Falling in Love With the 1911 All Over Again

M

MTT TL

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I suppose you never forget your first handgun. I had always wanted a legendary 1911 and on spotting a stainless AMT at a gun show decades ago at an affordable price I brought it home.

The AMT turned out to be difficult and like a lot of relationships required some work to keep running right. It wasn't until many years later with the advent of on line forums that I discovered I was hardly alone issues with this maker of guns. It seems like we could only go five or six rounds without having a function problem. Eventually I let it go, trading it in for a much nicer rifle.

Not long after that I found a Kimber TLE/ RL II available in an ad on an online gun trader. The opinion of my online friends varied. Some liked it, some hated it, some felt it wasn't the right gun for me. Most of those that didn't like it had not spent any time with it but had heard rumors and bad things about it and felt like they had to pass that information along just to make sure I was ok.

But I felt the urge... like this could be a good fit. The nostalgia beckoned. And so I brought it home. And although it was familiar it wasn't quite the same. I had fired and owned a lot of guns since then and had found that there were distinct advantages to a light weight pistol with a capacity closer to 20 than 10. Still, I tried to make it work.

The Kimber functioned flawlessly, was much better looking than the AMT and had a lot of details and extras that made it easier to use. It was dead accurate too. For such an old gun design it was quite modern, yet it just seemed... so impractical with it's heavy weight and it's low capacity. It was loud and clunky with clicks and clacks during operations instead of quiet little snicks. After a few thousand rounds it got pulled out of the safe less and less often. Eventually I stuck a .22 conversion kit on it and it languished for years as my .22 practice pistol all while the plastic guns got more than their fair share of play time.

Then the other day I felt the urge and pulled it and put it back the way it was supposed to be and something funny happened.

The accuracy was still there, better than of the plastic guns. I then remembered about rapid fire with a 1911. Apparently I can point shoot the heavy old hand cannon much faster and retain accuracy with it much better than with any of the plastic guns. I think it has something to do with the weight of the gun. At 10 yards I can cover a group with my hand in about the time it takes me to pull the trigger. I can't do that with a plastic gun, not even close. Accurate slow fire at long range is amazing and easy.

The old gun has it's charms. Maybe it's not a daily driver perhaps more for special occasions but it has it's charms.
 
My first 1911 was also a Kimber TLE. I loved that gun, and must have had the one good one out of hundreds of lemons. I did swap out some of the MIM parts, but that beautiful beast ate many thousands of rounds.

Wear and tear on some unknown piece or part led to it having ejection issues (my assumption is Ejection but I am no expert and could very well be wrong). Casings would get chewed up in the ejection port, but as long as a fresh round was pushing its way up, the empty would clear. The last round however, would get stuck by the slide return.
I had three different gunshops/smiths look at it. The most any of them wanted to do was replace recoil springs. Think I went thru 4 different springs in the course of 3 months. I should mention though that the smiths who looked at it probably didnt look as thoroughly as they could have, since I happened to be more friend than customer.

I am convinced that the problem was curable. But since that gun could no longer be relied upon for carrying, and having run out of options of smiths I could take it to, I traded it in and got a really great deal on a Colt Combat Elite. They gave me $400 for the Kimber, and that was with them knowing it had ejection issues. So they probably knew it was curable too, and they could obviously re sell it for more than they gave me on it.
 
You wont have many complaints about that Colt Combat Elite.

My only complaint on mine was the bottom of the slide was razor sharp! I took a fine stone to mine and knocked the edges off and couldn't have been happier. Then I let a buddy of mine talk me out of it...Dumb, Dumb,DUMB!

I've had oodles of Kimbers too, in fact I think I have 6 of them right now, but there is something about that Prancing Pony that really gets my blood pumping!

Enjoy those 1911's!

Todd
 
I am convinced that the problem was curable. But since that gun could no longer be relied upon for carrying, and having run out of options of smiths I could take it to, I traded it in and got a really great deal on a Colt Combat Elite. They gave me $400 for the Kimber, and that was with them knowing it had ejection issues.
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When I bought mine in a PP sale the ejector rod was broken. It was a good pricing issue for the gun. I Emailed Kimber and then found out about their crappy warranty. Even so they sent me a new one for free.

I figure at some point it will break again. I just don't know that point.

As of now the Tritium sites no longer glow, and I guess I should replace them but I don't think I will old gun in to regular service. It is just fun to shoot.
 
I only have a couple. One in 45 and one in 9mm. One of them always goes to the range with me. Sometimes I shoot it, sometimes I don't.
Sometimes I won't shoot them for a couple months. If I do that with some other handguns, it will take a mag or two to get zeroed in. Not true with the 1911. It's like I just shot it yesterday.
 
I have several 1911s.. .45, 10mm, .40 S&W and one, my Colt Combat Commander series 80 .45 ACP is fully set up for carry. It will do any job a handgun is asked for defense.

But if you really want accuracy, my Kimber Gold Match MK I, is the cats meow. Shoots like a rifle.

Deaf
 
Well you got to be open to the whole 1911..."EXPERIENCE" to fully appreciate them, you know, the HISTORY, the FOLKLORE, the, the, THE MYSTIQUE!!!

otherwise it's just a fun, heavy, accurate (sometimes) gun to shoot and admittedly has its very own idiosyncrasies.

P.S. I am VERY fond of the 1911 platform which is why, even though I've been told they are up to it, I won't subject a 1911 to the 10mm cartridge. I just don't think they would like it.
 
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I have 15 of them. All are in .45 ACP. Fourteen are full sized and one is Commander sized.

I have a Remington Rand that is just like one that saved my life one morning.

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That made me a believer. I liked them before. I’ve loved them since. I guess that I would be what Hilton Yam calls an aficionado.

I also have three AMT’s, two Colts, a Randall, two Remingtons, two Rock Islands, two Rugers, and two Springfields.

I might wind up with another one or two before it’s all over.
 
I have one 1911 GI, and four "1911-inspired" pistols. They are all great shooters. It is one of my favorite platforms.
 
A 1911 wasn't the first handgun I ever fired or owned. In fact, I had fired quite a few different pistols before getting to a shoot a "45" for the first time.

However, it is one I've always wanted. But I succumbed to the "more bullets, lighter, cheaper, modern, polymer, wave of the future" thinking for a very long time. Yet every time I'd get to try a 1911 at the range, be it from a friend, family or range stranger, I could hit anything I cared to point it at with speed and precision. Yes, even with GI-replica pistols with those little speed bump nub sights.

Finally, in the past year, I gave in and stepped up to the plate. Now I have 2 1911s, both Colts, both 5" size, one a stainless .38 Super (which is cool in its own way) and one a blued .45 ACP. My plastic-fantastic languishes in the safe while I keep putting rounds through these two gems. Yeah, they're heavy, low-capacity and kind of old-school. So what? They work just the way they were intended to when designed 100+ years ago.

(I do plan to add a Commander-length gun and maybe a 10mm at some point. If Colt would hurry up and make the Delta a Series 70 firing system they'd have my money yesterday! :mad: )

Pictures, because everybody loves pictures:



 
One of my 1911's goes to the range with me every Saturday. Either my ORM Colt 1991A1 or my Les Baer PII. Both in .45 ACP of course and with my own reloads.
 
My first M1911A1 as an old WWII Remington-Rand model that I gave to my pastor. He is in MD now, and I am in VT.
 
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