Mid priced 1911's ...Help Wanted!

E

Eric Larsen

New member
I have been thinking of a shorter barrel/slide 1911 for a while.
I cant drop 700 $ for a Kimber/PO LDA/ etc....
I have looked at the following and would like feedback on actual
exerience with them......

Charles Daly...newer guns look and feel nice
Rock Island...saw a couple at a show...same, nice...
Griffon...have bells/whistles...about the same as above

These are the better "reasonable" priced guns I have seen,
any others out there?

Thanks and shoot well
 
Eric,
I purchased one of the new Charles Daly 45's three weeks ago. It was beautiful. All the bells and whistles and was finished as well as any of the big name guns. My frist trip to the range revealed that beauty was only skin deep. I could not get through a magazine of ammo without malfunctions. I tried a variety of ammo including ball and the gun would just not function reliably with anything I had. I was not "limp-wristing" the gun either. I traded out of the gun (at a significant loss) that same day.:( It has been my experience that even with the premium brands the 1911 may need to be "tuned". I personally have given up on the 1911 design as I have never found one that was 100% reliable out of the box and I just couldn't bring my self to spend a couple hundred dollars on a new gun just to make it work. Others say they have and I believe them, I just have not been as lucky I guess. I do not deny the appeal of the 1911, I am drawn to them everytime I enter the gunshop. I have been burnt too many times, at least until my next visit to the gunshop.:p
 
Sorry to hear about your bad experiences with the 1911. I have 2 Colts and 2 SA's that worked fine right out of the box without any alterations or gunsmithing.

Most of the problems that I hear about turns out to be the magazine, extractor or ejector. These can be solved inexpensively and quickly.

I know that for the money you pay, you should be able to get one that would run without a hitch. Considering how many are made, I'm surprised that they're are not more problem guns than there is.

Of course, a good inspection and quality program should stop any out of spec gun that would be going out the door. But somehow there are some that escape.

We have to do the best with what we get and you have done that with the Charles Daly. You have every right to expect a gun to run correctly and if not to do what needs to be done.

Have you considered another manufacturer? Some gun shops have rental guns that you can shoot at their range. This way you could try the various makes out without buying it.
 
I have a commander style Charles Daly. It did not work well out of the box -- failure to extract problems. However, after I spent $75 on a trigger job and reliability job, the gun shoots fine.
 
I have a full size Charles Daly that has been reliable out of the box with ball ammo. I haven't tested it with anything else yet, but I will in the near future. The Charles Daly seems to be a gun folks like or hate, without much in the middle. I'd buy another one, even if I had to tinker with it to make it work.
 
I have a full sized Charles Daly with about 2000 rounds through it. It is accurate, reliable and inexpensive. I love this gun.

Works great with ball ammo and most hollowpoints (some brands it doesn't like). Occasionally, it doesn't want to chamber a round initially but it is easy to get it to do so and once it does it feeds fine (this is the most common problem). I have had a couple failures to feed or extract, mostly with Wolf ammo (many guns dislike this brand). Overall, the reliability has been more than acceptable, especially for such an inexpenisive gun and a 1911 (both of which can lead to reliability issues).

If you get one you probably will have trouble with the mags that come with it. One of my factory mags didn't lock open the slide on the last round starting day one- after a few trips to the range I just threw it away and replaced it. The other works most of the time but sometimes the spring doesn't want to work and the round gets stuck a bullet width down. I simply replaced the mags but from what I hear on the 1911 forum all you have to do is let CD know and they'll take care of you.

From most of what I've heard CD's customer service is top notch. Also, the warantee is for the life of the gun so long as you let them do all the work. Of course, if you want to customize the gun that voids the warantee.
 
Eric,

My Griffon is still perking along without a single malfunction, using the factory mags as well as some from Mec-Gar and Chip McCormick.

Not the purtiest one at the range, but reliable and accurate... works for me.

YMMV
 
I like the Charles Daly 1911's. I have 2, a full size and an officer's model. The officer's model has ben perfect from day 1, and the full size had some magazine issues. I wound up replacing all the magazines for both with Wilson COmbat and Chip McCormick shooting stars. Both have been flawless ever since.

Maybe I ghot lucky, I don't know but I am happy that my $350/each investment has been just as good as my buddies Kimber Custom Classic at $800.

gryphon
 
I have a Colt Commander I purchased over 10 years ago that has had many thousands of rounds through it (I don't keep a round count) and never bobbled as long as I use good ammo. It didn't need tuning of any sort. I have modified it but not because it had a problem.

I also purchased a Charles Daly several months ago that I've shot a couple of thousand rounds of ball ammo through with no problems. It does have the lifetime warranty but I've voided that now because I polished the trigger parts and cleaned up the face of the trigger. It had a sharp edge I didn't like. My CD cost $299 NIB. I bought it to modify so I didn't consider the warranty as a factor. My next purchase will be one of the Empire EMS models, an all stainless commander length in .45. This one I will probably keep stock because it has all the bells and whistles I like.

It's possible for any machine to have a problem when new, that's the reason companies provide a warranty. I don't see any sense in getting rid of a pistol without even giving the company a chance to fix it. Of course, if they can't fix it properly then get rid of it.

Like Chaim and the others, I like mine and wouldn't hesitate to buy another one and feel comfortable recommending them to friends. They do seem to have a fairly consistent problem with magazines and possibly extractors. But customer service is good. If you buy one and want to modify it, keep the old parts and don't modify the frame or slide and just slip the old parts back in if anything goes wrong with something you can't fix.
 
Ditto what CastleBravo said. although the entry level Colts aren't much higher than used ones. You might consider a Sistema or even a Norinco. Never had either, but read good things about them.
 
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