Question about carrying inexpensive 1911's

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I have three 1911s at the moment:
1) A Colt Series 70 that I bought cheap (REAL cheap!) a decade ago 'cuz a previous owner had wasted good money porting it through the slide, bushing and barrel. Came with a nice set of Novak sights, and would have been worth about 4x what I paid if it hadn't been ported. It would load up with gunk quickly, and be a PITA to strip. Spent nearly as much on a match barrel and bushing, fitted it myself, and got a heck of a shooter out of the deal.
2) A Colt Series 80 Stainless that came to me with a second slide (in 10mm) and three mags for each caliber. I sold the 10mm parts for nearly half of what I'd paid for the setup, and ended up with a $500 stainless Colt.
3) A Les Baer SRP in hardchrome. Has the accurizing package, shoots 1.5" at 50 yards. Tighter than all getout, but starting ti relax after 300 rounds - Baer says 500 to break it in.

All three are proven 100% reliable with hardball and Gold Dots, which I carry, but I don't carry any of them anymore (never carried the Baer). I carry a G30 - less weight, no sentimental attachment, don't care if I beat it up, and holds 10+1. I have a second if the cops need to borrow mine.
 
If the gun works it is a great gun, no mater what it costs. Just make sure it it is reliable with the ammo you intend to shoot.

I have had old WWII 45s that were dead reliable with what ever I put into them. I even loaded mags with empty caseins and hand cycled the 45 to make sure it would feed properly.

In the same vain, I purchased a new Colt Stainless Gold Cup (80 series) when Colt was going through their first monetary problem. When I took the gun home to clean, It had metal filings all through it. Sent it back to Colt because it had problems with both accuracy and reliability. When I got it back from Colt it was the same and possible a little worse. It went to the next gun show and found a new home.

A high priced 45 will will give the owner bragging rights at the range and shoot tight groups at 50+ feet. Most encounters that require a person to draw and fire, are done at 10 feet or less. With that said reliability is the over riding concern (most 45s will hit a man sized target at 10 feet).

So no mater the cost of the 45 make sure that it feeds and fires the ammo that you intend to use.
 
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