 out the door. I have been looking at the RIA Compact, High Standard Compact and SA GI Micro. I can get the High Standard for $460 and the GI for $550 from a local dealer. I am leaning towards the GI right now but had some concerns with it not feeding HP also I may want to add night sights down the road when I have more money is that something that will be difficult to do? Should I go with the GI or is there another 1911 out there that is better in the same price range?

Thanks for helping.
 
I started off on the same path, and decided after some research and consultation with 1911 experts that shortening the 1911 barrel to three inches introduces too many compromises into the design for the highest reliability.

That left me with two choices--something other than a 1911 or a longer barrel.

I chose the latter--3.9 inch barrel, Officers' frame

No problem with concealment or with sitting with IWB carry. Not too heavy. More shootable.
 
A lot of people will tell you that 3" 1911s are unreliable, and I'd say that may be true for a lot of models. However, I have three with zero problems: STI Shadow, STI Escort, and the Colt Defender. The Defender and Shadow each have well over 1,000 rounds through them (I lost count after that). The only catch is, they are $500-$700 above your budget.

The Shadow is my daily carry. I haven't heard anything about or used a compact RIA yet.
 
If you are going to go with a 3" 1911, I would get a colt defender. It is what I carry, and it is the only 3" 1911 that I trust. I know it is more expensive than you are looking for, but I would wait an extra month or 2, whatever it takes and buy the defender instead of settling for some of the other models you listed. I'd rather have 900 dollars in a defender than $600 in an "off brand" gun.

If you really don't want to spend over $600 on a carry gun, believe me I understand how that goes, I would look away from the 1911's in favor or something else.

The reason I carry a defender is I like the .45 acp cartridge and a 1911 fits my hand best. I would have liked to have bought something like a glock 36 and saved a few hundred dollars, but I just dont like the way they feel or how they twist in my hand when I shoot them.

One thing I would advise is to look for a used colt defender. A private individual had one for sale for $700 at a gun show recently. For an extra hundred bucks, I think you would be very pleased.

good luck
 
Compact 1911s are just like any other 1911, they can be smooth, reliable, and your best friend, or they can jam on every shot, FTF, FTE, and any other malfunction that can be thought of. All this really depends on being built right, and being properly tuned. If you are on a buget, maybe searching the used cabinets at the gun stores would be a good place to start. With a little luck and patience, you should be able to find a higher quality used pistol for about the same price of some of the economy new pistols that you can find.
 
take a look at the Citadel. for the money it's a really nice gun.
A friend bought one on my recommendation and he's been happy with it. It did have an initial problem though during the first 100rds, but it was an easy fix by thoroughly cleaning it. The gun is shipped with a lot of shipping lubrication. the firing pin channel was full of lube causing the firing pin to stick in the fired position, which caused the firing pin stop to slide down. once that was clean it's ran great. after it was cleaned, we took a pistol class the next weekend outdoors in the cold rain and it ran flawless for the +500rds that were shot.

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I agree... save up a little while and get something that can be trusted. I love my STI!

Peace
 
@ mljdeckard thanks for the input but i hate the way Glocks fit my hand that's why I have a S&W w/ 4 in barrel but don't like the double stack for carry.

@ G27RR and richis7 I did just see online that a local dealer has a Colt Defender w/ stainless slide and rubber grips for under $900. Just don't know when I will get any extra money because my wife has been out of work for about a year now so money is tight.

@ Quack that does look nice as well, is that a blue finish or park?
 
Yeah i just saw the ATI FX the other day too but the dealer wanted $575 for it however the nice thing about that store is they give you a lifetime warranty on any new gun you buy from them. The ATI does have more features than the GI for the same price but just don't know that much about them.
 
I carried a 3.5" Springfield ultracompact .45 for a while. Bought it used and had a bunch of FTFs and stovepipes. A new extractor and recoil spring she hummed like a sewing machine.

I wouldn't hesitate to carry it but I tried to use it the first days of a defensive handgun class and quickly discovered I needed about 4 mags compared to the two I brought. Even with instructors tagging along behind me reloading the dropped mags I still struggled. I finished out the next 2 days of class with a borrowed service size Sig .40.

I sold the gun for the sole reason I did not like porting on a carry pistol.
 
Get the Rock Island. RIA, High Standard and Citadel are all made by the same company in the same plant, Armscor in the Phillippines, but RIA has the best warranty, provided by their importer. I personally carry a RIA Compact every day.
 
I just picked up an RIA CS Officers 3.5" and after i took it home i gave it a good cleaning which it didn't need and an inspection that came out fine and lubed it as it was bone dry everywhere. Slide Glide on the parkerized rails really helped to smoothly break the gun in.

I went the next day to the range with the full intentions of making this gun fail.
I took Blazer Aluminum, Tula Steel case,PMC brass and a handfull of Winchester Ranger T-series 230gr +p that had a good amount of bullet setback from my full sized 1911 that will pound a bullet into any case after being chambered more than twice. I also shot a mag of brand new Ranger T-series as it would be what i carry in the gun.

I think that was 125-150 rounds and not one single failure, It loved the out of spec Rangers with setback which is odd as my full sized will choke on them and the case will catch the barrels lip.

I did alot of research before buying this gun so i wasn't too surprised at how well it did.
I couldn't afford the other well known micro 1911's that are reliable also. Those include these by my research:
Colt New Agent and Defender.
STI has a few variations.
SA EMP
But all of these easily are $1k+
Now thats not to say the RIA is perfect 100% of the time out of the box, But Arnel the master Gunsmith at RIA will make your gun work or replace it. And do it in a reasonable amount of time.

$425 later i was sold.
I made a few changes, I hated the stock trigger physically as it had raised serrations that lead to a point in the middle of the trigger, I found it painful.
Luckily i had a spare Harrison Design IonBond trigger as a spare for my other 1911 and once i installed that and shimmed the pre-travel out and the over travel was already set i started in on the action. The whole action is parkerized also. So forget smooth lite pulls you would get from a $1k gun. But after a trigger job which im getting good at the trigger is on par with a $1k gun now. I had to polish all the mating surfaces and get the parkerization off, Which would most likley wear its self smooth in a 1000 rounds on its own but i wasn't so sure how even so i did my own job.
Then i squared and back cut/angled the sear and all was good.

If i could afford a $1k gun is own a New Agent as i just love that gun, But on my budget its the RIA for me and i couldn't be happier.
 
I carry a Kimber Pro TLE II 4" and other than taking a couple of days to get used to the weight of it, it's great as a CCW.
 
Another option (thou harder to find) is the Colt Compact. They made them for a few years in the mid 90's I belive. I've got an officer sized model (3.5" barrel). If you look you can pick them up for 600-700 bucks.

They don't have any high speed low drag parts on them. Just a park finish, commander hammer and longer tang grip saftey with the taller GI style sights found on standard 1991 colts. Mine runs great even with SWC's.
 
I have a 3" CDP II that runs like a Swiss watch. I have no doubt some 3" guns don't run right, but they certainly can if built right.
 
Springfield XD

I don't own one, but my son does. It fits my small-to-medium hand well, points naturally, and functions flawlessly. It's a compact, with, I think, a 3.4" barrel. NIB ,it comes with a spare mag, crappy holster, and other stuff, IFIRC. The price I,m not sure of, but I wouldn't hesitate to buy one for myself.FWIW.
 
in your price range i would look at the citadel, i have a kimber pro carry and love it but they run in the $800-$900 around here.
 
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