What is the best 1911 9mm in a 4" frame?

N

Northslope Nimrod

New member
I already have a 5" Springfield. I just sold my Kimber Ultra Carry II, which is a 3". I want a lightweight 4" 1911 in 9mm. Don't want to spend much more than a grand. Less would be better.
 
Springfield has the Range Officer in "CCO" form, with compact butt length and 4" barrel.
They're apparently coming out soon with a "Commander" RO, with 4" barrel and full-length butt.
9s seem to follow shortly after .45s.
 
Since you have a Kimber already...

This is a PRO CARRY II. Aluminum frame, commander slide.

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This one is new to me and has been a pleasure to shoot, no problems with function.
 
SR1911 from Ruger Commander size, should run you 700ish. Friend of mine has one and swears by it, not as tight as Kimbers but the loose tolerances allows it to be very reliable. The only thing I don't like about it is the plastic safety and beaver tail but that can be swapped out later.
 
SR1911 from Ruger Commander size, should run you 700ish. Friend of mine has one and swears by it, not as tight as Kimbers but the loose tolerances allows it to be very reliable. The only thing I don't like about it is the plastic safety and beaver tail but that can be swapped out later.
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Which gun has the plastic parts...SR1911 or Kimber?
Also, has Ruger come out with a 9MM Commander size already?
 
The Ruger, the only plastic part Kimber (Stainless) has is the mainspring housing.

Actually oops, didn't read thread carefully, Ruger only has 45s so far.
 
Gahaha, what are you talking about? Neither the safety selector, nor the grip safety on the Ruger SR1911 are plastic. :confused: :confused:


The Ruger is also not available in 9mm.
 
Maybe its me, but they felt like it, maybe its plastic coated metal, but I personally don't like the look of black on stainless. But yea I made a mistake, didn't realize OP was asking for 9mm, my bad.
 
The black parts on the Ruger SR 1911's were blackened steel when they first came out at least. I doubt if they changed them. I don't like the look of them either.
Colt however sneekily put a plastic mainspring housing on the Colt Commander I bought about six years or so ago. "Sneekily" because they chose a color that looked so much like stainless steel that I was not aware that it was really plastic until I read it here. I swapped it out for a steel one. The plastic one sits on a shelf and it free to anyone who wants to send me postage for it.
 
SR1911 from Ruger Commander size, should run you 700ish.
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OP is looking for a lightweight...that means alloy frame. The Ruger is stainless steel.

Ruger is showing an alloy framed 1911 on the website, but not on shelves yet...and they are a lot more than $700.

And they are not available in 9mm.

A used Kimber Pro CDP would be my #1 choice. I don't think S&W makes the PD1911 in 9mm, but i couls be wrong...if they did, I'd go that way in a heartbeat.
 
I've got a Kimber Tactical Pro model ( 4" alloy frame in 9mm ) ...had it about 10 yrs or so / its been a decent gun. It had a terrible trigger out of the factory...but I had a local gunsmith ...throw all the trigger mechanism away and replace with Wilson Combat components ...and its good now.

Wilson Combat of course makes better guns - than any Kimber I own ( even out of Kimbers custom shop ).../ I will recommend any gun that comes out of Wilson's shop - they're great guns ( and my primary guns ) but there out of your price range..../ but the 2 Kimbers I have ( the Tactical Pro model / and a Gold Combat 5" model out of their custom shop are both decent guns).
 
Kimber has "custom shop" models but not a real custom shop. Their custom shop designation just means they kept the slide and frame matched together through assembly instead of just grabbing stuff from parts bins.

They are good guns not the best, but the Tac Pro pretty much hits the nail on the head for what the OP wants. Sure there are better lightweight 4" 9mm's out there, but not for $1k.
 
Colt is bring out a lightweight XSE Commander in 9mm this year with a MSRP of $1100 so the store prices should be under a grand. That might be worth waiting for. Of course, a real Commander has a 4.25" barrel, not a 4".
 
if you want a 9mm in a 1911 platform look at the Springfield Armory EMP, it was designed around the .40 and 9mm rounds and the whole thing is scaled down a little from a standard .45 frame, it has a 3.5" bull barrel and an alloy frame, will fit well in the commander holsters. Runs around $1000
 
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