Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns 1911's generally speaking...

Generally speaking I see a lot of guys complaining about their various 1911's FTE or FTF etc...etc... I understand that Wilson Combat, Les Baer and a few others are big dollar and maybe have fewer problems but Colt, Kimber etc...sure seem to have a lot of detractors. Is the quality of these pistols that bad? Are the "poly" pistols and revolvers that much more reliable?

Long

No. No.

Kimbers are generally spot on and wonderful. My Colt Delta Elite does not seem to want to ever not run.

My expereince in reading these pages and hanging around gun folk is just the opposite. More people singing the praises of the 1911 format, and carrying it.

My experience of the 1911s is based on a Rock Island Tactical in 45acp and a Colt in 38 super. I love 'em both. The Colt is a slicker pistol, but then, so was the price. The Rock runs very well and is accurate. Their service is excellent +. I've only had the Colt a few months and it's run perfectly and shot accurately.

"Generally speaking ..."
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I also am NOT aware of many 'complaint's' regarding various factory 1911 style pistols experiencing FTE or FTF problems. Probably because of JMB's ingenious design and long refined manufacturing techniques.

My only '1911' pistol (that I shoot) is a used Springfield 1911-A1 GI, probably the 'least' expensive Springfield 1911 model offered ... It is 100% reliable as to function and dependability.


In the .45 ACP chambering, my 1st Choice would NOT be "Poly".

My cheap softer-than-chocolate-on-a-hot-day RIA now has around 1200 rounds through it and has yet to fail.

Kimber had some problems with their external extractor but they ditched it several years ago and have been turning out quality 1911s.

The only factory stock 1911 I've owned that had FTF's and FTE's was a NIB Colt 1911, series 70, made in the mid-1970s. Every 1911 that I've owned that was made in the last 20 years, and particularly those I've owned made in this century, have been reliable with regard to feeding and ejection right out of the box. Kimber's success gave the 1911 market a real kick in the pants and a manufacturer who doesn't make their 1911 reliable doesn't stay in business long these days.

I have been shooting 1911's for about 40 years. My first was a Colt Series 70 that I still have. I have several others. All do quite well feeding and ejecting if they have moderately acceptable ammo.

My club recently started doing Wild Bunch matches in which you use a 1911. We had lots of FTF's the first match or two. I had several myself. Most of us have had 1911's for a while but rarely shot lead bullets out of them. I had always used jacketed bullets in mine. The FTF's were quickly cured when we learned how to load lead bullets correctly. I do not recall one FTF for anybody in the last several matches.

I have 1911's by Springfield, Ruger, and Colt and have no trouble with them feeding and ejecting my recent reloads.

I have several Glocks in 9mm and .45 ACP that had the same FTF problems with lead bullets in Lone Wolf barrels until I became better at loading lead bullets.

Wild Bunch is a lot of fun.
What 1911 do you run for WB?

I've got several completely reliable 1911s. The only problem 1911 I've had was a chopped down one.

I've had great luck with 1911s and out of the 5 I've owned (Kimber, SA, Ruger), I've never had a FTF/FTE. I've had numerous FTF/FTE with the two 380s I've owned (Colt Mustang & Ruger LCP) and a Glock 21 had a FTE when a first time shooter was shooting it (guessing he limp-wristed it).

I have 100% confidence in my 1911s....

I am sensing a pattern here....

I've been a 1911 shooter for about 37 years and I have owned quite a few during that span and I have found the 1911 to be extremely reliable

Not sure where you are coming from here

Wild Bunch is a lot of fun.
What 1911 do you run for WB? [/quote]


I use my first Colt Series 70 or a Springfield Mil Spec.

Nice.
We don't divide into modern and traditional yet cause there's normally only one or two shooting WB.
I borrow a friends Para or a Rock Island when I decide to shoot, I'm still waiting to get a decent 1911.

My Kimber compact 45 doesn't reliably feed anything but hardball. And my old series 80 Colt Govt wouldn't eject sometimes. Finally a good 'smith figured out that the breech face may have been cut too high at the top (if that makes any sense) and the empty cases were sometimes riding over the ejector. He installed a taller ejector made for the 38 Super and that solved that problem. So, out of 6 1911s, two had problems. The Kimber was bought about 10 or more years ago. And maybe not wanting to feed hollow points shouldn't be considered a problem, but I did.

