38 comments

  1. John Moses Browning must be the most successful firearms inventor of all time. Probably the most prolific as well. I have a bunch of his designs, and will likely pick up a few more.

  3. Five years or so ago, I had a Springfield Armory XD-S (Mod 2) in .45 ACP. Even though I only had it for a short while, how I loved that gun! Had to sell it within a year, for reasons we won’t go into. With its 3.3 inch barrel, I think of it as a super portable, CCP, “modernized” 45! Hail all 45s, and their descendants!

  4. Ah, yes, St. JMB’s feast day. Thanks for the reminder!

    There are four variants in our house and I’ve actually turned 28-year-old son into an aficionado. People tease me about it being so old school. Until they shoot it. All of mine have been smithed and once they feel the trigger, normally they get one of their own within the year.

    Alas, economics is forcing me to thin the herd, and I am selling my 15-year-old, lightly-fired Nighthawk Custom GRP Recon. I’ll likely shed a tear or two when that happens. But it never gets exercised, and that’s not right, either, for such a fine pistol. 🙁

  5. Have two of them both made by Ruger. One is a commander and the other is full sized. Only thing I don’t like about that variation is the bump on the bottom of the grip safety. Would like to get rid of that. But good guns. Need to take them out to the range one of these days. After the snow goes, maybe next week.

    Yeah.

  6. Hard to beat the trigger on a 1911.
    I have two, a worked on Springfield that is a safe queen and a Kimber I use for CCW and IDPA.
    I was issued a relic from WWII, a 1911 that had zero rifling left in the barrel. I couldn’t group better than several feet at 10 yards. SGTMAJ tried it then told me to keep it loaded and use it as a club in an emergency.

    2. It wouldn’t have hurt to have taken it to your unit’s Direct Support armourer. In Vietnam we had a full small arms workshop in a box mounted on a deuce and a half. We had just about any part for a 1911.

  7. Living in a slave state I have opted out of going thru the gauntlet of getting a handgun license. But about 15 years ago I went to Camp Perry and took the SAFS pistol course. Lucky me got partnered with none other than Gunny Sgt Brian Zins, the single greatest 1911 shooter of all time. 12x National Champion etc etc…just Google his bio and website. Two days, about 4 solid hours of shooting the breeze with him. When I asked what kind of groups he gets with his 1911…well he said at 25 yds, he could shoot all day into size of a quarter….lol !!!

    Let us not forget that God Emperor JMB also designed the greatest pistol cartridge in the history of the world, the 45 ACP in 1904. The pairing still lasts to today.

    Just imagine that the 1911 and 45 have seen service around the globe, in countless conflicts and defended millions of ppl for over 110 years ! And right now is on the front lines of freedom this very day !! What other firearm can even approach that record ?

  8. I have two 1911s, neither of them very expensive, both of them a joy to shoot. As much as I carry a 9mm in the summertime heat, I always smile when I strap on my 1911. It’s like coming back home.

    Although, and this might get me hate mail, the 1911 is not my favorite JMB design. That designation would go to the Ma Deuce, the M2 50 cal machine gun. Nothing made me smile in the Army like knocking down trees a mile away.

    1. This, 100%. My two favorite firearms are the 1911 pattern and the Ma Deuce.

      John Moses Browning (PBUH) was a genius,

    2. That would make anyone smile, with the exception of a Sierra Clubber, or EnviroNazi – both of which would be strapped to said tree.

    1. This is probably a good thing! CZ makes excellent firearms, just ask Kim. The finest bolt action .22 I own is a model 453, and their 75B and P10c are also great. I think CZ can keep Colt going with great success, they both are capable of making great firearms. By the way, I will never be without at least one 1911. Color me old school.

    3. Nothing can possibly go wrong.

      CZ has its main factory in Uhersky Brod, Czechia.

      The finest beer in the world is Uhersky Brod, also made in you know where.

      Those people are obviously perfectionists and will soon perfect the Colt.

  10. I have a collection… one never knows what ammo will be available when the society implodes.

    That said carry is a 1911 Kimber, office firearem is a 1911 Springfield and bedside is a 12 gauge…

  11. I have a Colt Gold Cup that I use for Bullseye competition. Then to make a long story short I have 2 Colt 100 year anniversary models. I ordered one, and gave up on it after a year, and found one at a gun show and bought it. Then got a call from the first dealer that your Colt has come in do you still want it. I said yes, and even talked the salesman into not even opening the box.

  12. Carried a 1911 during my stint in the U S Army. Those old guns were worn but always went bang when you needed them too. Have four 1911’s , all Colts including a Delta Elite. They will be with me until I am dust, hope they go to someone who appreciates them (Along with my two Pythons). Can’t stand modern plastic toys. At 73 I am too shakey to shoot bullseye but I still enjoy shooting them. JMB was the greatest gun designer ever, and he did his work without modern machining and computers.

