Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns And then there was one.....

I put forth this question to my friends at the campfire that know more about a 1911 than I do.
As I've often told my son, "life's too short to hunt with an ugly rifle". In the same spirit of this, I was wondering, if a fella was going to pare down his guns and wanted just one REALLY good .45 acp, where would he turn to? Which maker, which model?
Would be for carrying, everyday use, and emergencies....

I don't mind packin a full size 5" gun, but what would simply be the best out there?

I await your pearls of wisdom......

Considering what you pay vs. what you get, I tend to think your dollar goes farther when you buy the Dan Wesson. They are VERY well built, complete with a smattering of Ed Brown parts; nothing feels better than an Ed Brown grip safety.

When I wanted a good 1911 for IPSC, I decided to make it myself. I got a Caspian slide and frame, with the frame cut for a fully ramped barrel and the slide cut for Bomar sights. I assembled it from the best parts I could get, sent it to Novak for installation of a Kart fully ramped barrel in .45 ACP, installed the Bomar sights myself and had a really nice, totally reliable, super accurate 1911. I made it with all the parts I wanted so I didn�t have to get what someone else though was good and later swap out parts, but you get to decide what you want. Is this a great country or what?

I've owned at last count, 20 of the darn things of one sort or another, excellent to lousy.

For me personally, I would say a Les Baer, full size, adj night sights, hard chrome, with 1.5" at 50 yards accuracy guarantee. If it won't do what you need, get a rifle.

Besides the utility and precision, a hard chrome Baer is really something. Who ever does it the chrome for them, is really, really good at it; the luster and flawless finish is really something to behold. My Concept X has a chrome slide and the quality of finish is as good as you will find anywhere, on anything.

Now all that said, the next thing I want is a .38 Super Colt, or maybe a Wiley Clapp Commander

http://springfield-armory.com/armory.php?version=3

I've got one of those and it has been the best I've owned.

I looked at the Les Baer website, but I didn't see any ConceptX listed...did I miss it?

I have a Springfield "Fully loaded" model now...looking for that little "extra".

A 1.5" at 50 yard gun sounds very interesting to me....

I went through a few and this ended up being the one for me.

The Dan Wesson is a very good gun for dollar....I also like the Taurus gun....not as good as the Dan Wesson but for the money the best buy going in my opinion. Got a chance to shoot a few hundread rounds thru a Taurus 1911 a while back....really performed and on a variety of ammo.

Yeah, for the price conscious, the dollar goes farther with a Taurus than any other gun for sure; very good pistols for what you pay.

Of the semi-custom guns, I tend to think Ed Brown and Nighhawk make the best guns out there, but they're very pricey. My friends 4k Nighthawk didn't shoot much better than my 1k S&W; but the fit and finish were light years ahead of my S&W.

I'll have to look at the Nighthawk guns.....while I have owned both Taurus, and DW guns before, they are not even in consideration for this purchase.

Lot's of good ideas so far!

Wilson Combat

Same as I carry, none better

Handling Jimmy's Wilson Combat at the 24hrcf Bowling pin shoot last month I have to agree that it was the nicest 45 I had ever seen and handled, and I like my Kimber a LOT! If a guy can spring for that kinda dough, that is the way to go. For about 1/3 the money or less, I think the various Kimbers are really hard to beat. Frame to slide fit, overall fit and finish, QC, custom type features that make sense and work with no garish type stuff and ESPECIALLY the trigger right out of the box is better than any other 1911 I have seen whose price tag did not have a comma in it.

Really liking the look of those Wilson combats lately. In particular that CQB Elite

You can have your pretties, I will stick with one that just flat out works all the time.

Might even change out the top end for a Colt one if I can wrangle a Commander top end. Meanwhile I will just stick with this one I cobbled up.

that one would chew my hand to shreds, blood o the first shot. But if it works for you then have at 'er! I think the OP was looking for a 'best of the best' kinda gun. Yours is a good one, kinda like a Ford 500 or Taurus, and will sure work for your purposes but likely not what the OP was looking for which would be more like a Caddilac XLR-V 500hp roadster.

Nah, I shortened the hammer spur and relieved the underside of it. I ran out of the Pachmayer rubber faced grip safeties on the last gun I built which I gave my son.

A stock hammer & grips safety make hamburger out of the web of my hand in a couple of shots otherwise.