Which 1911 would you buy?

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04SilverSCFX4

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I'm looking at buying a 1911 and want to hear some opinions about the particular ones I'm considering.

1. Springfield Armory "Operator"
2. Sig GSR
3. Kimber TLR/RL II

My requirements are; reliability, accuracy, night sites and light rail. This will be a multi-purpose sidearm seeing uses ranging from being an every day duty weapon to competition and carry.

The cost isn't a concern, but I don't want to spend more just for the sake of spending. I learned a while back that just because it's expensive, doesn't make it any better.
 
It doesn't have a nite rail, but danged if I wouldn't be looking at the Les Baer listed down in the classified section.
 
If you don't care that kimber uses MIM parts for almost everything except the frame, slide, and barrel, and that kimber series II pistols have a crappy firing pin saftey go with the kimber.

If you want something that doesn't have a firing pin saftey and don't care that the frame was made in Brazil, get the SA Operator.

I don't know much about the sigs but if you want something different and don't mind a lawyer-lock on the slide (am I wrong?) and don't mind that the frame is made by the ruger factory (wrong again?) get the GSR. I'm not sure about parts-interchangability on the GSR though.

If I were you I would look at a Springfield Loaded pistol and the Dawson Precision light rails.
 
Based on what I have seen and heard I would have to say the Springfield Operator. They seem to have the most happy users.

The SIG is hit or miss. Great parts, best of the bunch, but the whole seems to leave something desired and has had lots of teething problems. This coming from a true card carrying SIG-O-PHILE.

Kimber seems to have been going through a downturn in quality over the past few years and for the cost I would be worried I would get stuck with a bad one.

This is just my uneducated, worth nothing two cents. So take my advice for what it is worth, which ain't much. :D

Chris
 
Do you have any other 1911's ?

I ask because you may want to have them feel the same. By this I mean - short/long trigger ?, main spring housing flat or rounded ?, checkered or not ?, what type of beavertail grip safety ?, extended thumb safety or not?

FWIW, I choose the Kimber TRL/LR II and am happy, although I wish it had an internal extractor like all my others!
 
Back when I was in HS I(through my father) owned a Colt Combat Commander. Personally, I regret ever selling it. It ate everything and has been the most accurate handgun I've owned. The only mod I performed was a curved mainspring housing and a full-length two-piece guide rod.

Now I'm starting up my collection again, and my first addition will be a 1911. With all the negative reviews I've read about the Kimbers I'll drop them from the list. It's going to boil down between the Operator and the GSR. I would prefer fixed Low-mount Novak sites on the Operator but that's really the only thing I don't like about it.

Any Sig-o-philes know if the May05 two-tone GSRs ever made it out? I wouldn't mind finding one to look at.
 
If you really want a pistol with a light rail, I would recommend a Rock River Tactical

http://www.rockriverarms.com/item-detail.cfm?ID=PS2750&storeid=1&image=ptp.gif

or a Wilson CQB tactical light rail

http://www.wilsoncombat.com/p_cqb_tlr.asp

If an integral light rail is not a necessity, I would strongly recommend the Les Baer SRP or TRS. IMO, my Baer SRP rivals the fit, finish, accuracy and reliability of a custom-built pistol, exceeding the quality of the fit and finish of my Wilson CQB. At these prices, I believe that it is reasonable that the pistol will be constructed of the highest quality and best fit and assembled materials.

http://www.lesbaer.com/mono.html

I have not heard the best reviews of Kimbers, Sigs, and Springers, although I do not own any of them and certainly do not intend to be presumptive. I also do not own a RRA but have heard the best reviews. I own a Baer, a Wilson, and two Colts. My Baer and Wilson "were good to go" out-of-the-box. My Colts needed some TLC, and both ended up as base guns for custom house pistols. While the Wilson has been top-shelf, the Baer is nothing less than outstanding. Baers seem to be very reasonably priced compared to other limited production guns, and Baers and RRA are purported to be good values.

Obviously, there are several other excellent limited production shops out there, such as Nowlin, Nighthawk, and Brown.

If it were me, and I do not want to be pedantic, I would spend the extra money, if I had it, and buy the better gun. In my case, if I had learned this earlier, I would have spent a lot less money and been a lot happier with my purchases.

Good shooting!

N.B. The GSR frame is made by Caspian from Ruger cast blanks. Caspian produces some of the finest frames and slides on the market, and Caspian frames are guaranteed for life. I really dislike that absurd lock on the GSR, and I also prefer a Brown or Wilson padded grip safety to the Caspian padded grip safety on the GSR. Notwithstanding, another option is to purchase a Caspian light rail frame, with hand lapped frame and slide, and just about any option that you could imagine, including slide serrations, slide radius cuts, sight cuts, checkering, integral mag well, integral plunger tube, and a flattened serrated slide top and custom serial number, if desired, and have the pistol built by Ted Yost, et al, for a cost that would not neccessarily exceed that of a limited production pistol.

