Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Do you consider the 1911 obsolete for concealed carry

So really not trying to start a holy war, but I'm just wondering about how people feel about this.

Is low-cap just a deal breaker? Have you had such bad experience you just can't trust ANY 1911? Are you afraid if you carry a 1911 you'll be required to dress like an old man?

Personally I think it comes down to an individuals threat assessment whether or not they feel the NEED a hi-cap pistol.

And secondly, I know there are those who just shoot a 1911 markedly better than most other pistols.

I have carried a LW Commander for the past 12-ish years, and off and on before that. These days I carry my P07 or Hi Power more often than my LW Commander. But that's not so much because I feel a need for hi-cap, but just that I want to carry something different...change is the spice of life. I will say, for a full sized pistol, nothing carries better in an IWB than a LW Commander...light & flat.

No, just heavy. Hence suspenders, New Balance and walkers. 😁😂

good tools are never obsolete...

Amen to that!

If I could still work the safety with my strong hand, I would still be carrying my old Officer's ACP but I am not comfortable with a carry gun that requires both hands to get into action.

Well, in a sense, it is an objectively obsolete design, due to the change in prevailing thought in the concealed carry community away from manual thumb safeties and single stack magazines (except, with regard to single stack magazines, on truly compact guns like Kahrs, the Glock 43, and the like). It's also obsolete in that it's just been passed by by newer, better, designs, using lighter weight materials, striker fire actions, mass produced parts, etc., resulting in greater out of the box reliability besides.

That all said, there's nothing wrong with the choice, assuming your specimen is proven reliable, you keep it clean and lubed, and you only train with it or guns of the type. I know that I can actually produce slightly tighter groups with my 1911s than with my Glocks, but other factors (capacity, weight, absence of manual safety) outweigh this advantage.

Some men are quite well armed with a good 1911. Others would not be. However, the same is true with any firearm.

The 1911 is as contemporary a carry gun today as it was in 1911. I WILL NOT carry anything else.

and mobility scooters.

Obsolete, absolutely not.

Have their been advances in 106 years?

I look at the issue fairly simply, if I'm going to carry a weapon to protect my family and myself, I want the most effective weapon I can obtain. IMHO, nostalgia plays absolutely no roll in tipping the odds in your favor when your or your loved ones lives are on the line.

The 1911 isn't obsolete , you are

This scaled down 1911 might make a good carry gun.About 18oz empty weight is one thing about it that would make it worth looking at.The extra barrel length gives it a little more power too.Browning's Black Label Model 1911-380 http://www.realguns.com/articles/685.htm

I carry a 1911 most of the time- but, it is a Kimber Ultra Carry II, .45 ACP. It is almost identical in weight and overall dimensions to the Smith and Wesson M&P Shield .45 I also carry. It has the advantage of a great single-action trigger pull, round capacity is nearly the same depending on which mag I have in the Shield, and I shoot both equally well.

Getting there!

Just got a SW1911 performance center LW commander in 45acp. I'm trying hard to not like it as much as my Glock 23 which has a lot more going for it. The Glock is lighter, holds more rounds, is just as accurate, and is extremely durable and cheap - not like I have to worry about ruining the finish either. But damn, the 1911 has class, and is just so easy and fun to shoot. It's just natural in my hands. I do worry about carrying a 1911 cocked and locked while hunting and hiking and getting water, dirt, snow, mud in the firing pin recess portion at the rear of the slide and then having it not fire because the hammer couldn't hit the firing pin. Probably a one in a million chance, but that would be my luck. Not a concern with urban concealed carry though.

About as obsolete as the .30-06.

Yes totally obsolete!!!! I would rather get caught with a 270.........

I think so. It's not that anything changed about the 1911, it's as good as it ever was; it's that other guns have improved, and there are much better fighting pistols available now. If it's a carry gun, it needs to be a fighting gun, not a target pistol or nostalgia piece. Those who think they don't need to carry a fighting pistol (cause they'll just shoot the bad guy), just don't know what they don't know; they're preparing for a specific gunfight scenario, not just whatever might happen.

I shoot a 1911 better than a lot of other guns too, and don't mind the weight or dressing around it, but I also don't think it's the best choice in pistols I can make when I start the day. I'm not Superman, so I'll take all the advantages I can get, thanks.

The slide safety, grip safety, and single stack mag are all handicaps in a fighting gun IMO, and here are examples why.
- In my training group we've seen die hard 1911 guys forget to flip the safety off under pressure; the same guys who said "I practice that, so it'll never happen to me".
- The grip safety can prevent the gun firing in an awkward grip, for example grabbing it left handed from a right hand holster in a grapple with someone, so that the gun is held upside down and fired with the pinky. I can and have fired my carry gun that way in training, but a 1911 or other pistols with grip safeties often won't fire. At that moment it's a shiny brick, not a pistol.
- The single stack mag is a detriment when so many attacks involve more than one bad guy. We can choose a double stack 1911, but the first two issues remain.

I don't feel unarmed with only a 1911, and do like them still, but would be deluding myself if I thought it was the best carry pistol I could choose.

I'd say as obsolete as a pre '64 model 70 .30-06!

Mike

P.S. - That means "no', it isn't!

Put an ambi safety on it....problem solve.