@74A95... as I was discussing quality frames, one can purchase a pistol made with a Caspian frame.
Let me try to explain again:
I identify with many firearms in my collection for historical reasons. Browning built the 1911 “fore-runners” in the late 1800’s.
Around 1900, the US was involved in suppressing an “insurrection” in the Philippines. The fighters there turned out to be very tough in battle with courage, determination, and drugs. It was determined that .38 Special lacked the stopping power for a combat handgun. US forces switched to a single action .45 Colt.
The army looked for solutions in an automatic pistol (to use the term of the day) and found many cartridges to be inadequate and put out requests for a pistol of .45 caliber or greater.
Oddly enough, the Colt 1911 was adopted in 1911. It served from 1911 to 1985 when it was replaced by the Beretta. 1911s have been made in many countries and in many interesting factories. Some avid collectors here can correct all my mistakes.
As a bullseye competitor, I remember the furor back then. My dad bought a Beretta because he liked to shoot stuff and was retired and had the time. I spent a day at the range with my customized Springfield .45 and a stock Beretta 9 mm.
What do I have against the 9mm? Nothing. It’s okay. It’s cheap. It’s the McDonald’s Cheeseburger of cartridges, to me. I have owned a whole lot of guns in different cartridges since the 80s as I enjoy many aspects of the shooting sports.
In a 1911 frame, .45 is traditional. .22 caliber isn’t a new idea either. Hot-shot bullseye shooters developed 1911’s in .380 then in 38 Super because of how competitive rules were set. Just my opinion, but a .38 Super 1911 is a status symbol.
From practical experience: a very typical target load is a 220 grain wadcutter pushed to around 800 FPS by 3 or 4 grains of bullseye or 231 with the 8 pound spring installed. Even the “target” load packs a wallop. Sub-sonic. Point of aim at 50 feet also works at 50 yards which are the 2 common bullseye distances.
Shooting is a challenge when moving up from a .22 competition gun but from my experience:
*It takes some gunsmithing effort to get accuracy target shooters want (that any decent blowback .22 achieves simply)
*It’s heavy
*The recoil, BOOM!, and flash requires nerve and practice to avoid flinch
*Trigger pull is fabulous
*Recoil is BIG, a big push. A big shove, raising the hand and arm. Even at “hardball” loads, recoil is BIG!, BOOM! SHOVE!! While it will wear you down, it’s not slapping your paw.
*shooting .45 acp hardball in the enormous H&K SOCOM gun (because “mohr bullits”) tames the hardball load but loses the beauty of the lines of the pistol and nostalgia “aura”.
*reloading the low pressure, straight wall cartridge is a breeze.
9mm
*super sonic. It makes a high pitched crack that hurts my ears compared to .45, yes- with muffs on. I plug and muff around those things.
*recoil is snappy and slappy. If one wants to give up the power of the .45, just go to .38 Super, a cartridge proven in competition.
*the guys I see at the range blowing 18 round magfuls rapid fire at barn door size targets 5 yards away seem to mostly shoot 9mm. Sorry, just a prejudice of mine.
*I don’t know anyone that reloads 9mm but I’ve been out of competitions for a long while. I just see piles of cheap 9mm at the store. I don’t read a lot here about guys discussing accurate 9mm load data.
* 9mm guys seem to be pleased to hit big steel plates as fast as they can, whereas I like to keep track of how accurate I can shoot. Shoot at clay pidgeons, at least!
I used to be a “.45” guy. .45acp, .45 Colt, .454 Casull. Big lead, big momentum. My ballistics tests were not on gelatin but on big Wisconsin white tail deer (.45 Colt and Casull) and I lost count around 20. My conclusion is “Sell the Casull, I’m never going buffalo hunting, absolutely never want to shoot a beautiful elephant, and the .45 Blackhawk will do fine on anything in Nort America. Shot placement is everything. My dad was generally a .44 guy. He passed his best guns to me, and now my big gun is his .44.
I would not hunt a deer with .45 acp out of respect for the animal and never ever even consider hunting a deer with 9mm because it’s weak tea. Deer are commonly 150-200 pounds where I hunt.
1911. Just my opinion, but a 1911 in 9mm is like a Ferrari Fiberglas kit on a VW bug... it’s like non-alcohol beer.. it’s like putting “NOS” stickers on your stock Civic.
9mm in a Beretta? Heck yeah. Glock and other plastic guns? Absolutely. 9mm reflects the shooting experience of those platforms. 9mm snubby? Why not.
How about that 9mm cylinder for the Blackhawk? Write to Henry and ask why they don’t make a 9mm lever action? No, that’s like making your Labrador wear a pink skirt then taking him to a field trial. His friends would laugh at him.
Anyways, to me, 9mm is generally boring.
Not to say I don’t have my eyes on one right now... but it’s in an interesting design.