Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Want to buy my first 1911....suggestions ?

Got in my head that i want a comander size 1911. looking at the Magnum Research 1911 and the Ruger 1911 comander size. i know a bunch about rifles....not much about 1911 . looking for some help. Seems like everyone needs at least one 1911 in the arsenal so to speak. Looking to spend $500.00-800.00 if possible. Any suggestions?

Well...lol. Right off I'd counsel you to move up to a grand in your expenditure. I think you'll be more satisfied with one of those. I'm not familiar with how much Colt's Government types are right now, but in the not-so-distant past you could get a Colt for right around that. Springfield Armory puts out a good product and you should be able to get one of those for under a thou. The SA to get would be the Loaded Target model. The Ruger looks good but I have no firsthand experience with it. Everybody on here likes it. Taurus is widely hated but I've had pretty good success with a couple of their 1911's. You can come in within your price range on that one for sure. You can get a rail on it too. I'd recommend one. I've had two 1911 rail guns and they're the [bleep].

Glock 19. Unless you just want to be aggravated. If you truly don't mind be aggravated get a Springfield armory 1911.

Dink

Go with the Rugers. I've had and shot both the full size and Commander length for awhile now and they're excellent.

Perspective is everything.

I'm not sure that ruger has made a 1911 style pistol for a while yet...

And for the OP,

I'd recommend checking out the RIA 1911s. While not US made, they are worthy guns, and more so at the price that they sell for.

Don't get a 1911. None of them are any good. I have 32 of them. I know!

This is good advice. Get the most basic model, spend what you save on getting a good trigger job/extractor tune from a smith who knows how, and call it good.

I'm also with johnw, but I got the "tactical" model which is a step up from the base model. They really are a great buy for the $$ and I know their CS is great if you ever need anything.

There's one in every croud. A man asks about 1911's and someome's gotta mention Blocks.

I also suggest a RIA.

My suggestion is...if you're looking for advice on buying your first 1911....go somewhere else! By the time all the regulars on here chime in, you'll be so farking confused you won't know what to buy!

simplify this.


Buy a Wilson combat!

I'm a fan of Rugers. I tried out the full size and liked it so much I bought a commander as well. Best out of the box 1911s I own. Others in my safe are better - but only after some tweaking.

Good luck!

Springfield Lightweight Champion

Ante up for a Colt.

In your price range its damn hard to beat a springfield RO.

The non-rail RIAs are darned good guns for the money and you can get in the game for a very reasonable amount of money. Their customer service is great. The out of the box triggers are excellent on both of mine. One required a little tuning, which they did at no cost to me, the other has run like a Rolex from day one. And they're accurate. They are solid, well built pistols.

That said, buy a Colt O2991 38 Super and you'll never go back to the dark side with all the 45acp wonks.

Dave

The trouble with 1911's is, if you try one and like it, you'll probably REALLY like it and start pondering another one (nicer, of course). But let's not get ahead of ourselves. I like the ideas above re: Rock Island Armory and Ruger and Springfield or a Colt if the price is right - get a solid, well-executed, no-frills 1911. Get to know it which you can definitely do within the budget stated. Then if you fall in love with it, you have a starting point for knowing what you'd like different in the future.

The other problem with 1911's is, everyone's got an opinion....

The Springfield has a forged frame and slide.

....cutting thru the suggestions and limiting it to the two that you mentioned (Ruger and Magnum Research) I think you'd find either of those to be excellent first choices. There are a few differences between them:
1. Ruger=Stainless; MR=Carbon. Don't read too much into stainless steel being actually "stain"less; it takes care and will rust. There used to be concerns about galling of slide to frame with stainless--not so much anymore.
2. Ruger is American made; MR is made in Israel. That may or may not be a concern to you. While I like the idea of a gun being made in America, having one from Israel is equally cool in my mind, but that's just me.
3. Triggers. Every gun is an law unto itself; however the MR (Desert Eagle) 1911's MAIN virtue seem to be out-of-the-box match quality triggers. Again, they're all different, but at a recent trip to Cabelas, the MR's that they had on display all had superb triggers. I'm sure that many Rugers also have decent triggers, the one's that I've seen weren't above average.

Either would be a good choice; I doubt that for the money you'd be disappointed with either. There may be others on the market that are just as good for the $, but I'm guessing none that are better.