Colt 1911, market scouting

[NIGHTHAWK]

You left out NIGHTHAWK!

 

[mark-hunter]

The best way to avoid having to worry about this scenario is to avoid any "Bullseye" type 1911 trigger job less than 2.5 lbs, and avoid any 1911 that is less than $600.

Buy the best you can afford, you won't regret it

I will keep ot in mind!

Thank you for your post, it was most informative for me!

 

[PrechtlM98]

 

[Sabre]

From the ones you listed I would get Smith and Wesson.

I wouldn't get anything recently made by Colt. I haven't been very impressed with their quality and their customer service is begrudgingly willing to help at best. That's just my experience and I'm sure others have differing opinions.

 

[michael458]

@michael458 thanks for introducing me to a whole new world of things I never knew I needed. I’m looking at mammoth grips now and wondering how to incorporate some old alligator leather I have with my incoming hippo leather and making it into a nice shoulder rig. Thanks again, I really needed another expensive endeavor! Beautiful weapons you posted!!

I love Ivory, and very partial to Mammoth Ivory because of the various colors, age, cracks and other very unique character. Someone here said that from a functional standpoint ivory was useless? I don't understand that at all, makes no sense to me, my guns feed, function, shoot just as well with Ivory grips as not?............... Hmmm?...... Oh well......... Years ago I had a fellow that was making my grips custom from various pieces of ivory. On the 1911 grips I had all mine no more than .25 inches thick in the middle, fits my hands perfectly. After he went out of business, I always had to ask what the thickness was before buying. Currently there is a fellow in Florida that does the best work with Mammoth Ivory I have ever seen, and the thickness is perfect. I have bought several sets from him. Including all the recent Blue Stain Mammoth that is shown on my Nickel Colts. Just incredible, and has not effected feed or function... HEH HEH........ I have a few sets of Elephant Ivory as well, but most elephant is not old enough to have a lot of character.........

I always had the leather done in Africa from my elephants, buffalo and hippo. I love this stuff. Early years I had a "Western Leather" type guy, that did pretty well. I had him do several things for me, including a nice Double Western Rig for my Single Action guns...........I was always of the opinion, a good leather rig enhanced the BBQ Guns......... I apologize for the showing of SAA guns on a 1911 thread, I hope you guys can ignore my drift, I promise to come back to 1911s.........

This is my Colt SAA Nickel guns, they sport a custom set of Giraffe bone grips, yes this is from a giraffe that I took, and brought back the leg bones to be made into grips........... and the custom elephant leather rig they ride around in................

Also works good with a pair of Case/Blue guns........with Mammoth Ivory

Before I had the Elephant leather rig, I had Galco build two rigs for me, Black and a Brown.......

Now this same fellow built a 1911 Rig and Belt for me as well..........

Later I ran into a real Leathersmith Artist in California, I was fortunate to have him do quite a bit of work for me, holsters, belts, rifle slings and more, all with my elephant/buffalo leather. Unfortunately he retired just as I was getting some of my hippo leather in, and never got him to do any of it!

I had him do a shoulder rig for me, elephant and the lace work is buffalo..........It really is incredible, the photos are terrible, my apologies.............

He also made some other items, the magazine holders can be used on the shoulder rig, by removing one of the holsters and replacing it with the magazine rig.......

He also did a lot of cartridge holders for me, these were incredible and I used them for years..... the inside was lined with pig skin, it refused to stretch and become loose, always keeping your cartridges safe and tight...........

Rife slings also, built to my specs...........

Man he was an Artist in my mind, no doubt. I Have not found anyone else to work with since he retired..........

I found a fellow also that does magic with 1911 wood grips of all sorts of exotic woods.......
Cherry

Cocabolo or something such.......

Maple

Blue stain Spaulding Maple

Buckeye Burl

 

[Altitude sickness]

We need a AH BBQ just to walk around showing off leather and Iron.

I’ll drive my Tesla to the event guessing no blue hairs would be in attendance torching it. And if they were…. Weeeell…..

 

[franzfmdavis]

We need a AH BBQ just to walk around showing off leather and Iron.

I’ll drive my Tesla to the event guessing no blue hairs would be in attendance torching it. And if they were…. Weeeell…..

Ya’ll are welcome at our house for a BBQ anytime!

 

[JG26Irish_2]

I voted for the Rock Island 1911 Colt which is a good pistol for a newer production unit. It is plain but well done and shoots good. With that said I own four 1911's. The two that I use are a Series 70, 5" gun with limited, practical mods like a hand fitted match bushing, beveled mag well, Commander hammer, match trigger, extended safety and slide lock. Raised, fixed tgt sights were added. I did this work myself but went to a master gunsmith to install the sights and checker the trigger guard. That pistol has ingested over 50,000 rds of hot hand loads and still shoots like a champ. I also have a old Combat Commander with similar treatment and those two for years were my only carry guns.

In addition, I have a Series 80 Combat Commander which was my Father's personal carry gun once I convinced him to convert from revolvers. I inherited this one and do not shoot it. I also have a stainless Springfield 1911 that I won in a raffle. It is the only firearm that I own that has never been fired. Old Colts of the Series 70 or older are decent firearms but most are so loose as to rattle if you shake them and benefit from a few of the mods on my list above. The Rock Island comes with some of that from the factory.

