SW1911 Opinion

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gunguy05

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I was considering a S&W1911. Don't know which one yet. Just wanted to get opinions from current/past owners....
 
s&w 1911

I have had my S&W 1911 in stainless for about a year and a half and have never had a problem. No jams or feeding issues and it is quite accurate. I would love to pick up a performance center 1911 but they are a bit out of my price range at this time. If you decide on one I am sure you will not have any regrets.
 
I picked up a S&W1911sc three weeks ago. Have 400 rounds thru it so far. No hiccups yet. Puts in 1-1/2" groupings @ 10 yards. I love it.
 
I think they're the best out-of-the-box 1911 in their price range. Accurate, features you normally have to customize (except I want night sights and an ambi safety) and a high-quality reputation gun manufacturer.

Not to say that the other 1911 manufacturers are no good, but the S&W had everything I wanted (except the two features listed above) and great fit-and-finish out of the box.

Great choice, good luck if you go that route.
 
Mine is perfect with factory ammo (>1000 rounds) and doesnt like reloads. Reloads FTF with the round half way into the chamber and appear to be stuck, but they are not and reloading them into the mag they will work fine the next time around. My guess is that the extractor gets hung up on a nick in the rim of the case. Can't blame the gun for not liking reloads.

It's accurate and well made.
IMHO, they are good guns for the money.
 
I've got one and it's great. Most accurate and most reliable 1911 I've owned.
It's finished better on the inside than some of my other 1911's were finished on the outside. It's a keeper. Unlike MrChicken's, mine has never been fed anything but reloads and is 100 per cent reliable with them.
 
I consider the Smith's and Springfields the way to go when it comes to better quality production 1911's. I have one of the commander sized scandium models in a smith and 3 different springfields. All have been totally reliable to date, though the smith is newer and doesn't have tons of rounds through it yet, and only hardball so far. I sort of consider it a six of one/half dozen of another proposition when it comes to choosing say the basic 5" blued steel Smith or the park'd springfield loaded, say, which are comparably priced. Many of the differences are subjective/personal preference. The SA comes with an ambi safety and night sights, if those would be something you want, as well as front slide serrations. Personally, I'd lean more to the smith on these factors. The smith probably has the nicer finished slide. OTOH my smith probably has the most poorly crowned barrel I have ever seen. It doesn't seem to affect accuracy though, surprisingly, but is still somewhat disappointing. The Smiths also, like most other brands, actually, tend to have the somewhat mushy thumb safeties, whereas all my Springfield's have a nice, positive, not too heavy/not too light click on and off thumb safety. Af far as accuracy--My Loaded is more accurate than my Smith, but the smith is probably more accurate than my milspec or 4" lightweight model, though I somewhat suspect the poorer sights to be a factor with the milspec. The Smith sights are nice and show up well. As mentioned, reliability hasn't been a factor with any of them--no failures from the lot.

If the Smith is the way you are leaning, go for it and you should be happy--you see wayyyy more folks happy with theirs than not on most forums. As an alternative or if you're shopping around, the Springfields are very good IMO as well.

My only warning...like the potato chip commercial, no one can have just one 1911...you get one...then you want another...and another... ;)
 
First off, I'm the farthest thing from a 1911-guy and I like the SW piece. I normally avoid 1911's like the plague due to past reliability experiences, but I have extensive trigger time on a local range's rental SW1911 and have NEVER had a malfunction with it, and I think it only gets cleaned\lubed once a week. I was renting it twice a week at 300rnds per session for about 2 months while debating on several different .45 sidearms. On my experiences a friend went and bought one. I fired 200rnds through his also with no problems, all said his has 1400 trouble free rounds through it. In the end I bought a P220, but the SW1911 is right at the top of my list as a second .45 weapon.
 
My wife, Missashot, picked up a new stainless S&W1911 that she'd been eyeing for a couple of months and she loves the gun. It has the beavertail, commander-style hammer, extended slide safety, extended slide release, and came with two mags (made by Novack). I find it to be some first-rate quality for fit and finish, and it has functioned flawlessly (in ~300 rounds). She picked her's up at a local dealer for $690.
 
