Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Old flame still hot!

Deep, long-time affection for the 1911 .45 neither over-
shadowed nor surrendered to my love for fine revolvers.
Admiration for the ingenuity of the 1911's design led me to
buy my first one, a civilian Colt, in 1952.

That admiration grew through the decades that followed, as
I acquired and studied many more 1911s and A-1s — Colts,
rattly militaries, clones, and rip-offs — AMT Hardballer, Ballester-
Molina, Star PD, even at one point a .22 Long Rifle conversion kit.

(Wish I still had that last one! It was fun! And ingeniously designed
with the “Carbine Williams” chamber to simulate .45 ACP recoil.
Old “friend” who has it won't let me buy it back.)

Even put some together from unfitted parts that wouldn't go
together without being pounded back and forth with a
rubber mallet until fine grinding compound made 'em slide
back and forth slicker'n new leather soles on dry pine needles,
with no discernible slack. Smooth!

Had a friend put a Smith & Wesson rear sight on a .38 Super
that I then converted to .45 ACP (before I got my own mill).

Accurized some to shoot “bug holes” in 2700 target competition.

Designed and made a few after-market add-on and replacement parts.

Until lately, it seemed to me that the Kimber was the best of the bunch.
(Wish I still had that one, too! It was a beauty! But just as I've done
way too often with way too many fine guns, I let it get away from me.)

Now, it seems that the Ruger SR1911 .45 may be as good as the Kimber
and possibly even a tad better. (It's apparently a clone of Colt's “improved”
Series 70 modification of John Browning's original loosy-goosy design,
with maybe another modernization or two that Ruger has added.)

And for sheer beauty, what man with a drop of testosterone and even a dab
of æsthetic or design appreciation could fail to love this? —



("Borrowed" this image from the Ruger web site. It's now the "wallpaper"
on my Windows 7 start-up screen. Yep — the old infatuation still flares high,
and I'm as jumpy as a flea on a hot rock, eager to feast my eyes
and wrap my fist around the real thing!)

According to the Ruger web site, it comes with two magazines —
so that one that's carried loaded and locked with a full magazine can be
alternated (empty) every month or so to let its compressed feeder spring
relax before it develops so much spring fatigue that it feeds weakly
(or not at all) at the most inconvenient moment.

And like many other modern handguns, it comes with the three-dot sight
system that my friend "Mick" Gathright originated. That — with other
pleasant memories — will warm my heart on these cold desert nights!

Only prolonged heavy use will eventually show whether the Ruger or
the Kimber is the better 1911. Their metallurgy is the key.
Which has the better steel in terms of hardness, brittleness, wear,
breakage, metal fatigue, etc? Or is either as good as the other
for consistently standing-up to long, strenuous shooting?

(This level of use — let's hope! — will never be required of self-defense guns!)

Good to see you back here again Ken.. Best wishes.

I agree with you about the 1911, Ken.

Tain't anything wrong with a Colt either, though...

Ken,

I don't own one but as a gunsmith I tend to see a lot of 1911's and every Ruger I've seen exhibits top quality everywhere; they really are nice guns. I've only shot one, and it shot very well indeed. Anyhow I've only corrected one feeding issue with a Ruger, all other work I've done on them has been cosmetic in nature. Very nice pistols.

1911's still make my heart go pitta pat.

Ken, i think one of the best parts of that are on the side where it says prescott, arizona. I took one in to Frank Glenn, who you may very well know, ex dps armorer, pistol competitor etc, to have a small defect fixed, meaning a ambi safety installed. In about ten seconds he had it in little pieces. I do value his opinion knowing of the work he does. This one was the first he had a chance to get into. His comment was that it was comparable to ones costing twice as much as ruger was charging. Coming from him that was a mouthful.
I have heard some complaints on the early ones of the front sights falling off, but have not personally seen that.
I have not had a chance to see their commander size version yet.
personally i think ruger knocked it out of the box with this. I know i don't see many of them on the shelf at the local lgs. Their comments to me are they sell pretty fast when then get them in.
The one i have was basically bought for an eventual hand me down to my air force captain grandson. I replaced the grips with some fine wood with the air force logo lazer cut in the wood. He is left handed, thus the ambi safety modification.

Thanks for the review on the Ruger. I have had my eye on one, and it looks as if it is time to pull out the wallet and bring one home.

Happy for ya!

Congratulations sir!

I will miss my 1911 while it undergoes a little gunsmith TLC this week and next. They are nice looking and great working guns, for sure.

Oh Hell, I thought you were talking about Joyce.

Think I'll check out the Ruger

I see you busted your keister on the dry pine straw with new leather soled shoes too... Happened to me every Sunday morning

A classic from John Browning.

Most of us know John Moses Browning was the genius behind iconic guns like the 1911, Browning Hi-Power and Browning M2 .50 cal machine gun all of which are still in use by various police departments and militaries around the world. Those were just the tip of the iceberg, John Browning developed quite a few guns in his time, here’s a list of his most notable designs.
U.S. M1895 Colt-Browning machine gun
FN Browning M1899/M1900
Colt Model 1900
Colt Model 1902
Colt Model 1903 Pocket Hammer (.38 ACP)
Colt Model 1903 Pocket Hammerless (.32 ACP)
Colt Model 1905
Remington Model 8 (1906), a long recoil semi-automatic rifle
Colt Model 1908 Vest Pocket (.25 ACP)
Colt Model 1908 Pocket Hammerless (.380 ACP)
FN Model 1910
U.S. M1911 pistol (.45 ACP)
Colt Woodsman pistol
Winchester Model 1885 falling-block single shot rifle
Winchester Model 1886 lever-action repeating rifle
Winchester Model 1887 lever-action repeating shotgun
Winchester Model 1890 slide-action repeating rifle (.22)
Winchester Model 1892 lever-action repeating rifle
Winchester Model 1894 lever-action repeating rifle
Winchester Model 1895 lever-action repeating rifle
Winchester Model 1897 pump-action repeating shotgun
Browning Auto-5 long recoil semi-automatic shotgun
U.S. M1917 water-cooled machine gun
U.S. M1919 air-cooled machine gun
U.S. M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR)
U.S. M2 .50-caliber heavy machine gun of 1921 (the famed “Ma-Deuce” weapon)
Remington Model 8 semi-auto rifle
Remington Model 24 semi-auto rifle (.22) Also produced by Browning Firearms (as the SA-22) and several others
Browning Hi-Power (Grand Puissance or GP), the standard sidearm of many military and police forces
The Browning Superposed over/under shotgun was designed by John Browning in 1922 and entered production in 1931
Ithaca Model 37 pump-action repeating shotgun
He didn’t just makes guns, he also developed the following cartridges:
.25 ACP
.32 ACP
.38 ACP
9mm Browning Long
.380 ACP
.45 ACP
.50 BMG
http://www.armoryblog.com/firearms/the-guns-of-john-moses-browning/

Good to see you around Ken.

You are right about the SR1911, It's a fine machine, us "Ruger Guys" waited a long time for Ruger to finally make one.

As for metallurgy, Ruger knows their metals so I'm not to concerned about it and I think My Ruger shoots as good or better than my Kimber, 'course both of them shoot better than me anyways.

Im glad yer having fun with it Ken.