Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns You only need a 1911A1 .45. Throw the rest away

the .357 Magnum is louder and kicks hard but the 125 grain Hydra Shok has been the best handgun load in gunfights according to Evan Marshall & Edwin Sanow for more than a decade...and the yardstick by which every other load and caliber has been measured...

Logansdad, the difference between the best .45 ACP and the best .357 magnum is insignificant. They are both pretty much in the mid to low 90% range of E&M's study of one shot stops. I think they may be separated by two or three percentage points, which is statistically the same as being neck and neck. But where they differ is in recoil (impact on the hands), blast (impact on the ears) and flash (impact on the eyes). The .357 magnum, in other words, is not nearly as shootable, and this will be a handicap in combat. Also, the .357 Magnum is a revolver round, and revolvers cannot hold up to severe conditions as well as a 1911. Dropped on a hard surface, and they will likely be out of service. Not so with a 1911. Dunked in a mud puddle and a revolver will likely sieze up. Not so with a 1911. Next, there is the issue of carryability and concealability. A gun is considerably less effective if you left it home because it was digging into your side, or because you could not adequately conceal it under your light clothing. A 1911 fits very nicely into an IWB, and is concealed with something as light as an untucked T-Shirt. There is no comparison in my book. Properly maintained, a high quality 1911 is also more reliable under all conditions than a revolver, and is more easily maintained.

Just don't go forgetting that a .357 Magnum costs half as much as what a 1911A1 does...I'll put up with rude recoil and blast from a .357 if it allows me to spend the savings on a 12 gauge pump...now try comparing your 1911A1 to a 12 gauge and a .357 Magnum !

I'm saving up my money for a Kimber Classic Stainless that I can customize with scrimshaw grips..and the recoil and muzzle blast from the .45 ACP will be a nice change every now and then.. (I'll still keep my Smith .357s and Glock 9mm though)

Once you go 1911 you never go back.

well it's hard to argue with the smallblock Chevy engine of the handgun world..but it can be done. That's an awful lot of money to spend on just one gun though..

Logansdad,

I bought the same gun as you but with the matte finish. You won't be disapointed.

"Once you go 1911 you never go back."

Not exactly, I started with a 1911, have owned one since I was 21 and probably always will. I have owned a number of them and will probably buy many more until it's my turn to give up the ghost. Most days I have a Glock on my hip in .40 flavor. Been reading all the one shot stop stuff, it's all great to hear but personally, I'd rather know about 3 or 4 shot stops, cause if I have to do it, that will more than likely be the case. 9mm vs. .45? There is a debate that will never end. I know guys that carry both and I don't see where one of them really has any advantage over the others. As for being able to shoot 9mm faster, that advantage disappears with practice. A lot of 9's can carry more ammo but thats at the cost of added weight and bulk in gun design. I think the 9's real advantage is being able to squeeze into very small packages where the .380 used to be king. To each his own.

I used to have 1911A1s. I think they are highly overrated swinging link dinosaurs..but I always sell them for more than I paid for them.

I have a very nice Colt MK IV Series 80 pistol that has been tricked out a bit. That being said I can still shoot better with my Glock 30 and Glock 21 than with my Colt.

ps. I had the Colt first too <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Buzz, you must be doing something wrong. A light crisp single action trigger is lightyears better than any Glock trigger. If you practiced equally with both, you would do much better with the 1911.

Glocks can be had with 2.5# aftermarket trigger kits. I am far from the only person that claims they can shoot better with a Glock than a 1911 style pistol. I am not dissing the 1911 pistols because I like them, I just prefer the Glock.

I would say that I have probably put 2000 rounds through the MK IV Series 80 and 2500 though the Glock 30. I can hit clay pigeons against the backstop at 35 yards pretty regularly with my G30. I cannot do that with my Colt.

Perhaps it is because the Glock just "fits" me better.

Maybe so. I still find it amazing. Although, years ago when I was a double action revolver man all the way (Smith & Wessons), I tried transitioning to a Colt Mrk IV Series 70 and found that I could not shoot it as well as I could my revolvers in double action. I had gotten really good at holding the sight picture throughout the double action pull, and found the light, crisp pull on the Government Model disturbing. Took about a year to get over that. With proper trigger control, however, you cannot beat a 1911. Proof is the fact that you don't see a lot of Glocks beating 1911s in bullseye matches.

They may not be too popular in bullseye matches but they win their fair share in stock gun action matches. Glock triggers are not for everyone but once you get used to them, they are no hinderence at shooting accurately.

I personally feel that a light single action 1911 is easiest for a newcomer. I've seen some remarkable shooting with Glocks from people who've practiced with them. Don't mean to rattle anyone, and I am new here, but thats what I've seen.

Thanks, Max


BTW, I am a 1911 shooter first and foremost.

I agree w/ Buzz. I started w/ 1911's over 20 years ago and have some nice examples. I can shoot my Glock 21 and 30 better than any of my 1911's. The Glocks are just as reliable, controllable and accurate. I like the 1911, I just like the Glocks better. If I could only choose one handgun however, it would be neither of those.

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Hawk,

This has got to be close to the champion of posts with the large number of lookers and responders.

Thanks Norm, it was my intention to stimulate responses. At the time I started it, this section had been competely dead for weeks. Really got things rolling for a while there.

We'll what I see is that many of you must be unaware that S&W is still making mighty fine wheelguns. That being true, why on earth do so many of you shoot those 1911s and plastic guns? My two most recent buys have been a 2.5" Model 66 and a 5" 8-shot PC 627. Seems like if you got yourself 6 or 8 rounds of .357 Magnum in your hand you don't need them jam-o-matics. Dennis <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Dennis, nice bit of spice there, but I own a lot of 1911s, and none of them jam. I have had at least five different revolvers (Colts, Rugers and S&Ws) sieze up while firing them at the range (and I used to do quite a lot of revolver shooting), which could have gotten me killed in a gun fight.

A reliable revolver is a great gun for home defense and for a companion while in the woods, but for everyday concealed carry, you cannot beat a nice slim reliable Government Model. Just fits in an IWB holster so nice that you hardly notice you have a gun, and isn't that the purpose, i.e., to have a powerful and reliable weapon with you at all times, and not feel the burden of it digging into your lower back like revolvers do?