Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns 1911 ....Why is it..

You can do whatever you want to do with it but I can't understand why you would want to keep a type of gun that you think is a pile of schitt.

MM

After high school and before I went in the Navy, for about three years all I did was go to work and then spend all my money on a 56 Chevy with a 327 engine that was putting out 350 HP that I drag raced every Saturday night. In 1970 I bought a Chevy Camero SS 396 putting out 375 HP. It was a good performer, but it needed someone with several years of driving and racing cars in that power to weight catagory. When a friend heard me say that, he seemed pissed about a casual remark, but I didn't know that he had ordered one just like mine except for the color.

It came in 10 days later and he drove it straight to my house to show me that he had one too. He was 9 years younger than I was and had never raced anything nor had he ever owned a car with more than 300 HP. I warned him that the light Camero and that much HP could be difficult to control when your foot was down on it.

Two weeks later we were headed to a drive in on Highway 90 on the gulf coast to meet some friends and then go to the drag strip. I was right behind him when he decided to pass the car in front of him. As he was turning into the passing lane, he got on that 375 HP 396 and it broke the rear tires loose and spun him sideways in the highway. He actually made a pretty good correction and got it straightened out but he over corrected and his new Camero jumped the curb and after throwing up sand for about 40 yards, stopped in the neutral ground hard against a 14 inch palm tree. I made the block and waited with him for the cops and the wrecker to come and then I took him home.

On the way home he said, well now I know why you said those 396 Cameros are not for everyone.

Some firearms have a manual of operation and maintenance that requires a practical level of knowledge and familiarity. The 1911 is one of them. We used to get that level of training and shooting experience in the military in boot camp. We don't get it anymore and now some people have problems because they are not as familiar with the firearm as they need to be to operate and maintain it properly. Then it becomes just like that light weight 375 HP SS 396 Camero. Although you may have one, if you don't know how to drive it, you probably aren't going to have it long.

You cannot substitute a You Tube video for practical, hands on shooting and maintenace experience. You can't learn to drive a low weight, high powered car by watching racing films. You can't become an Army Ranger by watching Rambo movies.

Those who are not willing to learn how to properly operate a 1911, or those incapable of understanding how the pistol works well enough to keep it running ought not own one for the same reason some people ought not own a low weight high powered car and some people ought not attempt to become Rambo. And that's just the plain truth.

Okay. Let's all cool our jets and have a little fun. Everybody that wants a 1911 ought to get one. All those who don't want one, don't buy one. I'll buy all of you boys a beer and let's start another thread so we can argue because it's hot and that's what we do in summer.

Hey Geek, where can I get one of those Ninja watches? If I wear one, will that make me a ninja too?

Sounds like operator error and lack of maintenance are the key issues.

Maybe this thread has some hope to it yet.



With none of the questions answered from the OP, this is just a guess.

It might be the stainless steel slide galling with the stainless frame. That happens. More so with cast parts.

...and new parts.



Try some good lube.

What lube is best? That's worth another dozen pages here.


GFY

Don'tcha just love the hot summer when everybody is chilled out and no one wants to argue and call names? What has always amazed me about some of these "DISCUSSIONS" is how we can have so much in common and yet get so crossed up with each other.

Some of you have maintained a sense of humor and you have made this whole thread worth reading. But sometimes, about all you can do is see the humor. I have to laugh when I see anyone say the Browning designed 45 auto is a POS and that it is unreliable.

Okay. Somebody start another argument about something else because we have worn this one out.

Maybe this thread has some hope to it yet.

GFY

OK, Glocks really suck and I hate them.

This isn't Sigs and Glocks we're talking about here, where you can count on them to at least work when they leave the factory. Current manufacturers of 1911's are making them to SELL, not fight wars with. All of them are guilty of this. In addition, there is no Army Ordnance Department to hold them to strict manufacturing specifications, check what they are shoving out the doors, and give them hell when they send out a bad batch- along with a returned shipment. These are the conditions that resulted in the 1911's reputation for superb reliability under adverse circumstances. Unfortunately they do not exist anymore, and you have to be your own "Ordnance Department." This will require that you have a sound working knowledge of what you are paying for, before you buy it. Get a copy of Kuhnhausen’s “The Colt .45 Automatic-A Shop Manual”- Volume One. Study it like your life depended on it. It does.

http://sargesrollcall.blogspot.com/2006/01/special-edition-which-1911-for-duty.html