I have enjoyed following the response to Hawkeye's "throw the rest away" post. It has kind of taken on a life of its own. So I kind of hate to respond in another post but I figured its about time.
I traded into a new SW99 .49 ACP. It did take a bit of getting used to for sure but after 300 rounds or so I feel the SW99 (or Smith and Walther as a friend calls it) is about a perfect .45. 10 rounds in a lightweight but easy to control package that can be carried ready to go without any switches or levers to activate (or deactivate).
The 300 rounds were fired without the usual 1911 blues of failures to extract, or stove pipe jams. The first 100 rounds were 230 grain hardball ammo. The rest consisted of various types of high performance ammo including Federal 230 grain HydraShok, Fed 165 grain HydraShok, Rem 230 Grain Golden Sabre JHP, Corbon 185 grain JHP, Corbon 165 grain PwRBall. Exactly zero malfunctions.
Yesterday I found a SW1911 on the shelf at a local sporting goods store for $699.99 which is the best price I've seen so far. The reports I'm seeing (the latest from "Magnum Magazine" (out of South Africa) state that the reliability is excellent due in most part to the S&W style external extractor.
I've noticed that Kimber is introducing more and more models with the external extractor. John Moses Browning corrected the internal extractor design flaw on the High Power. I wonder why it's taken so long to get the 1911 design updated.
The specimen I saw had a Wilson Combat Magazine in it. If S&W is supplying Wilson magazines, it shows they were serious about reliability.
I'll be headed down to the sporting goods with $700 burning a hole in my pocket and coming back with the SW1911. The two S&W .45s and I'll be heading to the range for an afternoon of shooting. I hope the SW1911 is as reliable as I expect it to be.
You have all them troubles with the 1911, I must be missing somthing, mine have never given me that kind of greif, never! HONEST INJUN, I'm not kidding.
My impression from just watching Hawkeye's thread grow is that Charlie Askins's spirit is still haunting gun talk.
I tumbled to Charlie's ruse many years before we became friends and I heard him proudly explain it exactly as I had figured it out. Just to stir the emotions of readers, he loved to publish (in one magazine) an article denouncing the M1911 or the lever action, for example, in favor of revolvers or bolt actions -- and at the same time publish (in another magazine) an article denouncing revolvers or the bolt action, in favor of the M1911 or lever actions.
His ruse worked. He and the magazines got bushels and bundles of hot mail from all sides, and Charlie chortled with glee. His favorite pastime was killing people. Making droves of readers hopping mad was probably a close second-best favorite. He sure got a huge kick out of it.
Ah, yes. I remember Col. Charles Askins articles. He seemed to have a real fondness for handguns. Said once he'd tried everything from the 5.5 Velo Dog (really !) to the howling .44 Maggie as he called it. I remember his article when he first test shot the then new S&W 29 back in 1956. He commented how he'd heard "some joes, probably with lace in their panties, put glooves on to shoot it". A recommendation that the American Rifleman magazine had published by their testers.
He was an experienced gunfighter from what I gather. He worked for the border patrol during the time when they'd have as many as three distinct gunfights in one 8 hour shift, said he. BTW, his buddies and he use to win those fights, at ranges measured in feet, by using rifles and shotguns, not handguns. In fact, the guy making most of the hits/kills was the rifleman, armed with a Model 8 Winchester self loading, not the two guys with buck loaded Model 97 Winchesters.
He was always very entertaining and seemed to know what he was talking about. One of his favorite tricks was bobbing the hammer on of this wheel guns. I did that with the first two Chief Specials I owned. You can still shoot them single action and they then snag on nothing. I like that setup better than the Bodyguard design.
Yes, he was quite a writer. I miss his articles. E
I've used and carried 1911 guns a fair amount for about 40 yrs. Their extractor will go sour. Especially if you insist on dropping a round in the chamber and then dropping the slide over it. I've had exactly one (1) do that in all that time of abusing several. Mind you, it still worked - it didn't break - but it would fail to extract "every once in a while" after, like I said, many years of improper loading.
In contrast, when the California Highway Patrol issued S&W 4006 pistols, several of them broke their external extractors not long after being issued. All to the same thing. Dropping a round in the chamber and then dropping the slide on the round. I'll wait to see how well this so called improvement withstands the test of time. E
Must be why I strip a round off the mag then top off the mag. Never had extractor problems with one.
Ken,
I agree. Sometime it's the sport rather than the particulars. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />
E,
There are two fundamental pieces of information that a pistolero needs--(1) Leave an empty chamber under the hammer of a single action revolver and (2) never load a semiauto pistol through the breech--always load from the magazine.
I can't even remember when I learned these two facts. It seems like I have always known these things. I am always surprised when I meed a "shooter" who violates either. I do think I learned the former from old-time Hoppy movies. I think a Gunnersmate First Class gave me the second when the Navy decided I needed to tote a 1911A1 for security reasons. He also made me disassemble and reassemble the 1911A1 blindfolded. And he had a funny idea that missing the bullseye was wasting US Government money and would not tolerate it.
In the 1980's some of us were allowed to qualify and carry semiautos (I chose a BDA .45 [now known as the SigSauer Model 220]). One of my colleagues loaded his M39 by dropping a round through the ejector port into the chamber. He never did believe me that he was headed for trouble. Fortunately when his failure came it was during qualifications not in an actual social situation.
Bottom line (considering quality firearms only) I've never had an external extractor failure and I've had numerous 1911 internal extractor failures over the years.
I did't get a chance to shoot the new SW1911 tonight but will for sure tomorrow. The darned thing is well made and feels a whole lot better than any of my Kimbers. It came with two Wilson combat magazines - the only kind I use - and a steel (not plastic like another top line maker of 1911s) bushing wrench.
But the proof is in the shooting. We'll see.
I didn't know you
could drop a round in the chamber and then drop the slide!!! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />
BCR
Ken
Old Charlie was a "Man's Man."
I loved his book, "Unrepentant Sinner". Totally political incorrect, he told you how the "Cow Ate The Cabbage". I loved it when he used his different phrases "panties with lace" or in regards to recoil, called guys "sissys and that they should take up knitting".
I never could warm up to the 8mm like he did, except for the 8mm Rem. Mag. I hate to see its passing...
My .02
Prospector
E
I was trying to remember where I first learned to "Bob" the hammer of my Chief's Special. Thanks for the reminder.
Prospector