  13. I was in Vietnam in 1971-1972. As an Ordnance Officer I was the shop officer for the direct support maintenance company of our brigade. In our company we had one of the top 1911 men in the Army who back in the world was an armourer for the AMTU at Ft. Benning. AMTU stands for the Advanced Marksmanship Training Unit or soldiers who are paid to go to the range every day with free ammo. Eat your heart out, Kim. Anyway his people as an OJT exercise built me the most accurate fixed-sights 1911 you can imagine. He started out with a nearly new frame that wasn’t on anyone’s property book, and using the contents of our above mentioned mobile small arms shop, built it up. I prefer the flat backstrap, so I got that. Trigger job with Navy trigger, skeletonized, hand picked barrel and barrel bushing. Slide and frame fitted and tightened. Stippling on the front of the grip. It was great. For me it is the one that got away since there was no way I could bring it home. I wound up souvenirring it to a Corps of Engineers Captain who had admired it earlier. When the locals wanted something from us, they would bring us a gift and say: “I souvenir you, GI.”

    1. Lol… my brother who was in Viet Nam (1967-1969) related that the black guys in his arty unit were sending back m60s in parts.

    2. The Son&Heir was heavily recruited for the AMTU. They were the only ones who could shoot with him and beat him, and they kept him out of TeamUSA for the 2010 Olympics.

      1. What’s really scary about it all is that I have been on your site(s) for so long that I remember the incident.

  14. Loves me some 1911. Have 3… a Kimber Custom Carry II, a Dan Wesson Patriot ( made in Norwich, NY, just up the road from my folk’s place) and a S&W Model 52-1 chambered in .38 Special for shooting Bullseye. I’ll alternate between the Kimber & the DW as my carrier. Both are nail drivers.

  15. My pistol that stays close to me most of the time is a stainless Colt Defender 1911 in .45 that has a 3″ barrel. The trigger has been gunsmith adjusted not too much, not too little, thin rosewood aftermarket grips and with Wilson Combat magazines it always goes bang and hits just about where I am aiming at reasonable ranges.

  16. So… What’s a good first 1911 for people unconstrained by budgets? I’ve heard good things about STI/Staccato.

    1. Have a look at the Cabot 1911s. They seem to know how to make things.
      Are they worth it? That is up to you, I guess.

    3. Try one of the Rock Island 1911’s from Armscor – used to be marked under the Charles Daly logo.

      Oh, you said “unconstrained”…..Sorry.
      Springfield Armory Inc is a good starting point.
      Or, Wilson Combat.

  18. My first 1911 was from Norinco, it is now extensively upgraded/modified courtesy of the pages of the parts book from Brownell’s. It’s my “desk gun”.
    In my Yaqui Slide – everyday – is a Para Warthog.
    For more formal dress is a nice rig from El Paso Saddlery carrying an NRA Edition Para 14-45.
    Since everyone has to have a “safe queen”, I have consecutive numbered Friends of the NRA “Gun Of The Year” Colt 1911A1s, in a proper left/right display case so both sides of the engraving can be seen.
    3 to use, 2 more to look at, seems to be sufficient.

  20. I shop in the ‘husky’ section of the big-n-tall department at the local farm/ranch supply.

    Until I discovered .300 Blackout pistols, for social work, I carried a Para 14.45 and a Para midget I forget the designation but it seems like it was a 10-round double-stack.
    With a half-dozen magazines, I felt adequately heeled.

    (These days, we operate a farm in bear/cougar/dope-fiend country, so I tuck one .300BO AR 8.5″ under my vest with 20-rounders as counter-weight.
    Some days, I feel extra cranky so I tuck two…)

    *****

    1996:
    On a tour of the Kimber factory in Clackamas Oregon, I acquired a first-week production .45 Classic; I built a presentation case for it, a red elk holster, matching elk handcuffs holster with black-matte cuffs, and double magazine elk holster with scruffy black-chrome McCormick mags.

    For the Classic, I Dremel’d target grips from some hardwood I forget, then pressure-dyed them red to match the holsters kit.
    My hands are about double ‘normal’ size, so slowly opening that case is known to cause gasps, and an occasional fit of the vapors.
    Black/red in red next to black in red and double black in red.

    *****

    1960 — at eight-years old, I bought a Sears Roebuck .22 bolt brand-spanking new (with my Granpa Jack observing a few paces away).
    1964 — at twelve, I received my M1903 30.06 from the mail-lady (with my Aunt Maryjane observing in the porch rocker).

    Weapons are a religion to some of us.
    How do I get my religion recognized under The First Amendment?

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