Looking to get back in the 1911 game.   Mainly to just own and take to the range, but I would like to carry it occasionally.   I have owned full size 1911's and the slide is just too long for me, so I'm after a commander.   The two guns that are starting to stand out to me in terms of features, quality, and price are the Dan Wesson VBOB, and the S&W Performance Center commander or Scandium E series.

I have held a few bobbed guns and they felt ok.  It really didn't feel that different one way or the other.l. But I know that this changes as you shoot them, and how your hand adapts to the new grip.

My questions are; after much time and use with a bobbed 1911:

1.  Has your perception of the bobbed blackstrap changed for better or worse?

2.  Has it affected your grip and control of other guns?  Especially non-bobbed 1911's

3.   Do you feel the gun is more concealable in casual wear?  Describe your holster type and any issues to dress around that may be diff from carrying other 1911's

4.  Any long term observations, pros/cons, limitations encountered, etc worth sharing?


Thanks all!

Tag.

I'm also in the market for a four inch bobtailed 1911.

1. Has your perception of the bobbed blackstrap changed for better or worse?
   I like it fine

2. Has it affected your grip and control of other guns? Especially non-bobbed 1911's
   It hasn't changed my relationship with full size grips

3. Do you feel the gun is more concealable in casual wear? Describe your holster type and any issues to dress around that may be diff from carrying other 1911's
   Definitely more concealable. 3 o'clock iwb

4. Any long term observations, pros/cons, limitations encountered, etc worth sharing?
   I love 1911's

What Big_Iron1911 said.

I love 1911's and love my bobtailed 1911's. I have a Dan Wesson CBOB and a Sig Nightmare Carry (Round butt, not quite the same as the bobtail)
If I were buying again, I'd probably get the Dan Wesson Guardian to save a little weight (Aluminum frame) and I'm thinking about getting my Springfield LW Champion Operator bobtailed.

Bobtailed 1911s are an atrocity.

I wouldn't go so far as to call 'em an atrocity, but they don't do anything for me.

For me, the rear sight and the front of the grip print the most so the bobtail didn't really help me with concealment.

I didn't like the grip and prefer a 5", so the VBOB got sold.  I noe carry a Colt Lightweight Gov't.  Much better.

Unless you have giant hands your hand doesn't touch that part of the grip anyway.  My hand does not hang off the end of an officer length grip and does not touch the curved part of the bobtail either.

It is definitely more comfortable in a strong side belt holster since you don't get poked in the ribs nearly as much.

I think regular sized hands contact the back strap with a decent grip.  Never noticed the rib poke either.

Do you prefer little person or midget?

I had a few bob tailed 1911s for years. Great conceal-ability.  Last year I tried a Wilson Combat with the "round butt"
I ended buying a Bill Wilson Carry, love the round butt, I sold off the bobtail pistols.

Sig Fastback.


Nightmare is pretty.

I like my bobtail commander.  No issues switching between it, other 1911s or other pistols.  Doesn't make a big difference in concealability for me.

Thanks for all the input guys.  Keep it coming if you want to share.







This is valuable info.  I keep reading people say that after a long time of shooting, the Bob felt "missing".    But only revealed itself after a long time,

Lots of people saying it doesn't help concealment much either.


I could go steel or aluminum for the lower.  Would prefer aluminum, so I'm leaning towards the smith E-series.  But if I'm carrying the 1911, it would be OWB, so it might not be a huge issue with a good belt.


Kind of wish DW had a alloy commander without the bob.

I'm wondering if we look back at it in a few years as a market fad?


Kind of like the half ass factory "melt" guns of 2004-2008

Not that there is anything wrong with market fads. They keep the market fresh

So I thought I would throw my 2 cents in here. Recently I completely customized a 1911, changed pretty much everything that can be done, tightened the frame up to about .001 of tolerance. cerakoted it, and ect..... one of the things I knew I wanted to do was try bobtailing it. I just wanted to have the machine experience to see how much of a pain it was going to be. Well the machine part of the whole deal was pretty cake. But the hand fitting was a lot of hours. Also I changed the front of my frame slightly. After showing it off to a few people that were die hard 1911 guys they all really liked what I had done. Most of them wanted to know my process because they liked it so much. Even the anti 1911 guys did a double take.

