Whattup?
Whew! Talk about prime real estate to have a flame war...
Instead of an emotional response...(which was probably the point)
or an opinion, which is subjective...let's look at it from a purely logical and
logistical standpoint.
First off, the extractor isn't spring loaded because it IS a spring...or at least
it was until somebody decided to save a few bucks per gun, and made it
out of something else. It can be so again, and for just a little cash outlay,
will probably outlast the gun, and without any problems to boot. I have
an old pre-war spring extractor that has worn out 3 pistols over the years...
and aside from setting the tension one time on installation and periodic cleaning, no other attention has been required. Pretty good performance for an archaic, 70 year-old part...wouldn't you say? I've also got firing pins
and other small parts that have been rockin' and rollin' for 70+ years...
and even a few that have seen their 90th birthday.
I know personally of a pistol that was stored in Condition One in an attic
for over 60 years...and it functioned perfectly after a perfunctory inspection.
I didn't even oil it...and it wasn't a rattletrap. 7 rounds and a flawless slidelock...with the ammo that was in it.
Advantage..Reliability under the harshest conditions of abuse and neglect,
assuming that it hasn't been turned into something that it was never intended to be...such as a target-grade pistol that will hold an inch at 50 yards.
Advantage...Easily and quickly serviceable in the field, including the replacement of worn or broken parts...without tools. The gun is its own
tool kit. At the very most, it can be completely disassembled to bare frame
and slide...except the plunger tube and the sights with nothing more than
a firing pin and a cartridge rim...again, assuming that the grip screws haven't been replaced with bling-bling hex head screws. The firing pin
is optional. Not necessary for the task, but it makes it a little quicker.
3 minutes to strip instead of 2. 4 minutes to reassemble instead of
5. Flip a coin.
Advantage...Replacement parts are only as far away as a phone call to Brownells. The quality and grade of these parts varies..One gets what one
pays for, after all...but even the high-dollar parts are very reasonable, and
you have about a 50/50 chance of it dropping in and working...again, assuming that the gun hasn't been previously altered or "smithed" to death.
Advantage...Good magazines are everywhere you look..and rebuild/repair parts are too. All at a price that Joe Average can afford. You can have 50
completely functional and reliable magazines for less than the cost of 10 magazines for a Glock or a Sig...and the replacement springs are about half the cost too. Don't think that reliability in the other autopistols depends on good magazines any less so than with a 1911. The magazine is the heart of their systems too. If it fails, the gun fails.
Advantage...There are people who have made the 1911 their personal mission, and can either tune, fix, restore, rebuild your 1911...or teach you
how to. Many people...More than you would believe until you start asking around.
Lastly..if you'll have a close look at your Glock or Sig, you'll see that it really isn't that far removed from the Colt-Browning design. It's just different
to the casual observer. John Browning's fingerprints are all over that
Glock. Same for the Sig, or ANY autopistol with the tilting barrel. The
Beretta is a near clone of the Walther P-38. Nothing new under the sun,
it seems...and the reason that a design is closely or exactly copied is because there's not much that can be done to improve on it...and please don't throw the superiority of the linkless tilting barrel into the debate.
It does exactly the same thing as the falling link...Exactly. It just does
it with one less moving part. True, it's a little more tolerant of abuse,
such as letting the slide slam to battery without ammunition in the gun...but other than that, it's no better and no worse. What it does
accomplish is to limit some of the tuning capability that comes with the
falling link...but that's a whole 'nother debate.
There is a very good reason that the 1911 dominates in competition...just like there is a very good reason that the people who have a serious need for a fighting handgun will choose it if they are offered the choice, and they
understand the advantages.
Step back and take a closer look. Study the gun closely, and the answer will become clear. Like Tamara pointed out...a really good 1911 leaves
the others in the dust.
Be of good cheer and mindful of six...
Tuner