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I now just own three 1911's and rotate taking them and 100 rounds per trip to the range weekly with my loaded 230 gr. FMJ ball ammo and shoot at the 25 yd steel plates.....all three are 5", stainless and have been reliable and accurate.

1. SA Mil-Spec.
2. Ruger SR1911
3. S&W 'E' series

After reading everyone's replies and watching a lot of youtube video reviews, I put my money down on one of these today - Tisas 1911 Duty in 9mm. Tisas 1911's are pretty much at the top of everyone's best buy list and this one has some cool kid features - ramped barrel, larger beavertail grip safety, front serrations and three dot Novak style sights. For this lefty it also comes with an ambidextrous safety which a lot of 1911's I would've otherwise considered don't have.

But if you look in the center of the picture you can see what to me is pure gravy, it has a countersunk slide lock pin. I was leaning heavily toward a Tisas anyway, it's a good way to get back into a decent 1911 without spending a lot of money but that little feature really sealed the deal.

Almost every other 1911 style pistol out there has the pin standing very proud of the frame, and I know from shooting a CZ 75 that pin will annoy if not outright tear up my right thumb post haste. With this one, the pin is just flush with the frame so it won't interfere with a thumbs forward hold.

It should get here in a week or so, once I've had a chance to wring it out some I'll post an amateur gunwriter review on it.

Congrats on your new Tisas 9mm. I think that you will be pleased. I'd suggest some kind of polymer holster (like Kidex) to keep the forward serrations from ripping up a leather holster. And, buy enough mags to load up a box of ammo, it saves time at the range/plinking fields.

I have a stainless version of the same gun probably only shot at 3 or 400 times now but it is giving me no issues. if I change much on it it'll be the grips and go to a full length rod guide for easier takedown.

I have had my current Springfield Loaded for about 25 years and have owned other 1911's. I carried the Springfield on duty for about a dozen years and had no problem shooting over 90% on quarterly quals.

I always replace guide rods with the old GI style and found them reliable and easy to field strip. I also use the old armorers press check when cleaning the gun.

I picked up a Kimber 10mm Camp Guard few months ago and have about 200 rounds through it. Even with the Wilson Combat mags I still have feeding issues. Kimber wants a 300 round break in like my Dan Wesson Long Slide 10mm. It's a very tight gun and seems to be better at feeding now. The Dan Wesson ate everything with out a burp.

I don't have a need for a 9mm 1911 as I have had my custom Browning Hi Power for over 30 years and love it.

Long live Americas greatest fighting hand gun, the 1911 Govt. Mod in .45 ACP.

I like blued (non-stainless) .45 acp Springfield Amory 1911 with NM prefix s/n ( = forged, milled, made/assembled in USA)., but change out the IL system. The Range Officer , I THINK, has been discontinued. Grab one while you can.

Don't forget STI and Rock RIVER ( not Rock Island).

My son has a 9mm Ruger, I think with target sights and maybe stainless. I was shocked how accurate it was. I guess I wasn't expecting much but it sure is a sweetie. Also, I sold him a Smith stainless 1911 in 45 auto. That was the tightest smoothest 1911 I've ever had, and accurate. Good luck finding what you want.

Put some cheap oil in the rails and RSA. Cycle the slide by hand about 100,000 times while watching "The View" reruns. Clean and lube afterwards.

Dan Wesson is 2x the price of a Kimber - so it ought to work right out of the box. They can afford to have little old ladies hand cycle the pistols.

You keep downtalking the DW's as being too expensive...............now you're saying Kimber is half the cost...............that's pretty selective math.

The cheapest Kimber is the TLE II with a 5'' gun being about $1100 list & yes, DW does not sell anything that cheap as most of their guns list for $1600-1800 & are not discounted.

But Kimber's Rapide, for example, as well as the Raptor, Covert, etc., sell for about $1500-1800 & are a POS in comparison to any DW & it's full of MIM & white metal. To say nothing of other potential issues.

Kimber Rapide Review

Comparable Colts or SA's are also in the $1400-1600 range.

So yes, you can buy Colts & SA's for less, but you get what you pay for; with DW you also get what you pay for.

MM

Kimber starts at $759
https://www.sportsmansoutdoorsuperstore.com/products2.cfm/ID/214586
Can't tell for sure, but this is you friend's pistol - $1529
https://www.sportsmansoutdoorsuperstore.com/products2.cfm/ID/273512

Your fear of MIM is telling and what is your definition of "white metal"?
The basic DW, and I mean BASIC is $1229
https://www.sportsmansoutdoorsuperstore.com/products2.cfm/ID/216785

And the top of the line DW (as pretty as they get) is $2049
https://www.sportsmansoutdoorsuperstore.com/products2.cfm/ID/246952

I don't fear MIM, but I understand it's pros & cons & I prefer machined steel.

Here's a MIM part for ya, cowboy..................sure as hell never have seen this with a non-MIM safety.

But for your guns, buy what you want; I'll do the same. I have guns with MIM, & they work until they don't & those guns don't get used for certain purposes.

So rock on bubba.

MM

Yeah, MIM is prone to weak spots developing during formation.

Time to sell the Glock.

