Year after year, there seems to be mounting pressure that the 1911 is an old antiquated design. The arguments trend along the lines of magazine feed issues, low capacity mags, weight, or even finicky maintenance. But yet, 1911 sales remain strong. With that In mind, HGW has some simple rallying points behind why the 1911 is chosen by so many.
- If your requirement is for a gun with a grip safety, thumb safety, half cock notch, inertial firing pin, and perhaps a firing pin block, your solution is the 1911. Really, we like safeties at Hooper Gun Works, and the 1911 has no shortage of them. Carried in a thumb-break holster, cocked with thumb safety engaged has always worked for us
- You want the best feed reliability with ball ammo. The 1911 was made for full length .45 ACP. Our favorite here are the Check-Mate GI feedlip magazines, which allow for a fully controlled feeding of the round into the chamber.
- You want a accurate full size gun for $400. Rock Island Armory (ARMSCOR) 1911 models are king here. Their GI series gun keeps life simple, has a forged slide, CNC barrel, and a cast frame. Nothing wrong with a cast frame.
- You want a lightweight carry gun of high performance for $800. Our other favorite in the “keep life simple” category is the Kimber Pro Carry II. Fantastic for carry duty, and drops some weight off of the Gun. Also, like RIA their factory repair service is excellent should the need arise. Night sights will run a little extra here.
- You want a “tuners” gun. There is no shortage of 1911 goodies. Its the same recipe that makes the AR-15 so great. There are many companies that push each other to bring better parts to the table. A 1911 can range from that excellent $400 RIA type to a $6000 Les Baer commemorative version or anything in between. There is also great fun in collecting across the eras from 1970’s Colt competition 1911s, to WWII relics.
There are many fine pistols out there. The 1911 is our favorite, but in the U.S. we have choices, and can certainly own more than one kind of gun. Hopefully it always stays that way.
Fun facts: The Beretta Tomcat 32 and Bobcat 25, with their flip barrels, are very fun to shoot. Just like their claim, the 10mm Glock does have a lot of firepower. S&W MP9’s handle very well. Basically, there’s lots of options to try. Of course, if you haven’t tried a 1911 yet, now’s the time. Happy Shooting!
The officer model 1911 is generally 3.5″ (I say generally because any manufacturer can call their 3.5″ something else as well as call another length “officer”). This is considered a compact 1911. Most items on an officer’s model 1911 cannot be swapped with commander or government item. The frame size is different than the commander and government. Not only is the length shorter 3.5″, but the magazine capacity is shorter. You can use longer mags in a compact officer’s 1911 but it doesn’t go the other way around. Compact mags cannot be used in a full size 1911.
The commander model 1911 is generally 4.25″. The length, 4.25″ refers to the barrel length. Some guns may be marketed as commander length with a 4″ bushingless barrel. They really aren’t considered a true commander gun, more so the “mid-size”. For the purpose of grips and magazines, this is still considered a full size gun.
The government model 1911 is generally 5″ and considered full size. Other than the uppers (barrel, recoil springs, slide, guide rod…), parts for a government are usually interchangeable with a commander model 1911. The frames of government and commander versions are the same.
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