Good handguns

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I simply don't trust the 1911. I have owned the nicest (supposedly) 1911's on the planet short of the 6-month-1-year custom jobs out there. They sucked. Kimber is far FAR below a Supergrade Wilson Combat regarding the QC it goes through. I don't think anything was technically out of spec on my Wilson (as 1911's have some things that a specification doesn't exist for, per se, such as the profile on the extractor, how it is tensioned, where it is bent exactly, etc.), it just wouldn't run for beans. 1911's are like that. You can take something like a Kimber and have great luck with it, or you can buy something hand-fitted that has all forged parts, etc. like a upper-model WIlson, and have all sorts of trouble. The 1911 requires a dose of chance to get running I think. The extractor is hand-profiled (or should be), hand tensioned, etc. "it's all in the wrist" with a 1911, so to speak. I don't find that comforting. I would rather a Glock where you install the parts that are to spec, and it runs like a top.

Just because LAPD swat uses something doesn't make it that great. The USSS and the FAMS use SIG. Does that mean SIG is the end-all, be-all since it is trusted to guard the president? No, I don't think that, either. It just means they are the ones that won the contract.


No thanks, Glock for me when it counts.

All those polls I was linked to included trigger (the 1911 wins here) ergonomics (I think it is very ergonomical, but I can shoot Glocks just as well, many others cannot), etc. Reliablity was just ONE of the factors in those polls. The poll wasn't even TITLED "reliability".

Listen to Hilton Yam and many others who are proponents on the 1911--they go down more often than the Glock. The reason that they are issued to people like LAPD SWAT is because LAPD swat can afford to support the weapon, there are more than 1 person on the team who can take a shot, and they need something accurate that has a great trigger that is easy to train someone to shoot accurately--that is the 1911, I agree.

What the user of that pistol ISN'T tasked with is: maintenance (they have an armorer), replacing and filing/fitting parts (again...armorer), and if their weapon jams/malfunctions, they have a teammember who can cover their arse (I don't.).

I am not LAPD swat. I am just another guy who wants to be able to defend himself, and 16 rounds of 9mm vs. 8 rounds of .45 in a weapon that is proven to be less reliable in every experience I have had with it, isn't the way for me to go.

The point being, when compared objectively, the 1911 just isn't as reliable as Glock. How could it be? It has more parts. It has parts requiring hand-fitting and hand-tensioning instead of spring-tensioned (Extractor), and it has a lot closer tolerances all the way around that, in my experience, don't do a whole lot for accuracy considering a bone-stock Glock/SIG from a ransom rest will shoot 1" groups at 25 yards just fine, at least, mine does (well, hand-held off a sand-bag it produces reliable groups of 5-shots under 1.5" at 25 yards using bonded bullets, which are not known for being the most accurate). A 1911 has a better trigger, although I can shoot a Glock trigger just fine, and some find it more ergonomic, but as far as "going bang", no.