Bottom Gun
New member
I would say the Colt, the SA, or an Argentine will serve you well. They are fine guns. There are a couple of things you’ll want to keep in mind though.
My match pistol is built on an Argentine frame and it’s the most accurate 1911 I’ve ever shot.
The Argentines are very close to the Colt, but there are some dimensional differences. For example, some conversion kits may not work with the Argentine. I discovered that although the conversion slide fits my Argentine frame perfectly, the magazines will not fit into the magazine well. They are too wide. They can be modified to work, but neither one of mine would fit into the frame right out of the box. They fit every other 1911 frame I tried though. If you aren’t concerned with conversions, you may be able to find a smoking deal on an Argentine. They were even selling Argentine Aces a while back. Wish I’d picked one up then.
Note these are by Colt Systema rather than by Ballister Molina. I have no experience with the Ballisters.
Colts are fine weapons, but their “gunsmithing” service is terrible. I sent an Ace back to them three times. Each time they kept the gun at least three months and returned it to me without fixing the problem. After the third attempt and almost a year later, I gave up on them and sold the gun.
If I were in the market for a 1911, I wouldn’t be too concerned about plastic mainspring housings or triggers. They are a simple matter to replace and not very costly.
Even the Kimber I just bought has a plastic mainspring housing and trigger.
I would avoid the collet bushings if possible. These are the split bushings Colt used for their Mark IV pistols. I could never get any accuracy out of them.
The firing pin safeties in the Series 80 Colts are easy to remove should you decide you don’t like them.
My 1991A1 works fine without it and the only time the hole for it is exposed is when the slide is open. It was insignificant to me. Although I suppose now if I drop the 1991A1 from a 10 story high building and it lands just right, it may discharge.
Your main concern will be reliability. Some of the older pistols fed hardball with no problems, but balked at some of the newer hollow points.
If you are looking at used guns, you may want to check the feed with some dummy ammo. If you reload, put a few rounds together without powder or primers. Use the bullet you want to carry. Ask the seller if you can manually cycle a clip of your dummies through it. If it jams, try other magazines in it.
My guns will cycle a full clip of EMPTY brass without jamming. Try it. You might be surprised. If it will cycle EMPTY brass, you can pretty much count on it feeding just about anything you stick into it.
Cycling empty brass is also a great way to stop all the “I used to have one and it jammed all the time” stories. It’s guaranteed to awe the onlookers.
Good luck with you quest. Be sure to let us know what you find.
- Bottom Gun
My match pistol is built on an Argentine frame and it’s the most accurate 1911 I’ve ever shot.
The Argentines are very close to the Colt, but there are some dimensional differences. For example, some conversion kits may not work with the Argentine. I discovered that although the conversion slide fits my Argentine frame perfectly, the magazines will not fit into the magazine well. They are too wide. They can be modified to work, but neither one of mine would fit into the frame right out of the box. They fit every other 1911 frame I tried though. If you aren’t concerned with conversions, you may be able to find a smoking deal on an Argentine. They were even selling Argentine Aces a while back. Wish I’d picked one up then.
Note these are by Colt Systema rather than by Ballister Molina. I have no experience with the Ballisters.
Colts are fine weapons, but their “gunsmithing” service is terrible. I sent an Ace back to them three times. Each time they kept the gun at least three months and returned it to me without fixing the problem. After the third attempt and almost a year later, I gave up on them and sold the gun.
If I were in the market for a 1911, I wouldn’t be too concerned about plastic mainspring housings or triggers. They are a simple matter to replace and not very costly.
Even the Kimber I just bought has a plastic mainspring housing and trigger.
I would avoid the collet bushings if possible. These are the split bushings Colt used for their Mark IV pistols. I could never get any accuracy out of them.
The firing pin safeties in the Series 80 Colts are easy to remove should you decide you don’t like them.
My 1991A1 works fine without it and the only time the hole for it is exposed is when the slide is open. It was insignificant to me. Although I suppose now if I drop the 1991A1 from a 10 story high building and it lands just right, it may discharge.
Your main concern will be reliability. Some of the older pistols fed hardball with no problems, but balked at some of the newer hollow points.
If you are looking at used guns, you may want to check the feed with some dummy ammo. If you reload, put a few rounds together without powder or primers. Use the bullet you want to carry. Ask the seller if you can manually cycle a clip of your dummies through it. If it jams, try other magazines in it.
My guns will cycle a full clip of EMPTY brass without jamming. Try it. You might be surprised. If it will cycle EMPTY brass, you can pretty much count on it feeding just about anything you stick into it.
Cycling empty brass is also a great way to stop all the “I used to have one and it jammed all the time” stories. It’s guaranteed to awe the onlookers.
Good luck with you quest. Be sure to let us know what you find.
- Bottom Gun