http://www.caspianarms.com/

http://www.yost-bonitz.com/index2.shtml

http://www.egw-guns.com/egw.htm
 
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Decide now

What you want your pistol to be. Some of the modifications that make for a supremely accurate competition 1911 may have you crossing your fingers every day when you put it on to go to work. My personal opinion on a carry gun, whether for on or off duty, is to give up just a little accuracy and bank on much more reliability. I'll come clean and say that my carry piece is a Charles Daly. Yeah, I've heard the "Philipino Beer Can" thing before, but the damn thing hits where I point it, has never malf'd in the 6 years I've had it and has a real extractor, which is big to me due to the horror stories I hear from some who post here and at local ranges about their wonderguns having serious extraction problems. Didn't break the bank, either. As for buying American, Ford uses Mitsubishi motors and most Chevrolet parts are made in Canada now.
 
Thanks for all of the reading material, I'll definately look at some of the other models listed.

As far as deciding which use it will see most, it will primarily be duty/carry. That's the reason why I was looking at the factory-"loaded" offerings.
 
Actually it is chrysler that uses mitsubishi motors... Ford uses Mazda....

But all that silliness aside... I'd go springfield... mainly for the lifetime warranty... so there are no worries about getting a lemon...
 
wouldn't it be much cooler to get a Dawson Precision rail that you can take off and put on whenever you want? instead of trying to carry around a huge square for a dustcover on your Operator?
 
I favour the Para SSP if you are looking for a full size quality 1911. For the price you guys can get them for they have to be a best buy.
 
I think I'd go with the MC Operator, unless I had to have another Kimber. If I did have to have another Kimber, I'd go with the Warrior instead of the TLE/RL since the Warrior doesnt have the Series II safety and has the proper extractor.
 
Kimbers, even the Series II, are fine guns. Most of what you hear bad about them are from people who are just passing on a rumor they heard from someone else. I wonder how many people experience a failure or two from the Series II guns and attribute it to the Series II mods rather than the dictum that just about ALL 1911's require a breakin period.
 
The three pistols you mentioned are each cut differently and each will feel different in your hand. Nobody can tell you which 1911 to buy but yourself. Don't buy by brands. You can read about problems with every brand you can think of from Rugers to Ed Browns. Buy the gun that fits you best and floats your boat. You need to handle each of the 3 you mentioned and shoot them if possible.
 
I agree with Rock Jock... the series II Kimbers are very nice.

You might also want to look at the S&W 1911s. They are very nice guns too, in my opinion superior to the Kimbers. I also think S&W has done a better job with the external extractor than Kimber has.

Of course, you have to be able to swallow the bad politics of S&W if you buy from them.

I don't think you are likely to go wrong with either. I would buy the base model though. I think the high end 1911s from any major manufacturer are over priced for what you get.
 
Kimbers, even the Series II, are fine guns. Most of what you hear bad about them are from people who are just passing on a rumor they heard from someone else. I wonder how many people experience a failure or two from the Series II guns and attribute it to the Series II mods rather than the dictum that just about ALL 1911's require a breakin period.
Click to expand...

My smith sure is seeing a lot of them.

I own a Kimber Custom II that I like. :D :neener:

Any manufacturer has a few lemons. I would get the Springfield Armory "Operator".
 
Of your choices I would go with the sig. I would write the kimber off right away. My reason for this is external extractor, Been alot of complaints about there reliability. Would avoid springfields because there full of mim filled parts. :eek: Would buying a colt XSE and having a dawson light rail mounted a option? :D
 
Rails are for trains. Sometimes hard to find holsters for rail guns. But if you must have I'd get the Springfield other wise I would get a Colt and change the sights to what you want. Their a 1911 the others are copy cats.
 
Why are you limiting yourself to those 3 specific pistols? By choice, I take it? ...

If so, that's fine ... but I can't see having to choose among just those 3 makes/models if I was actually going to be relying on the pistol as a defensive weapon.

Kimbers, in general, are acquiring an unenviable reputation.

Springfields have seemingly received mixed reviews. Time will tell if production & demand increases permit QC to keep pace. I tend to like a .45 ACP firing pin in .45 ACP pistols, though ... not .38 Super firing pins ... but drop-test requirements make for interesting sacrifices at times.

The Sig parts pistol? Isn't SIGARMS presently attempting to prepare a second versionof the ill-fated GSR, in order to overcome the less-than-stellar performance and reviews of the first parts gun they released? Granted, this is the only company's product that I haven't had a chance to personally handle/shoot, or at least observe being used on our range. The reason for that is because the only fellow I know who bought one had to keep sending it back to SIGARMS, and they finally admitted they couldn't make it reliably function ... and offered to replace it with any other standard SIGARMS pistol of his choice. He went for a standard P-220 ...

After doing a fair amount of shooting with a lot of different current production 1911-type pistols for the last couple of years, covering most of the 'popular brand names' ... I decided to buy both Colt (stainless XSE Government) and S&W (SW1911PD 5"; carbon steel slide with scandium frame). I was looking for quality of production, customer service (if necessary), reliability and durability.

I don't need a light rail, though ...
 
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