Looking for a 45 acp that's reliable out of the box

Status
Not open for further replies.
dahermit said:
My Colt XSE Combat Commander had to have both the recoil spring and the firing pin spring replaced... right out of the box. So, a Pony on a new gun is no guarantee. I also replaced the worthless plastic mainspring housing as soon as I discovered it was plastic and not steel.

"Worthless" as in having no apparent value. I have offered to send the Colt supplied plastic mainspring housing to anyone who wanted it for just the price of postage ("free"), but no one has ever taken me up on it.

enhance
Click to expand...
Send it to me; I won't complain.
 
JustJake said:
Tanfoglio Witnesses are junk. :rolleyes:

Some 1911s run better than others "out of the box," but that still makes the species a hit-or-miss proposition generally as to any particular gun.

If you do choose a 1911, make sure you have a pool of cash set aside, ready to throw at your pistolsmith of choice to fix any outta-da-box issues. Typically you'll encounter these in the first 50-100 rds fired.
Click to expand...
Funny!
 
dahermit said:
Send me the postage and I will send you the worthless plastic mainspring housing that came with the gun.
Click to expand...
I meant the pistol. :D Colt has been installing that part for over thirty years, it's the first thing that I replace. It has nothing to do with how the pistol functions out of the box.
 
highpower3006 said:
Sounds like the typical internet FUD.

I have had a bunch of 1911's in the past and still have over a dozen of them. All have worked reasonably well with the only real problems appearing in a couple that had bad recoil springs, a very easy fix. Heck even my 1914 vintage Springfield Armory 1911 that spent many years at the bottom of a lake is reliable.
IMG_2598-XL.jpg


Nowadays you can buy a semi custom 1911 over the counter that will have all the mods that you used to have to pay a pistol smith to do.

But.......... hands down, the most reliable .45 I have that will absolutely digest anything I put through it without any hiccups, is a HK USP .45
Click to expand...
How did you find it?
 
Way back in '91 I bought a Colt. 1991A1. The only thing I replaced on it was the recoil spring after over 3000 rounds.It has performed flawlessly with any ammo I shot with. Well when I started reloading I got a few really light load that didn't work so well. My bad not the guns fault.
 
If the price doesn't scare you the HK usp or hk45 are absolutely worthy. Ergos and trigger may be a downside depending on the shooter. I went over to lem but I have hk's for carry and not range/house use.

Also the shield 45 feels great in the hand. Lots of people love them and carry them.
 
101combatvet said:
I meant the pistol. :D Colt has been installing that part for over thirty years, it's the first thing that I replace. It has nothing to do with how the pistol functions out of the box.
Click to expand...
You are correct. The plastic mainspring housing had nothing to do with how it functioned out of the box... neither had the horrible checkering job done on the grips. What did have to do with functioning out of the box was the underpowered recoil spring (would not go back into battery), and the underpowered firing pin spring (would allow the firing pin stop to slide down when firing and tie-up the gun).

It seems to me that it is not unreadable for a firearm to be expected to work right out of the box no differently than for example an artificial leg (knees, ankles) as were manufactured by Ossur Manufacturing in Albian, MI when I worked there. Those weak springs were so obviously under-powered that they should have been obvious to the final inspector... not to mention a checkering job so bad that they must have been done by a blind man.
 
dahermit said:
You are correct. The plastic mainspring housing had nothing to do with how it functioned out of the box... neither had the horrible checkering job done on the grips. What did have to do with functioning out of the box was the underpowered recoil spring (would not go back into battery), and the underpowered firing pin spring (would allow the firing pin stop to slide down when firing and tie-up the gun).

It seems to me that it is not unreadable for a firearm to be expected to work right out of the box no differently than for example an artificial leg (knees, ankles) as were manufactured by Ossur Manufacturing in Albian, MI when I worked there. Those weak springs were so obviously under-powered that they should have been obvious to the final inspector... not to mention a checkering job so bad that they must have been done by a blind man.
Click to expand...
Oh, so the pistol out of the box was malfunctioning? Was this a used firearm or one that was new from the factory? If a new firearm, why was it not returned to the factory? Colt would have replaced any defective parts. BTW, what type of ammunition did it malfunction with when you realized it was not operational?
 
I have had 1911's by Colt, Norinco, Taurus, Charles Daly and Iver Johnson. In 45 ACP, shooting 230 grain hardball, which is 90% of the shooting I do with them, all of them have worked fine out of the box, no FTF's or other cycling problems, and no need for gunsmithing. In 1990 I had a Parker 1911 that was a big POS. Took it back the same day I bought it. I don't think that company lasted a year. I have also had 2 Colt 38 Supers and an Iver Johnson 38 Super, and all needed work to cycle reliably with anything but FMJ.
 