Got started with 1911 in the late 70's with the start of IPSC- and Gunsight.
Lost count of how many 1911s Ive shot/broke/rebuilt. Don't trust any handgun until the 2000 rd mark.
Still have a 9major build by Wilson with over 300,000 rds thru it. Replaced sears, hammer, springs. Has a Clark Beaver tail even; not a Wilson, ( he wasn't making them yet)
Had Randalls, (bet you never heard of them) Kimber II (a ten shot double stack with plastic lower made in Isreal) Colt Combat model. RIA in double stack 10mm something came out new I tried it.

My point is they all break or fail at some point.
Had Springfields completely shear the barrel link up,
had Kimber hammer breaks, I don't care what its made of--
Shot comp guns until the compensator (note IPSC calls then comps. not brakes) was shot off.
Don't count on getting the best gun as to never have a problem
They are just like scopes , the best ones just do the right stuff longer.
Get a copy of Kunhauser sp. and learn how they work, keep spare parts.


Personal carry
Sig Nightmare 357 sig.
Kimber LW Custom 5"9 mm with rifling reamed like a Weatherby-- (shoots same velocity as Sig)
Kimber LW 45 Commander.
Kimber Aegis II 9mm

think there is some crazy SOB posts to this forum, something about "the whole story is in the pile of fired primers"

nothing to add to the thread that would help. All of my 1911 pistols are old. The youngest was made in the late nineties

First 1911 was a used Colt national match, purchased after a motorcycle trip, overnite bear encounter in Redlodge Mt. This was pre SW M-29 days. Gun store in Cody had one, Had a Cariville Arms Safety grip. Possibly the first beaver tail ever made, the entire grip was one piece and locked in two positions. When left in the open position, the gun would fire by squeezing the entire grip and holding the trigger back. Gunsite , Conditions 1,2,3,4 etc hadn't been invented yet.


Couple of saying from pre gamer IPSC may be relevant.

One on shooting groups-- "My grandmother can shoot that good it just takes her longer"

Another --- which gun,bullet,holster etc. "I would rather have you shooting at me with the best gun, the best super bullet etc
than have Rob Leatham shooting at me with his practice gun and loads.

I had a Kimber MIM mag catch crumble into pieces while I was firing the gun at just less than 800 rounds. As I was shooting the magazine fell out of the gun, I looked down at that wondering how the heck that happened and then felt something odd in my right hand. I pulled the gun in and slowly opened my hand and the right side of the mag catch fell out. I had some greyish dust and slightly larger pieces of metal in my hands. I never did find the left side of the catch. I had a trigger bar break on a Ruger semi auto and I have had a Glock extractor shear the hook off while firing factory Federal AE practice ammo. Shoot enough and those things do happen. Given a choice I would not choose MIM if possible to avoid it. It was one of the reasons I chose Dan Wesson for my last 1911.

BTDT, in multiple disciplines of competition..................about the only thing you really got right is that given enough time & rounds, it's possible for anything to break. but sometimes it doesn't either.

But................BIG BUT, there too, bud, the likelihood of MIM breaking before machined or forged parts is much more probable on certain parts...............MIM simply has lower tensile & sheer strength properties as well as more liklihood of significant porosity than does machined tool steel or forgings.

If I give you a choice of a MIM slide stop or a forged / machined slide stop on your personal protection carry gun, which would you choose? And please be honest.

And yes, I've built 1911's from scratch (ie, parts), modified them in most common configurations & shot a few more than a "pile of fired primers". And my 2nd Dad was a 100% full time practicing gunsmith / machinist.

I also know what Randall 1911's were too........................actually not really anything very special, other than an early iteration stainless pistol.

And as for Jerry Kuhnhausen's book, yes, it's a good shop manual & I keep it close for reference, same for Ken Hallock's 45 Auto Handbook; and if you're going to talk about Kuhnhausen, at least learn to spell his name right..................that would add some credibility to your post.

And I also have 11 or 12 1911's on hand right now.

That 3 or your listed 1911's are Kimbers is also quite telling..................given Kimbers current overall perception in the gun communities based on the high number of instances of problems, excepting the very earliest versions. And I'm not saying that all about Kimber is bad at all, but the current versions need some TLC & I actually have 2 that have been given that are are now fine guns.

By comparison to your 4 listed guns, here are a top 5 from my current stable

Wilson Protector
Wilson X-Tac
Dan Wesson Gaurdian
Christensen Custom Bobtail Commander
Colt Combat Commander (produced in the early 1970's)


MM

Everyone, especially 1911 shooters, are opinionated, check out 1911 addicts and 1911Forum.
Not knocking whether MIM are good, bad or indifferent, but they do have there place, and one of them is producing a lower cost gun that may give the shooter enough experience to go further along the trail.
Randall were a piece of kaka, that was put out between an era when Colt wasn't. Springfield also did the same thing.

NO need to remember correct spelling of Proper nouns, it changes from place to place and time to time

On a statistical basis (per 100 sold) I doubt if Kimber has any more problems than any another maker. Doubt if Wesson sells anywhere near Kimber.

Barrels in the early Colts were a piece of kaka also. Thats why Bar-STo got famous. The point is it led to improvement in all areas of the 1911 saga. Remember the prong bushings used by Colt? Still have some 38 Super barrels from that if you want them, no MIM there.