[Steve Morrison]

I'll preface this statement by confessing I make my living working on 1911s and carry one every day. IMO it is the finest personal defense tool since the MK 1 model O brain, and will continue to be so for the forseeable future.

The recent posts from Richard Heinie and Larry Vickers brings to light the cold hard facts about factory 1911s:

They are all basically a kit you buy, then send to an expert to modify in order to be able to exploit it's considerable potential.

This is not due to any inherent design flaws, but is the direct result of cost cutting and slack quality control from the manufacturers- the consequence of ignoring simple principles of economics.

_________________
MD Labs
http://www.tacticalforums.com

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Steve Morrison on 2001-04-20 19:41 ]</font>

 

[Desert Dog]

Interesting post Steve. I think there is a good deal of merit in what you are saying. I also think many of us demand more of out of our 1911s than the average shooter does. Even more so, than the inexperienced newbie looking to buy a first gun for home self defense or CCW use would.

If a person was satified with feeding there 1911 .45 ball ammo, most would not have a problem with many of the factory guns available. But, so many of us insist it is hollowpoints or nothing, that the criteria for reliability changes quickly. The thread (on the 1911Forum) that Larry Vickers wrote on the use of ball ammo was very thought provoking, as were the subsequent conversations with Dane on the subject.

However, accepting that many of us whould like the ablility to shoot virtually any profile ammo out of our 1911s, does alter the performance metric considerably. I don't think it is anymore unreasonable to assume we need to do some modifications beyond that which the factory suppplies, in order to get the level of performance we are demanding. Not much different really, from someone needing to add serious performance mods to their Chevy, if they wanna run on a big NASCAR oval. It would be ludicrous to think something stock from Detroit would even begin to meet such extreme use requirements.

Many of us demand similar levels of performance capability from our 1911s -- even if we don't do anything that remotely approaches such hard use requirements. For a good number us, it is a privelage we can well afford to treat ourselves to -- even if we are ordering custom pistols that are decidely overkill for most intended uses. While I am never going to have a NASCAR race car fabricated for my daily commuter, I am willing to buy the finest pistols I can own. I figure my life is worth the extra peace of mind and extra margin of reliability that owning a best grade gun brings. Damn glad you guys are building them! :smile:

DD

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Desert Dog on 2001-04-20 18:45 ]</font>