Do I think it helps at all with concealing. Sure. But really it more depends on holster and how you dress.. I can conceal a FNX 45 and im only 5'7... The holster I am using is a MTAC, and a beltman belt. I can wear a tshirt and jeans and no one has any clue. It hasn't forced me to change the way I shoot, and it doesn't affect my grip in any sort of negative way.

That being said if you want to do a bob tail, just make sure your smith is willing to put in the extra time with a file and hand fit it. it took some time to get it just right. lot of file a small amount, take it out of the vice and try it. put it back in and repeat.  Below ill throw in a pic of the completed gun. the picture isn't great its a cell phone.

I personally dislike them, a lot, and seem to notice that when shopping for used high end guns, that there are far more DW bobtail, and Ed Brown bobtail, than standard butt guns on the market, this tells me I am not the only one.  YMMV.

Yeah def noticing this.


I'm not afraid to sell guns that do not work for me.  I'm not cut from the "never sell a gun" cloth.  I don't flip guns all willy nilly either.  Just assess what makes sense, and make a move.   Worst I can do is try one.

What would bother me is if I ordered a custom, waited double digits of months to find myself disappointed.

Very nice pistol and thanks for the input.   I use bellman belts and mtacs often.  I would have a hard time concealing FS 1911 that way unless I was standing at all times.  I have tried this with my previous 1911's and my BHP and it just plain sticks out like a tail.  



Someone suggested the DW guardian CCO.  For an exclusive carry gun that would be great.   But I really want the full size frame.   Might have to go back to the Colt XSE commander lightweight and have my smith knock off the edges and slick it up a bit.   Local shop has one new for $870.    



The input is great guys thanks.  Ultimately, I think I'm going to have to borrow or rent a bob tailed gun.   One of the local stores just put out 70+ new rental guns so I'm sure they have something to try.   Still concerned about long-term but I'll pay extra close attention to any changes in my grip while shooting and under recoil.

There's a WC Commander listed on the EE.....
might be worth a look.

Duh
Forgot about that model

If you have a smith you like and trust why not just make what you want?  Get the individual parts,  like the full size frame and the shorter slide.  Plus whatever other goodies you want. Have the smith hand fit it to what you want. If your gonna buy a dw your gonna be dropping some serious cash as it is.
I have a springfield champion that's 4.25 slide with a full size frame. Started out as a base model gi but not even close any more. Love it to death and I conceal carried it for years.

Time and money

I have an excellent gunsmith.   But I'm looking at $3k and over a year to have him build me a gun.

Part of the problem remains is that I don't know exactly what I want yet.   I've found that spec'ing out a 1911 is highly personal and should be based on experience over what I feel would suit me now.


One day I will, but looking for an off the shelf solution for now would be best until I am more confident of exactly what I want out of one.

$3k?? that crazy....

Caspian slide $259
frame $216
barrel $150
rebuild kit with screws and pins $20
safety $25
trigger kit $130 ish
trigger $20
barrel bushing $20
barrel link $5
slide stop $25
beaver tail grip safety $32
bob tail $45
hammer strut (might come in one of the kits I don't remember) $20

plus your choice of grips and sights is whatever cost..


so $1000 ish. and that's pulling random parts off like brownells. Without shopping around or anything. if a smith charges you $50 a hour. for 10 hours that's $500. your still into the gun for less than $1500.  or if he takes a little longer than your into it for that.

another option is pick up a ATI, or a rock island commander for around $400, and just replace the parts you want.