The only 1911 I own is a S&W 1911SC...This is a commander size w/8 round mags...great for CCW...it weighs in at 28 oz empty...There is also the PD new this year in the scandium light weight.....If you are not going to carry it a lot, then any S&W 1911 you choose will be a good choice...For me personally, I am holding my breath for S&W to issue a Officers size in light weight Scandium, I think that will make a very hard to beat carry piece....pst..S&W are you listening?
Oh, and would you offer one in a light weight bob tailed version?
 
My SW1911DK runs 100% with any ammo I have fed it. Accurate, reliable, nice set of features, and attractive. The only changes I made were to replace the ambis with a single-side safety (as I grip so high my trigger finger was pushing up the right one), and I had my smith adjust the grip safety to be a little easier to deactivate. It had to go way in to be off, and with a high grip was not always doing that. Again, more user preference than necessity. I also put a set of Hakans on it. I always replace factory grips to keep them in good shape should I sell later, and my Hakans are darn pretty. The trigger was pretty good out of the box--perhaps 4.5 lbs. I may have him reduce that later but it is certainly enough for social work.

I carrry it quite a bit in a C-TAC shirt tucker. I would not do so if I did not have complete confidence in the gun. As others have said, they are a great value in a factory 1911.

GR
 
I went for the most basic model

I wanted the most basic of the Smith 1911s (model 108285) . Runs flawlessly. Not as accurate as my Dan Weeson Patriot, but I never expected it to be. The Smith has proven reliable enough that it is my carry gun.
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I have owned my S&W 1911 for quite a while now.
It is an early version with a Briley barrel.
Right off the bat I didn't like the wood rasp they were calling a flat mainspring housing so I changed that for a Smith and Alexander arched mainspring housing and ended up with this.
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Then I decided I didn't like blued accents on the gun, the trigger pull sucked,
the arched housing wasn't working, and I don't care for Novak fixed sights, so I did a little work and ended up with this.
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Some 5000 rounds later I love the gun.
It isn't my only 1911, but it is the one I shoot the most.
 
I bought a SW1911 a while back.

Long story short, it is now my preferred carry weapon. Reliablity, quality, accuracy. Out of the box.
 
I will throw in my $.02 as well and say that the SW1911 that rides in my Galco Miami Classic is my favorite handgun... EVER! I have other 1911s and they are nice, but nothing like this piece. Mine has been 100% with one exception. The safety is very mushy and seems to have developed something of a two stage "slick" as the safety is engaged. My Colt 1991 is a positive click on/off.

I selected the SW1911 over a SA Loaded and Kimber Series II and have never regreted the choice. The Kimber was overpriced and their CS dept. has a terrible reputation. The SA Loaded was a tough one to pass up, but my past experience with S&W autoloaders edged me to go S&W once again. IMHO they are the best value in customized 1911s to date.

Blessings,
 
I went to pick up a SA Champion loaded, at my local dealer two weeks ago and he had just got in a S&W1911, I compared them both side by side and the S&W had a much better trigger and IMHO overall seemed to be much better built so for an extra $50.00 I bought the S&W.
I took it home and cleaned it up and the craftstsmanship was superb, fit and finish is just awesome and is a great shooter. I dont believe you can go wrong with one. I still think the SA is a nicer looking gun though.

Jim
 
MrChicken said:
Mine is perfect with factory ammo (>1000 rounds) and doesnt like reloads. Reloads FTF with the round half way into the chamber and appear to be stuck, but they are not and reloading them into the mag they will work fine the next time around. My guess is that the extractor gets hung up on a nick in the rim of the case. Can't blame the gun for not liking reloads.

It's accurate and well made.
IMHO, they are good guns for the money.
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My S&W Target is exactly the opposite. It shoots factory ammo but not accurately. It shoots my reloads into 2 1/2" at 25 yards from a bench easily.

Never had a hiccup let alone a failure to feed or eject. My son in law uses it to shoot IPSC matches and he does very well with it.

I'm very satisfied with my S&W 1911 and don't hesitate to recommend it highly.
 
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