Don’t see much love for Ruger 1911s! Why?

Don't own one myself, but I rarely hear anything bad about them.

I was close to pulling the trigger on a Ruger Commander, but the deal fell through.
 
The two that I own have been great (SR1911 & 1911 CMD)...good triggers, outstanding accuracy and features that are realistic for non-mall ninja's. They compare favorably to my half dozen Colts over the years. My SR1911 is every bit as accurate as my Series 70 Gold Cup with selected loads. YMMv, Rod
 
I had a Ruger LW Commander in 45 ACP. Thing choked on everything. Did not matter what mags I was using, factory, Checkmate, Wilson, Chip McCormick.

Had the most bizarre malfunction with that thing. A stovepipe with a live round, the base of the round was under the feed lips of the Wilson mag.

For one thing the barrel was not properly fitted to the slide.

It would have been a great carry gun if it worked when ran hard. It worked fine for casual shooting.
 
Nanuk said:
I had a Ruger LW Commander in 45 ACP. Thing choked on everything. Did not matter what mags I was using, factory, Checkmate, Wilson, Chip McCormick.

Had the most bizarre malfunction with that thing. A stovepipe with a live round, the base of the round was under the feed lips of the Wilson mag.

For one thing the barrel was not properly fitted to the slide.

It would have been a great carry gun if it worked when ran hard. It worked fine for casual shooting.
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There had to have been reasons for the various malfunctions. The gun is a machine, if it does not function correctly, there has to be a reason for it. If you were in fact an armorer, you should have been able to figure out the causes of the malfunctions and remedied them. In all, you do not seem to have had any more problems with your Ruger than I have had with several Colt 1911's over the years.
 
Don’t see much love for Ruger 1911s! Why?

Im not real sure where you have been looking, but the comments are almost always positive. Ruger makes a fine budget 1911.
 
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My SR 1911 is one of my favorite guns to shoot. If you want to feel the love for Ruger maybe go to a Ruger forum. I find this forum a little more general in scope.
 
There was an early issue with front sights flying off, and that may have slowed popularity, some.
When there are 1911 makers with decades of experience, I'm not going to buy from the new kid on the block if they don't offer something unavailable elsewhere.
 
I would say Kimber. And it used to be deserved.
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I recall when the general consensus was Kimber was building the 1911 that Colt should have had they not dropped the ball on quality control. Now it seems that Kimber is falling prey to the same forces that allowed them to carve their niche in the first place.
 
Nanuk said:
Had the most bizarre malfunction with that thing. A stovepipe with a live round, the base of the round was under the feed lips of the Wilson mag.
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Addressing this single symptom only. Live round stovepipes are most often due to the slide coming forward faster than the magazine spring can push the next round up into solid contact with the feed lips in time for the slide to catch the rim. Instead the slide contacts the case ahead of the rim and pushes the cartidge out of the mag. As soon as the round is free of the mag the nose goes straight up and there's your stovepipe.

Assuming this happened with every mag and there's no shock buff in the pistol, the fix would be to put in a lighter recoil spring to slow the forward velocity of the slide. At the same time install a flat bottom firing pin stop to slow the rearward velocity of the slide to offset the lower recoil spring weight. You could also put in a heavier than standard (23lb) mainspring (hammer spring) to further slow the rearward slide velocity.

Here's a video on the effect of different weight recoil springs on slide velocity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUecHstU4QQ

If this only happened with a single mag, the fix would be a stronger mag spring.

Personally, my less than 5" 1911s all have flat bottom firing pin stops, 23lb mainsprings, 16lb recoil springs, and I run Checkmate 8rnd extended tube or 7rnd flush fit hybrid feedlip mags with Tripp mag springs.
 
Frame feed ramp inserts

A question for those who are familiar with the Commander size Ruger 1911 with aluminum frames.

Do they have steel or titanium frame feed ramp inserts? Or do they use ramped barrels?
 
I've had two, a LWT Commander and a railed 5" and they were good guns. They're not cheap but at the same time, they're not really "nice" 1911's. They're good enough but not what you would call special, although I would rate them higher than Kimbers and cheaper Springfields. I'm thinking about picking up the SR1911 10mm.
 
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I would say Kimber. And it used to be deserved.
I recall when the general consensus was Kimber was building the 1911 that Colt should have had they not dropped the ball on quality control. Now it seems that Kimber is falling prey to the same forces that allowed them to carve their niche in the first place.
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When Kimber entered the market, Colt was making about 35k guns a year, and when Kimber's reputation started to slip, it was about the time they hit 35k a year.
When Colt's market share dropped to a fraction of what it had been, you started seeing stuff like "Colt's making the best guns they have since the fill-in-the decade".
 
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