Wide-Body 1911s

N

Nightcrawler

New member
Okay, let's say I want to have my cake an eat it too. In other words, I want both the .45 caliber and more than 10 rounds of capacity, out of a 1911.

Here are my options as I see them:

Para-Ordnance P14-45

Rock Island Armory Wide Body .45 (bascially a copy of the above, but less costly)

Springfield Armory High Capacity (or whatever they call it).


The pros and cons? Well, the RIA pistol takes the same mags as the P14, which are expensive in their pre-ban form, but are still available. It also has an ambi saftey, necessary for a lefty like me. The downside is that I don't have any idea of the quality of this pistol.

The P14 would be the most obvious choice, but it doesn't have an ambi saftey and I'd have to get one for it. (price range for a new P14-45?)

The Springfield, as far as I know, uses its own 13 round magazine, and I don't even know if prebans are available.

So...who has these pistols, how do they shoot, what are your recommendations?
 
I like the 1911, though. I like the USP, too, but I've not seen 12 round prebans for sale anywhere. 14 round ParaOrd mags are expensive at ninety bucks each, but I can hack that.

The P-14-45 Limited comes with an ambi saftey, adjustable sights, match grade barrel, etc. I'll bet it costs a lot more, too. I don't know if I want to pay that much just to get the Ambi saftey, the only other feature I "really" need. I suppose the better fit and finish might be worth it, though.

Prices for the P14/45 standard and Limited?
 
Depending on your budget you might want to look into STI. Price point is around $900-1,000 but they come with all the goodies and VERY high quality. Also a decent amount of full-capacity magazines around. I had a P14-45 and for what it is worth that gun was completely worthless... couldn't make it through a full mag of FMJ without jamming 6-10 times. Horrible, horrible gun in my (extremely limited) experience.
 
According to STI's website, the basic "2011" double stack .45 seems to run at about sixteen hundred dollars. They suggest that preban magazines are available, but I have no idea where one would find them or how much they would cost (I'll bet it's a lot).
 
STI

Could somebody explain to me how STI's magazine system works, exactly. On their order page, I only see one 10 round post ban magazine, and that's for the compact model. All the magazines that I'm guessing are for the full size double stack 2011 are Law Enforcement/Export Only. And to make things more confusing, they don't list magazines by capacity, but by length.

Are prebans available or not?
 
Rock River arms also has a hicap. I think it's based on someone else's frame. RRA makes some of the best 1911s anywhere.
 
Night,
I shoot a P14-45 once in a while..Its accuracy suffered from the factory..but they quickly fixed it and is a great gun.
The grip takes some getting used to, regardless which wide body you shoot.
The RIA are imported thru Dealers Warehouse in Ca and
are made by Armscor..really a good quality gun. The same company makes the 1911's for Charles Daly for KBI. Armscor has a good rep. pretty much world wide and has a complete line of Factory Race/Comp Guns that are supposedly competition worthy out of the box. The Wide Body is 4140 ord. steel frame, slide and working parts. Has alot of the standard/custom 1911 stuff I like also. I havent shot one or even seen one..just know alittle about them. Shoot well and good luck...
 
Kinda bizarre: The USP .45 fits my hand fine, but I just cannot come to terms with the feel of a double stack 1911.

I had a Para. I bought it when the pistol included a coupon for 2 full capacity magazines for $100. The magazine included with the pistol, as well as the two that I bought with the coupon (new in wrap, preban from the factory ) were unreliable. Fortunately, the pistol was one of the rare lumps of coal and there were other problems other than unreliability. This made it very easy to get rid of.
 
Just my two cents: I own an STI Trojan and a Para P1640 LDA LTD and I think that the extra $600 for STI is money well spent. I would have bought an STI Eagle 6 in a heartbeat if they were legal in California. My Para shoots OK now (after throating the barrel to fix the FTF problems), but the finish quality sucks and the parts look like they were made by Yugo. I've read a LOT of bad posts about Paras breaking when subjected to competitive shooting. I just shoot 50 rounds a week in mine, so mine hasn't (yet).
 
Owned a P14-45. One of the magazines was worthless, while the other two were fine. The gun was quite reliable and tended to be slightly more accurate than my Kimbers. The sights sucked, however.

Why past tense?

Too darned heavy to carry. I considered keeping it a home defense piece during its tenure, or maybe even a car gun but carrying it anywhere for more than a few hours was a chore. As if toting around a full-size 1911 wasn't enough (which I do). I found my threshold in the P14-45.

Anyone around here got a wheel barrow?

If you do go high-cap 1911 in the choices you mentioned, go with the Limited. I'll admit, I handle them at every other gun show (at least).

Makes my back hurt.;)
 
Para P-14ltd

I have a Para P-14ltd, the only thing that was not excellent were the sights, which are being replaced with a set of Novak nite sights.

Other than that, overall performance was excellent, very accurate.

12-34hom
 
Nightcrawler, I had the Springfeild hi cap. I just didn't like the way it fit. Other problems with it aside, it didn't fit me. Before you buy, make sure it works for YOUR hand. It's much better to hit with 7 than miss with 14.

YMMV, some restrictions apply, see dealer for details, void where prohibited.
 
Rock River Arms? I've heard of Rock Island Armory, and I know they were made in the same place as Charles Daly...(I gotta tell you, I've had VERY bad luck with a Charles Daly 4" 1911 in the past...thing was a jamomattic with hardball ammunition, and suffered a broken guide rod after less than a thousand rounds).

Who is Rock River Arms? Where is THEIR stuff made? I'm confused.

It'd more than likely help if I could handle a double stack 1911 before buying, to see if it fits my hand, but alas, there are none in the local shops...
 
The Kimber Polymer

The Kimber Polymer is a 10 round double stack. ACtually, according to the web page, it takes 14 round magazines. Not the same magazines as the P14...but Kimber sells thier 14 rounders for $114.00 a piece. That's about as much as a preban, drop free, brand new Glock magazine. It'd take me a goodly long while to stock up on them, but what the heck. I'd still smile if the assault weapons ban was allowed to die and the 14 round mags I paid a hundred bucks for suddenly were priced $24.95...

Convenient that it's a Kimber. My local FFL is an authorized, stocking Kimber Dealer....
 
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