I like 1911's. I got my first in 1982 and have had a bunch of them, including three right now. IMO the problems come from not shooting FMJ Ball ammo. Most 1911's are reliable with military ammo. They are not necessarily accurate, but they are reliable. They have to be tightened up a bit to be accurate and then reliability becomes problematical. Be assured they can be both reliable and accurate, but it costs money to align all the stars correctly.

Norinco came out with their 1911 and it fed all sorts of ammo reliably with decent accuracy. It only cost about $300. I would say that was in the late eighties. Colt then came out with their model 1991A1 which was the same thing only made here and about $100 more. They then embarked on upgrading their Governments. National Match/Gold Cups, as far as I know, have always shot a variety well, especially the SWC's which were problems in the old, lower-priced 1911's. But the Gold Cup was significantly higher too.

Decent 1911's abound now what with Rock Island's, Para GI's, etc. This was not always the case.

I hate to say this and know some will disagree, but you hear about a lot of problems with Kimbers. They are a fairly expensive pistol too. They are made here, and that is a great advantage, IMO, but you hear about a lot of problems...

I had one (Kimber, that is) give me trouble and wrote about it here, but the others I have owned were spot on and reliable. The problem with my one FTF Kimber toy was that the tolerances were too tight in the barrel lug to slide recess area. Once I slightly radiused and polished those parts and lubed them up good all the problems went away. Was the gun I shot at last summers 24hrcf Bowling pin shootout to good effect. Sometimes a Kimber will leave a little too tight here or there as they are very proud of thier tight tolerances and accuracy etc. but if one wont shoot all the ammo I want it to shoot then it is a simple thing to start MILDLY radiusing and polishing out the various parts until it is just right for you. Kinda fun, actually, and at the end of the day you know your gun and know its tightness or slop and its accuracy potential.

I am the Chief Range Officer for a self-defense shooting group that has 77 members. Each member fires once a month in one of 5 sessions. There are scenarios, LE qualifiers and drills each month. 100-150 rounds of ammo per shooter are fired at each session. Usually 40-50 of the shooters fire each month....so I see a minimum of 4K rounds go down range each month from a minimum of 40 different shooters and 40 different guns.

Out of 10 observed malfunctions 6 will be from 1911s. 1911s make up about 20% of the guns used. Others include, Glocks, SIGs, H&Ks, S&W M&P as well as older guns, XDs, Beretta (very few), Taurus and about 1/2 a dozen S&W revolvers. Glocks and XDs are the highest percentage guns used. Most of the ammo is factory and 25% of the shooters reload and all ammo has to be jacketed or plated. Glocks are the second most likely to have a malfunction.

Failure to Feed is probably the most common malfunction. The slide pics the round up off the magazine but fails somewhere along the line to go completely into battery. Most of the 1911 shooters I know are also those who reload....and I think much of the observed malfunctions have to do with ammunition sensitivity.

Unlike revolvers semi-autos are very dependent on good ammunition to function. One of the shooters last month gut into a bad lot of Winchester whitebox 9mm...a lot of "short rounds" that failed to cycle the gun. So it isn't just reloads that can cause problems.

From what I have observed in 35+ years of competitive shooting and 30 years in LE, when it comes to semi-autos the guns have to be fed a diet of what they like. Certain models are less ammo sensitive than others but all will run close to 100% fed what they like.

In fairness to the 1911...only Glock makes a Glock. Only Springfield makes a XD, only Walther makes a P38....everyone and their brother makes a 1911 and this is where the problem comes in. One can't just say "...1911s are unreliable", you gotta say X-brand of 1911 is unreliable.

The 1911 was not made to be a match gun. It was made as a piece of military hardware to function anywhere at any time....the tolerances are loose. But for those who just have to have a "combat" gun that will get 3" groups at 50 yards even though most self-defense shooting are within 5 yards have created their own problem....

Bob