dumb question: what is the diff between U.S. 1911s & Sig, Glock, etc.?

C

canuck1911

New member
I've been researching .45 autos recently, with intent of buying (I won't say what I decided on, so as not to bias the responses), and I've rented several types over the years at the range. However, I must confess, I think I'm terribly uninformed - I've seen a lot of debates here about whether folks prefer the US version or the European variants. BUT, what is the key difference? As far as I can tell, both can be very reliable. The US guns have tons of custom replacement parts you can use to improve or fiddle with,and lots of gunsmiths who specialize in them, so I assume a custom 1911 should be more reliable and accurate and last longer than a stock European one, but maybe not. I know a few folks who spend weekends tweeking their custom rebuilt sportscars, but reliable I would not call those cars. The general tone seems to be that SIGs, Glocks, H&Ks are reliable and pretty accurate out of the box. while U.S. 1911s seem to have a poor rep until you get to high end custom, and then folks seem to dislike them for heavy routine use. I've probably exaggerated the sense of some of the threads I've been reading recently, but I wanted to understand what the key differentiators are between US & European.

Canuck
 
IN the case of the 1911 there is not much differance between any ,or it would not be a 1911.If you want tack driving accuracy ,then you want a 1911 from Les Baer or similar.The glocks are good service guns they dont hardly ever jam ,ditto for the sig .The sig usually is more accurate than the Glock.Ive owned and shot a lot of 1911`s and a few glocks.the 1911 will always be my first choice when it comes to a life and death situation because with them i know for a fact when i pull the trigger its going to go where i want it too end of story, cept to say i have put tens of thousands of rounds through the 1911`s i own and have not with the others. One reason the 1911 shoots so well is the single action trigger pull ,you do not have to overcome the long heavy trigger pull of a lot of double action auto`s most of my triggers are under 3.5 pounds.If price is not a problem id go with the les baer ,you will not be dissapointed.If price is a issue go with kimber I have a gold match that puts them into the same hole if you do your part.The goldmatch can be had for 800$ in blue!If that is still to high then you can get a glock for around 459$ in just about any thing you like! hope this helps.
 
Thanks, Killer

That does help. I had thought the European pistols modified the basic 1911 design in ways I wasn't aware of. BTW, I had decided on a custom 1911 in a class with the Baer, for reasons such as you mention.

Also, BTW, while reliability under adverse operating conditions is valuable, I think building something for this is not necessarily hard - by analogy to watches, engines, bridges, etc. the standard technique
is to over-engineer the parts, so that they can take extra abuse and wear, and use a design that does not require fine tolerances to work well, so that small pieces of dirt and grime will not cause malfunctioning. Of course, you trade off other features to get reliability this way.
 
The 1911 type is a single action pistol. The hammer must be cocked to fire the first shot. The others are usually DA/SA meaning the first shot can be fired with a long trigger pull but subsequent shots are fired single action with a short trigger pull. The Glock trigger pull is the same for every shot.

As to the reliability of the 1911. The original pistol, the U.S. Army Model 1911 or Model 1911A1 is one of the best known pistols in the world and established a reputation for reliabillity and durability in two world wars and numerous other wars and conflicts. Many of the modern copies and clones, however, are not as reliable or durable, and bid fair to destroy the reputation of the original. You will note that I refer to the 1911 type. Modern guns range from superb to junk, but I don't like to call any of them "1911's".

Jim
 
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