Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns 3.5" 1911's

Is hard to beat a 686,19, 66 or GP100 4 inch barrel in 357 Magnum for trail carry against two or four legged Varmints

If an "Officer's ACP" sized pistol is built right, they can be quite reliable. The issue that generates reliability issue in the smaller 1911's is about 50% shooter and 50% gun.

If you open the slide on a full sized 1911 and lock it back, you'll see that the breech face goes well behind the magazine well. With a 3.5" the breech face goes slightly behind, like 1/8"(ish).

Now you add in the shortened grip and the recoil of a .45 ACP and the gun does have more muzzle flip than most 1911's unless you hold tightly with what fingers you can get on the gun. So the muzzle flip will actually soak up quite a bit of energy from the slide and can have the effect of what most call a "limp wrist" type malfunction.

So the shorter slide travel and the pronounced muzzle flip can make the pistol more prone to malfunction than the full sized pistols, but that can be alleviated by just learning how to properly hold the pistol.

But understand, the sub-compact pistols from other makers are subject to the same issues; this isn't a "1911" problem.

They're very finicky, i.e., all the springs have to be just the right strength (especially the mag spring and the recoil spring) for it to work reliably. You might think that's no problem, in that once they're just right, you'll have a reliable weapon. True, but spring tension changes with use, and the range of tension that will produce reliable function is very narrow when you get down to the chopped down 1911s.

I wouldn't go any shorter than 4.25" if I were you. I speak from experience.

The term 'chopped 1911' doesn't apply to much nowadays. Definitely not to the bull-barrel-ramped-barrel-slap-feeders some folks call 1911s.

Sorry for the delay in replying to your posts.

Yes this would primarily for four legged critters and perhaps the occasional two-legger meth cook.

I really don't have time, energy or money for guns that don't function right from the get (after break in). I am leaning towards a rock island armory mainly due to price.

My Colt Defender has been 100% with anything I've fed it so far.

Shot this group this morning with a 3" 1911 RIA, Compact. 15 yards. That flier low and left opened it up to two inches. Without it, the group would have been a shade over an inch & 1/2.

My Kimber Ultra Carry II functions flawlessly with bullet weights from 165 gr. to 230 gr. most accurate ammo is my 200 gr. SWC handloads. This piece is my primary CCW, and with both Tru Glio and Crimson Trace sights is good to go in any light conditions.

Did you need to have the dust cover lengthened? If so, how was it done? BTW, a Star PD provides this type of platform in a lightweight and very reliable package.

In Colt terms the combination of an Officer frame and Commander slide is called a CCO (Concealed Carry Officer). Lots of manufacturers currently offer the platform.