First 1911

My bill board S&W is my favorite 1911. I have heard they were assembled by performance center workers with some Wilson parts.

I have 1911s from smith, Ruger, Kimber, RIA, and Sig and I can’t find any fault with any of them as long as you realize what they are. Only 1911 that truly disappointed me was a Para in 38 super, jam-o-magic is was.
 
I'm adding BUL armory to the list. Full featured gun that it is for under 1K. G10 grips, checkered front strap, nicely finished barrel and steel. I've seen them recently as low as 750 on some
websites. They tend to sell out fast.

I believe the Desert Eagle .45 is made by the BUL for a few more bucks.
 
Something about the R1 that may not be common knowledge: They got a bad rep from the start from the guns that were made in NY. When they moved to AL apparently QC was greatly increased. My R1 stainless has been a workhorse since I bought it new around 2016. It’s my IDPA gun and the thing has never once failed. I’ve heard plenty of bad reviews on the R1 but mine has been a gem and maybe it’s the exception to the rule. It’s an AL built gun.

OP you know you buy aftermarket ambi-safeties for the 1911 right? ;)
They do require fitting though so I’d suggest having a ‘smith do it for you if you go that route. Just an idea that will open up a lot more options for you, if you were thinking you had to stick with factory original for that component.

My first was a 1976 Colt Government model I bought just before Christmas in 2000. It was $500 and that was one weeks pay for me. I still have it. No clue how many thousands of rounds through it as it was used when I got it but I’ve put a lot down the pipe. It was my IDPA gun before I got the R1. It’s also been my cold weather carry gun as long as I’ve owned it.

My collection of 1911’s is pretty basic. I never felt the need to drop multiple thousands on higher end guns but I appreciate the quality and skill that goes into those, as I’ve shot a few. If you can learn to tune and smooth internals on your gun (and do it safely without f*cking things up) you can get a real nice trigger/action provided the parts you’re working with aren’t garbage. I hate MIM parts but they are present in my R1 and again, that gun has kept going strong through thousands of rounds. Generally when a 1911 part breaks I’ll replace it with Ed Brown, Wilson Combat, Cylinder & Slide, Harrison Design etc…
In 20+ years of 1911 fanboiness I’ve learned what I’m comfortable doing myself and what I’m not. When I’m not, it goes to Greg Derr. ;)
 
What's up with all the bad reports on the Rem R1?

I must have hit a sweet spot when I bought mine. In fact, I bought 3 of them online halfway through their 2nd year of production in Ilion. I had heard about early QC issues (mostly sloppy work cleaning up the inside of the slide and frame) early on, so I wanted to pick and choose between a couple of examples and add one to my mix.

All 3 were clean and smooth inside and out. First time out, I ran 200 rounds through each with zero failures and surprisingly good accuracy. Second time out, same result (only 100 rounds each).

I chose one from the 3 for myself and gave the other 2 to sons in law.

None of us have any issues whatsoever with any of them. Mine lives in my safe and only has 500 rounds through it, but the boys have been wearing theirs out.
 
The R1 was f***ing gutter trash. Or at least the quality control was lacking. You could buy 10 of those guns as a dealer. open the boxes and they'd be at least 4 or 5 guns which any serious buyer would reject outright because of obvious poor fitting. Then another 2 would be iffy and maybe the 3 left were fine.
 
rebut said:
What's up with all the bad reports on the Rem R1?

I must have hit a sweet spot when I bought mine. In fact, I bought 3 of them online halfway through their 2nd year of production in Ilion. I had heard about early QC issues (mostly sloppy work cleaning up the inside of the slide and frame) early on, so I wanted to pick and choose between a couple of examples and add one to my mix.

All 3 were clean and smooth inside and out. First time out, I ran 200 rounds through each with zero failures and surprisingly good accuracy. Second time out, same result (only 100 rounds each).

I chose one from the 3 for myself and gave the other 2 to sons in law.

None of us have any issues whatsoever with any of them. Mine lives in my safe and only has 500 rounds through it, but the boys have been wearing theirs out.
Click to expand...
You were lucky.

Very lucky.

Ill leave it at that.
 
I've been looking around and have recently added Auto-Ordnance to my list. I just borrowed one and it has a better feel and build quality than the Springfield I had. Smooth and tight. Pretty clean trigger. 100% stock mil-spex.
 
Last edited:
drgrant said:
The R1 was f***ing gutter trash. Or at least the quality control was lacking. You could buy 10 of those guns as a dealer. open the boxes and they'd be at least 4 or 5 guns which any serious buyer would reject outright because of obvious poor fitting. Then another 2 would be iffy and maybe the 3 left were fine.
Click to expand...

drgrant said:
You were lucky.

Very lucky.

Ill leave it at that.
Click to expand...

I guess I would count myself as lucky, along with my sons in law and three other guys who picked one up and had no problems. In all cases the fit and finish were great. I was living in Utah when I got my 3. They were hard to find at the local gun shops...Maybe for the reasons you are talking about. But not long after I got mine (early 2013, I think it was) they started showing up in stock at a few stores. They mostly looked good on the outside, but I did not take them down to look further.

My understanding was that they ironed out the QC issues in Ilion toward the end of the first year of production. I don't know what happened after they moved production to Huntsville (? was It?).
 
rebut said:
I guess I would count myself as lucky, along with my sons in law and three other guys who picked one up and had no problems. In all cases the fit and finish were great. I was living in Utah when I got my 3. They were hard to find at the local gun shops...Maybe for the reasons you are talking about. But not long after I got mine (early 2013, I think it was) they started showing up in stock at a few stores. They mostly looked good on the outside, but I did not take them down to look further.

My understanding was that they ironed out the QC issues in Ilion toward the end of the first year of production. I don't know what happened after they moved production to Huntsville (? was It?).
Click to expand...
That's after my experiences so possibly different level of QC.... im guessing they stopped production for awhile. I didn't even know they still made them, because the guns disappeared for awhile. I'm honestly surprised people kept buying them, thats how bad the early ones were.
 
Picton said:
I bought one. It functioned just fine. Probably second production year?
Click to expand...
I had one. Would not go into battery a few times every mag. Seemed like it was woefully undersprung from the factory.

Put a new wolf spring in it GTG.

Sold it to a guy at the club after he still has it and it runs good.
 
Have one for 2 years. Beautiful gun, nice finish, light and crisp trigger. Newer had any issue or misfire
Some people just want to convince themselves to spend 2-3 K for the gun
That is why they so upset with gun for $500-600
 
1911 purists scoff at the S&W E-series since it 'doesn't look right'. You can swap out some parts so the guide rod doesn't stick out but the external extractor is still an eyesore.
 
union said:
I guess I never updated this. Few months ago I ended up buying a used Springfield TRP. There will be others in the future but I feel pretty good about this one to start. Very nice shooter.
Click to expand...

That's beautiful.

Stainless with walnut grips is a good way to go. My Randall is the same.
 

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