About breaking in by running a few hundred rounds through the gun before trusting it. I can see running a few magazines through.....to see if there are any major issues. Ok. Hundreds. Not so much.
Firearms are mechanical devices. All mechanical devices will fail sooner or later. You may run 500 rounds through a gun with no failures to function. There is no guarantee that the gun will fire the 501st round. In fact, running 500 trouble free rounds brings you 500 rounds closer to when the gun will fail.
Every pull of the trigger is an act of faith.
 
darkgael said:
About breaking in by running a few hundred rounds through the gun before trusting it. I can see running a few magazines through.....to see if there are any major issues. Ok. Hundreds. Not so much.
Firearms are mechanical devices. All mechanical devices will fail sooner or later. You may run 500 rounds through a gun with no failures to function. There is no guarantee that the gun will fire the 501st round. In fact, running 500 trouble free rounds brings you 500 rounds closer to when the gun will fail.
Every pull of the trigger is an act of faith.
Click to expand...


On a quality firearm 500 rd should still be well away from the point of any parts failure. Even a wear item like a recoil spring can go from 3000 to 10000 rd.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
As others have recommended, the SIG Model 220.
Click to expand...
That, ... or a S&W 3rd Gen 4506 (5") or 4566 (4.25").

The Sig P220 and the 4506/4566 were the best of the DA/SA breed of 45s and generally less spendy than the HK line.

In the polymer world, it's a Glock 21 - all ... day... long. No aesthetically-inspired drool factor there, and pre-Gen4s G21s had the grip-ergonomics that only an ape could love, but it works out of the box, hold 13+1, and goes "BANG!" with every trigger pull. Ah, PERFECTION.

People keep a-harpin' up 1911s. :rolleyes: ... Yeah, for every one that runs out of the box, there are 7-10 others that won't, or don't. :eek:

Then where ya at? :confused: ... Well, three choices is all ya got: Sell it; fix it yourself - if you've got the know-how and the parts; or throw $$$ at a competent 'smith to do it for you.

1911s are basically early 20th Century Rube-Goldberg contraptions. Interesting and fun to play with as range toys, but for a serious EDC weapon that's reliable out of the box, there are better choices.

:cool:
 
People keep a-harpin' up 1911s. ... Yeah, for every one that runs out of the box, there are 7-10 others that won't, or don't.
Click to expand...

Guess I'm quite lucky then, I've owned 13 or 14 different 1911s over the years and only 1 didn't run reliably out of the box, and only had issues with the last round of after market 8 round mags, perfect with the supplied 7 round mags.

Extractor needed a little adjustment with tension, 5 minute fix after 10 minutes searching the internet. Ran perfect after that.

I will say that I've had two Kimbers that came with completely useless mags, luckily I had plenty of good mags laying around, so there is that.

As for the OP, plenty to choose from. Sig 220, FNX, HK, Glock, S&W M&P and XDM are all .45s I've had or shot that run right, right away.
 
darkgael said:
About breaking in by running a few hundred rounds through the gun before trusting it. I can see running a few magazines through.....to see if there are any major issues. Ok. Hundreds. Not so much.
Firearms are mechanical devices. All mechanical devices will fail sooner or later. You may run 500 rounds through a gun with no failures to function. There is no guarantee that the gun will fire the 501st round. In fact, running 500 trouble free rounds brings you 500 rounds closer to when the gun will fail.
Every pull of the trigger is an act of faith.
Click to expand...
Interesting, I never knew that. I have over 34,000 through a Beretta 92FS without a single failure to fire. I must be lucky.
 
I currently own over 20 1911s. Of those, three gave me problems out of the box. Two are tightly fit Dan Wessons that had to be sent back due to minor issues with the chambers. The third one was an early model Sig that had a third-party barrel that had been "cut" with the grain of the steel going in the wrong direction.

As to torture tests:
A torture test was conducted, on March 3rd, 1911. The test consisted of having each gun fire 6000 rounds. One hundred shots would be fired and the pistol would be allowed to cool for 5 minutes. After every 1000 rounds, the pistol would be cleaned and oiled. After firing those 6000 rounds, the pistol would be tested with deformed cartridges, some seated too deeply, some not seated enough, etc. The gun would then be rusted in acid or submerged in sand and mud and some more tests would then be conducted.

Browning's pistols passed the whole test series with flying colors. It was the first firearm to undergo such a test, firing continuously 6000 cartridges...
Click to expand...
https://www.m1911.org/history.htm

Other than a 1911, I can also recommend the Sig P220 SAO, if you can find one. Good trigger, though not as good as a 1911. It does have lower felt recoil than my .45 1911s.
 
Last edited:
Anyone who bad mouths the dependability of a 1911 built by reputable manufactures doesn’t have much experience with them.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top