The Wilson Combat can be had with all of the needed upgrades from the factory and is the other choice that I would consider. I like Kimbers but do not own one after discussing them with a handgun training instructor who told me that almost all of the firearm failures he sees in his class are with Kimber pistols. Your personal defense handgun must be reliable. Today, my current personal carry guns are a H&K USP in 45acp and a S&W 9mm M&P for applications that do not require the larger pistol. I still like and carry the 1911's but they require an extra layer of care when handling and carried in the proper cocked and locked condition and I am not usually in need of them anymore. Just know this. If I was told that today you will be in a gunfight and you can only choose one pistol for your defense. I would take the old 5" 1911 with as many mags and I can carry. Loaded with 230g +P HP's and a few mags of hardball for backup.

 

[Shootist43]

I'm the one that said ivory grips were pretty but not functional. Please let me clarify. I shot "Bullseye" at the National Pistol Matches for over 30 years. The match dates and times were fixed. Weather was not a consideration. We shot in the rain as long as there was no lightening in the area as well as in the heat. One year it was over 100 degrees F with a heat index of 126. With wet or sweaty hands shooting a 1911 accurately with smooth grips is impossible. I can see where my use of the word "functional" would raise some concern, perhaps I should have used the word practical.

For those of you that may not be familiar with the course of fire in an Outdoor Bullseye Match it is shot one handed at 50 yards (slow fire) and one handed at 25 yards sustained fire. In this game accuracy counts!

 

[ACE (in CT)]

Love this thread! My small collection of 1911s includes a couple of Kimber Raptors a 5” and an Ultra that is most often my EDC, a few Colts including one from 1912, and a US&S (1943). I have it on good authority that Colt will be making a 2011 soon.

Before I saw that the OP was in Europe, I was going to suggest he hit
The CMP and order up a couple of The Real Deal 1911s that saw service. They raised the lifetime limit to 2 and are taking new orders. Every 1911 lover needs a few of these.

 

[michael458]

@Shootist43 I now understand exactly where you are coming from with the grips! And, I concur with you on this as well. I know "Bullseye" shooters very well, and for the rest of the gentlemen here that do not, know this, Bullseye Shooters are the best there is! A Bullseye Shooter can branch off to almost any other type of shooting and excel, but not just anyone can shoot Bullseye........... I am not a Bullseye shooter, while I am good in many areas of shooting, I would not do well in that arena. You have my upmost respect!

We will just have to find you some "Checkered Ivory Grips".......... LOL...........
Thanks for the explanation, that sorts that out properly.

 

[Safari Dave]

In cold weather, my EDC is a Kimber 1911 TDE II.

I know, some folks have had issues with Kimber's, but mine has performed flawlessly for 10 years.

The factory magazine works fine, and I carry two Wilson Combat 8 round magazines as backup.


Mine has real elephant ivory grips, from an old boy who hit the ground in the 70's.


This is the most accurate handgun that I own, besides a Ruger Mark II.

 

[Sabre]

Before I saw that the OP was in Europe, I was going to suggest he hit
The CMP and order up a couple of The Real Deal 1911s that saw service. They raised the lifetime limit to 2 and are taking new orders. Every 1911 lover needs a few of these.

$1,300 for the best grade that still says it would be pitted with rust seems pretty steep to me. I'd personally rather take the $1,300 and have it cover a large portion of a much nicer pistol.

 

[NDWoods]

Love my Wilsons. If I did not have Wilson it would be Les Baer. I really, really need to get a Les Baer.

 

[ACE (in CT)]

The CMP pistols are in surprisingly good shape for as old as they are. They are functional and in issuable condition. Obviously not new, BUT how can one say they love 1911s and not have one that likely saw action?

Of course you can buy cheaper but You know the price is reasonable when you see them selling online for 100% more than they charge.

 

[Shootist43]

Mark, I thought I'd back up our comments about Accuracy X pistols by posting a link to a video that is more than impressive.

If you posted it, some might consider it "brag" by me posting it, it is just fact.

Yea, it's Mark's pistol

 

[5shot]

What kind of budget did you have in mind?

 

[mark-hunter]

What kind of budget did you have in mind?

I did not set a limit on a budget, but 5K I will not pay.
Lets say up to 3K.

 

[5shot]

I did not set a limit on a budget, but 5K I will not pay.
Lets say up to 3K.

Then the options mentioned suffice. If you wanted a custom, there are many options for great smiths, but that would be $5k and up.

 

[ACE (in CT)]

03/29/1911 - 03/29/2025

Today, we celebrate the greatest automatic handgun in history...

On this day, 114 years ago, Lt. Col. John T. Thompson (yes, of Thompson Sub Machine Gun fame) sent a letter to the Colt's Manufacturing Company in Hartford Connecticut informing them that their .45 Automatic had been approved and adopted by the United States Army.

For over a century, the M1911 (and variants) have been carried and cherised by American soldiers, law enforcement, and civilian gun-toters alike.

The 1911 was birthed into an era of U.S. imperialism, seeing it's earliest combat in conflicts such as the Bannana Wars of Central America and the Caribbean Islands. While the big-bore six gun was still "America's Handgun" a decade into the 20th Century, the M1911's service in the Great War exposed hundreds of thousands of Americans to the power, reliability, and zeal of the .45 Automatic.

From there, the M1911 has become an icon of American superiority and excellence across the globe. It's legend is rivaled by no other automatic, with the M1911 remaining operationally unchanged since it was adopted on this day 114 years ago.