Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Double stack 1911 reliability

Anyone on here have some first-hand experience with double stack 1911's or 2011's? Particularly interested in 10mm experience. I know nothing about them other than what I've googled (dangerous I know). But based on that shallow bit of investigation there seem to be at least a few that have trouble feeding (magazine problems?). Any guidance or experience would be appreciated.

25+ years ago and only in 45 ACP, a Kimber polymer/stainless, ran like a top with never a malfunction, I did look into a custom 10mm on the Fusion arms 2011 frame, too much trouble, too long to wait, and too damn expensive, I went Dan Wesson 10mm single stack, bought 4 extra 10 round Tripp mags and couldn't be happier with my decision.

It has been a long time since I had my Para Ordnance 45 ACP. I don't recall having any but the two mags that came with it. It was always 100% reliable. It must be twenty years ago now. I can't recall what I fed it.

Para P13/45 that won't feed. I tried an Ed Brown barrel/bushing with it, thinking it was the ramp....and still a no-go. I think it's the magazines. Tried extra power springs and aftermarket followers and have 10-rd and 13-rd and it still won't feed. It's been sitting in the safe for maybe 20 years and I keep thinking I need to sell it for parts, but just can't bring myself to even look at it.

The new Remington's are interesting. If I was to think about trying another, that's the route I'd go if you can find them in stock.

I shot IPSC/USPSA on a regular basis for about 6 years & saw many double stacks in both Para & 2011 work just fine. I used a Para 45 for 1 year & a Para 40 for about 3 more. I made a few corrections in the feed ramp/chamber entrance on at least one of them, but the tune was just a tweak, nothing major. Arrendondo springs & followers in factory mags.

The 10 is one I'm not too familiar with, but know it can be trickier due to cartridge length.

+1 on Tripp mags for a single stack.

I have big hands so I prefer double stack 1911s to single stack. I have:
Para 14-45 Limited
Para Pro Custom 40
Wilson Combat KZ45

I just got the 40, but the others have been 100% reliable over several years. I keep looking for a Wilson KZ9, but can never find one. Almost bought an STI Perfect 10 at a gun show about a year ago, but just couldn't justify the extra expense of ammo. Gorgeous pistol though.

I see there's a KZ-45 on gunbroker, but seems overpriced IMO.

Lots of good options out there. Like many things, mostly guys with lemons start a thread about them!

My double stack 1911 experiences were with a Para 16-40 Limited (using 10mm loads) and a Kimber polymer hybrid frame, Ultra Ten II if I remember.
Never saw an issue with the Kimber.

The Para ran great for the most part; the only issues I had were a result of worn out magazine followers. Those mags all had Arredondo +5 extensions and followers, and one of them that was particularly worn would actually flip the follower on it's side with a full mag. Aside from that, the gun ran well but eventually cracked the slide from a lot of rounds of 10mm-level loads.

My Para LDA 45 is very reliable---I have an extended mag and it feeds perfectly

I have a STI 2011 Marauder in 10mm. It's a cool gun, but like any 1911 variant that ends up in my safe, it needs work. In my case the slide lock protruded too far into the mag-well and would occasionally snag on a round coming up the mag, and lock the slide back with several rounds still left in the mag. In terms of comfort, the STI 2011 frame has "ears" on both sides of the grip safety (that house the trigger bar), that reek havoc on my hands. They will make my hands bleed with repeated shooting (200 gr. bullets at 1170fps). My buddy has bigger hands and it doesn't effect him even slightly. All things considered these are relatively minor complaints for the gun. Accuracy is awesome by the way, and no feeding issues with the gun itself. The magazines, however, are a bitch to deal with. They are expensive and need to be tuned. With a good mag. the gun runs flawless, with a bad mag. it's a jam-o-matic. And finding a good mag. is hard to do. The mags. are super expensive too, like they start at $60. It's the feed lips that need special attention and love. There are youtube videos on how to tune them. If you drop a mag and it falls on and bends the feeds lips, even slightly, it will need to be retuned.

My experience with a 2011 45acp Edge was much better. No issues with the gun at all - it still has the ears around the grip safety, but the 45acp's recoil isn't bad enough to rip them into my hands. The mag. issues were almost nonexistent.

I've got a STI double stack, DW Bob Commander, a Fusion long slide and a SIG P220 all in 10MM, only problem I ever have with any of them is during long shooting sessions when I get tired and lose focus, I'll limp wrist once in a while and it causes ejection/feed issues. They'll crunch brass and stovepipe. With both versions, using heavy cast bullets, I have to seat the bullets a little deeper so they clear the magazine. This seems especially critical in the double stack magazines. I just received 3 boxes of Underwood 220 grain cast rounds and they fit both kinds of magazines just fine. The STI, with a full 18 round mag and EVO grip is very hefty, around 4 pounds I believe, so a shoulder holster is a must if you are going to carry it all day hunting or hiking.

Yeah, that's a common occurence with most double stack mags and WFN bullets - those flat noses run into the front radius of the mags sometimes, or the front wall of the mag because they stack at an upward angle, so you can't load them to max cartridge length. But on the other hand, a WFN style keeps a lot of mass forward of the case mouth anyway, so they don't have to be seated out real far to maintain good powder capacity.

I have the Para Big Hawg double stack .45acp...had it for years and it has never bobbled a round...runs perfectly...great gun.

Two Paras 40 and 45, run perfect. Two RIAs 9 and 40 required smoothing but perfect after. STI Edge in 40, perfect in every way. Mags are the real issue, but many good choices out there.

Some friends of mine had double stack .40's are they were ginormous pieces of fugking schit.

I have a Para 1911 Recon. I haven’t shot it much (~250rds), but have had zero issues with it.

Friends?



🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

I had a Para LDA, it was reliable with aftermarket mags but the Para mags were not so reliable.

I didn't even know they were making the Enhanced R1.

If they're as reliable as the standard R1 that I bought a couple of years ago they would indeed be worth a look.