Interesting and amusing video, but I would have preferred to see more done on the 1911 designs.

They didn’t seem to know that there is a difference between the Series 70 and Series 80 designs, as one of the comments note.

Frankly, I’m not sure they have the knowledge base to fully answer the question(s) on 1911, carry status, and various designs that keep it safe (e.g., Springfield Armory’s titanium firing pin design).

If any experts/gunsmiths would like to weigh in, please do so. I’d like to know what you think.

They like it a lot.

I have to say it’s a good looking gun and seems to run very well.

However, I also have to say that I would rather they come out with a commander size 1911 with the bobtail design and the SS slide rather than the aluminum slide. A 1911 carrier has already accepted that the gun will weigh more and has decided that he’s okay with that. In fact, I don’t consider it a detriment to the gun. I think it’s an advantage.

I also have to weigh in with one more comment, and it agrees with their comment. They should have put an optic cut on the gun. Most modern 1911 owners are not purists. I’m not.

Finally, in this reddit/Firearms post, Kimber is just taking a beat down in the comments for unreliability, FTF and FTE.

This is a fair assessment, and it all comes down to the user and what he wants.  I’m willing to clean the gun so it works in order to get the awesome trigger pull and that tactile feel.  Others may not be so willing.

But the best comment of the video is this: “If you’re an American and you don’t like 1911s, we can’t be friends.”

I ran across this video from three years ago and I like it when gunsmiths tell me they didn’t previously understand what’s going on but do now.  That shows humility and a willingness to learn.

Anyway, he’s very big on Sig Sauer 1911 magazines because of the design.  Do any readers have experience with Sig magazines?  I don’t, and none of my 1911s jam.

I wish I had his collection of 1911s.

Well of course it doesn’t suck.  Whoever said it did?  That person is an idiot.  Avoid people like that.

Listen, you can like and shoot whatever you want to.  The 1911 is the best shooting and most ergonomic handgun on the planet, bar none.  There are legitimate reasons to choose something else, e.g., magazine capacity.  But there are other options, namely, a double stack 9mm 1911 design.

And yes, Tim is right.  There are 1911 designs now with optics cuts on the slides.  You can get what you want with a 1911, you just have to pay the money.  But remember, you get what you pay for.

And for the record, I don’t consider a commander size 1911 any heavier than any other carry gun, but it’s a lot narrower and easier to carry – for me.

You don’t have to spend 3K – 4K on a Wilson Combat pistol. You can spend much less and get a Dan Wesson (CZ currently owns Dan Wesson, and CZ is making fine products).

The first rule of gun club is that you don’t talk about gun club.  But I will say this much.  I agree with Tim that Dan Wesson makes a very good 1911.  Dan Wesson is owned by CZ now.  That was a good purchase by an already good company.

I do disagree with him that the .45ACP is becoming less and less popular.

I think overall this is a fair analysis.  My experience is that if you pay for a good 1911, it serves you reliably.  As I’ve said before, I’ve shot thousands of rounds out of 1911s and never had a single FTF / FTE.  The things I like about 1911s are numerous, but here’s just a few of them

I like the grip angle.

I like the hammer fired operation.  I do not have striker fired pistols and will not have one in the future.  To me, pulling the trigger on striker fired pistol feels like letting a bucket full of compressed springs and rubber bands explode.

I like the smooth, crisp trigger.

I like the single stack design with the slim grip (which is good for my severe RA and gnarled up knuckles on my right hand).

I like the weight (what some people see as an undesirable, I see as a benefit).  Getting a commander size 1911 brings the weight close to most striker fired handguns.

And finally, I like the safety, which can be swept off by merely achieving proper purchase on the pistol if you desire.

This is very interesting and a good commentary on the recent history of the 1911 in U.S. special forces by someone who was there.

Ammoland.

The Army Ordnance folks around the beginning of the 20th Century had seen the failures of round-nosed, full-metal jacketed bullets in the British .303 rifles, and our own .30 U.S. Government (aka “.30-40 Krag”) in stopping a determined armed assailant.

They reasoned that since their .38 Long Colt Model 1892 revolvers had shown similarly poor results, and the re-issuance of the .45 SAA (Single Action Arm) into combat had added to the eventual defeat of the Philippine Moros, our military review board sought to adopt another large bore handgun. The British too paralleled this thought process, and as early as the mid-1880s they had already started issuing some of the first .455 Webley revolvers as a result.

By the middle of the first decade of the 20th Century, Colt was developing, along with the genius designer of most of their handguns, John Browning, a .45 cal. semi-automatic pistol. While the original development utilized a 200gr bullet at approximately 900 feet per second in 1906, the Ordnance Department subsequently desired a cartridge that approximated the old .45 Colt revolver cartridge in power, while being shorter in length than the substitute standard .45 S&W Schofield round.

Thus, the 230gr RN FMJ bullet at 850 fps nominal speed was created, and it found a home in the concurrently developed Colt Model 1911 pistol, the longest serving pistol of any military force to the best of my knowledge, some 75 years of official issue.

In the civilian world however, it has remained as popular as ever. Due to the existence of new generation jacketed hollow point bullets, it still retains its terminal ballistic advantages of expansion and consistent penetration compared to smaller bore diameter offerings. A recent detailed study indeed illustrated that the Federal HST 230gr standard pressure rounds offer 16” of penetration and consistent 0.85” of controlled expansion with no bullet fragmentation in an unofficial “FBI heavy clothing test” into simulated ballistic gelatin.

One other thing that is not mentioned much is that its stopping power is achieved without superior “sectional density,” high pressure, or high velocity. It operates at a very low 21,000 copper units of pressure, it has no supersonic crack, and is, therefore, nearly ideal for use with a suppressor. The recoil, while “there,” is more a push than a quick snap, while controlled-pairs shooting aimed rapid-fire are pretty easy to do out to ten yards and can usually be within an inch of each other. I’ve done it, and I’m just not that great a shot.

Moreover, the . 45 ACP cartridge has long borne the brunt of technical development as a precision target shooting round as well as being a supremely controllable defense round. In both the original 230gr RN,FMJ format for “hardball matches,” as well as reduced weight 185gr and 200g target matches, it remains one of the most accurate service pistol rounds extant.

And of course, with the hotter loads you can get from Buffalo Bore and Double Tap, you can send a 230 grain ball at around 1050 FPS, or a 450 SMC at 1120 FPS, and be okay for defense against large predators.

I like the push instead of the snap.  I love shooting the .45 ACP more than any other cartridge, pistol or rifle.

To me it’s not just a competition or self defense round.  If somebody said, “Hey we’re headed to the range, grab a gun,” the first thing I’d reach for is a 1911.