I know you said you want one off the shelf, but your picking one off the shelf with some sort of idea of what you want it to have like, sights, type of safety, finish, bobtailed (or not), ect..


so it doesn't say DW, on the side or nighthawk, or anything like that, but its going to be hand fit and made the way you want, with the parts you want. Just saying it is possible. And if you spend $1000 or more on one off the shelf and realize you don't like it you gonna be replacing parts anyways. or replacing the firearm.  Like you said maybe get your hands on a few and see what you like.

either way 1911s make great pistols and just make sure when your spending that kind of money your happy with your purchase at the end of the day. building or buying both options work.

The cheap way to decide whether you like it is to buy a factory model, preferably used, so you can get your money back out of it.  I prefer the SIG / Kimber / S&W style round butt over the "went at it with a chop saw" look from other makers.

Good idea

I've got the Sig Nitron fastback.  This may be heresy, but I've gone and sold my Officers Model.  The Sig feels great, being nicely checkered fore and aft makes for a really non-slip grip, and the Colt sold for a profit.  I'm 5' - 08", and 180 pounds.  Not a giant, not a dwarf.  For me, carrying OWB, the back corner of the grip was what printed the most.  Rounding it off helped tremendously.  The wife used to tell me all the time when I was printing; much of the time now she doesn't even know I'm carrying.  I preferred the Sig to the S&W for a couple reasons.  First, I prefer the way the weight of an all-steel gun helps with recoil.  Second, despite the fact that I don't shoot enough to ever wear out a pistol, I have a belief that alloy guns are just not as durable.  And third, I've got an unreasonable fear of dissimilar metals reacting with each other in a bad way.  Comes from installing metals on buildings out in severe weather.  Lastly, of the two display pistols I handled, the slide and action on the Sig simply seemed much smoother than the Smith.  The Smith seemed to have a hitch where the slide would bind up halfway through its travel.  

I don't think either pistol is "better" than the other, and I'm hardly qualified to judge, but the Sig was the right choice for me.  

You should definitely try before you commit, or buy something used so you can flip it if it doesn't work.
I've got an older DW CBOB, bought it in '07, a WC Ultra carry that has Wilson's rounded butt and a DW Valor that I had custom butted.
I carry IWB behind the right hip and find that the CBOB digs into me less than a regular grip when I'm sitting, standing, moving groceries from cart to car etc. I don't think there's a massive difference in terms of printing, but,  importantly, my tee shirt doesn't get caught up on it and reveal my gun, which has occasionally happened with a regular grip.
When shooting I found I missed that little corner bit and I would grip harder with my last 2 fingers to try and get the gun all the way back into my palm (if that makes sense....)


This is what I had done to my Valor, it works very well for me, pleasingly palm filling with no snagging:




$3000 ?!? BEC, Alchemy or SACS could probably do you some top quality work for less......

I have a custom Caspian 1911 Recon that I built (cost me around $2500 including the finish, night sights, custom grips, high end components, high end barrel, sear, hammer, slide stop, safety, etc, def not a $1000 build!), a Valor SS, VBOB SS and DW ECO 9mm.  Love the VBOB for carry, less pokes from the corner.  I am overweight and the full size 1911's like to poke my soft spots, so the VBOB is MUCH MUCH MUCH more comfortable for me and the Eco is right there with the rounded butt, too.  No issues going between full size grip and bobbed grip, but I do notice that I tend to shoot lower when going from the Valor, VBOB or Caspian to the Eco (officers frame) because the grip frame fits my hand differently, but I don't notice this with the bobtailed 1911's??  Kinda strange, but true!

$3000 is the going price for many custom 1911's out there if you look around.  When people buy a custom 1911, they generally go for the high end components, not the plain stock parts.  If they wanted that, they would buy a stock gun and tweak it.  A custom gun is getting exactly what you want components, bling, fit and finish wise.   I priced out a SS 1911 in 9mm with the components I wanted and it was almost $2000 before any labor was figured in and w/o a finish because it is stainless.  Custom grips are around $50-$100, night sights are around $150, etc.  Yes, you can build a 1911 for $1000 in parts, but you would be better off with a factory gun at that price or a DW for around $1500.  2 of my DW's are Blems and I saved around $300+ on each because of almost un noticeable cosmetic issues.