Im soon to be in the market for another 1911, and I want to use it for concealed carry.   I have not been concealing any of my other 1911s due to size factor.  IE Im not that big of a person and dont wear very loose clothing.  My every day carry gun has been a S&W M&P Shield in 40.

I have been eyeing the Kimber Ultra Carry 2 for some time now.  I like how small it is and the fact that its chambered in 45 ACP.   I dont want to carry anything smaller than a 40.  I want to switch over to a 1911 for every day carry for many reasons.  Most reasons being that the 1911 is a tried and trued pistol and I seem to shoot them better than my other pistols.  

Does anybody out there have any recommendations as far as a small 1911 for carry?  Even recommendations for a smaller framed person to easily carry a FS 1911, because I just cant seem to find a set up I like with a FS.  Thank you in advance.

Have you looked at Springfield Armory`s EMP? It`s available in 9MM and 40 S&W. The frame was redesigned around the smaller cartridges.

I carried the SA Micro in .45acp for years until I sold it to help fund my Les Baer purchase.

the only small 1911 I ever found reliable enough was an STI ESCORT





the key to CCW'ing a 1911 is a QUALITY rig.

I like the MILT SPARKS SUMMER SPECIAL II ( brownells usually has them )  and a SOLID belt DESIGNED for CCW.

crappy holsters and wal-mart belts need not apply.

I carry a kimber everyday. Ditch the kimber mags and you have a fine 1911.

There is a little known boutique manufacturer of small 1911 type pistols called Colt.

I have their New Agent model, and I like it.

It carries extremely well, though being a .45 in a lightweight frame, it jumps a bit when you shoot it.

Another little know Colt is the Colt Defender, this one is my EDC.







IBATTSB1911PPAU

In before all the short barrel 1911 pistol platforms are unreliable

I'm sure this will go over well in the 1911 forum - don't buy a compact (3") 1911 for conceal carry.  They are the least reliable of the 1911s.  I'm glad that the chosen few have had success with theirs, but with guns that small it's a crap shoot.  I'm not here to bag on the 1911 I love shooting the platform and have owned many, but you already have a near perfect carry pistol, don't go and fuck that up.

Sorry, I hate hearing over and over that less than a commander length 1911 is unreliable. This does not seem to be the case with modern ones that are maintained. I have owned a Para warthog and two Colt defenders in 9mm and 45 and the worst issue I can recall ever having with them is the 9mm didn't like to lock the slide back after the last round of 115gr WWB. No issues with 147s which is what I carry in it anyway.

Long story for the same answer already given...a Colt defender or new agent

I own a Colt Defender and it is the second one I have purchased. I foolishly traded away the first, and absolutely had to replace it. Both of mine have proven themselves to be every bit as reliable as any full size or Commander that I have owned. They feed my preferred 230 grain Winchester Ranger HP ammo without hesitation. If you are looking for a 3 inch 1911, I don't think you can do better than the Defender from Colt.

Para-ordnance warthag, p10-45. Double stack compact 1911. Best of both worlds. Toss on a hogue grip and pierce mag lip and your good.

Thank you guys for opening up my mind to other small 1911s.   The STI Escort and Colt New Agent are the two guns I have now added to the want to see in person list.  I'm really liking the STI Escort.  

And yes, I learned early off not to skimp out on a holster and belt.   A cheap setup only leads to problems and reliability issues with your carry rig.

Colt defender

Hate me now.....  My ccw is a kimber ultra covert, it runs just fine.  The sti and Colt do look nice.

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I officially hate you!  It's such a nice looking pistol!

Here is some good reading material;

http://forum.m1911.org/content.php?123-Why-are-short-1911s-considered-to-be-unreliable

The 3 inch guns are hit or miss as far as being reliable.I personally carry a Colt series 80 Commander with a 4 inch barrel and a steel frame. the steel frame is a bit heavier but it makes the gun more shootable with less recoil..
I have also been expermenting with the CCO style of guns. Commander slide and officers frame. Colt has a Wildy clapp CCO on the market. Springfiled has the Range Officer Compact. And Nighthawk has the T3.
All are totally reliable with the 4 inch barrel and the recoil spring able to go 1500 rounds instead of 500 for the 3" guns.
The Colt is the lightest, but has the most recoil and the longest shot to shot recovery. The RO has a alumnium frame and is light , but is better in the recoil dept because it has a coned barrel that put some weight out front and a duel recoil spring.
The T3 is all steel so it weighs the most but has the least recoil.
All of the 3 CCO I mentioned would be great for carry.

Any version of the Colt CCO.

This is mine

Not a big compact guy personally

But I did pick this up over the weekend and it shows quite a bit of promise.

RO Compact

4" barrel

Officers frame

I carry a Colt Wiley Clapp CCO...it's perfect for a carry 1911.

Can add SIG to that CCO list.  

And a CCO is the smallest 1911 style I would consider.

The 1911 is a fairly thin gun width wise compared to glock, &hk. The downside is that it is heavy, but with the good quality stiff belt and holster I can easily conceal a full size 5 Govt. I'm 5'10" 185lbs. I wear appropriate clothing. Jeans, polo in spring/fall. Winter will be jeans hoodie/sweatshirt or a button down shirt. Summer will be shorts and tshirt. You have to be realistic in what you wear. Skinny jeans and a smedium shirt may be the hipster trend but come on! Be realistic. As for gear I use a wilderness belt. It is very rigid and with an iwb holster  pulls the butt of the gun in close to the body. Holster wise iwb works well to help conceal. Leather or kydex is a personal preference. I rotate 3 different types of guns into my Carry rotation. Hk Vp9, Glock 30s, and various 1911 all 5". All conceal very well. The only drawback of a full size 5" I could see is if you were to carry appendix IWB.

I would also like to recommend this its a great compromise.....I am a 1911 guy through and through but if its shorter than Commander length I'm going with another platform....before I get slammed to the mat I know there are examples that work and some guys love them but for me the geometry just doesn't make sense on anything less than 4.25

Springfield EMP

I don't see the Colt Officer's Model in the Colt lineup anymore.
That little gun was a heart breaker.  Just beautiful.
But had 2 left feet.  Permanent seared in memories of repeated, frequent hollowpoint/wadcutter jams.
And I believe it was me, in my '80's reloading days.  My stuff always worked in my S&W 645 and my Uncle's other Colt Government 5".
But not in the little Officer's Model.  Ended up getting traded for something or other.  Sad, but didn't work with what we were loading and shooting.

The Officer's Model was a Succubus.

It really doesn't make much difference whether your shooting 9/40/45.  With good self defense ammunition they all work just fine.  9mm generally has less recoil for faster follow up shots though.



Their is a pretty good read from a cop who put 15rds of .45 in a guy during one gunfight.  Now he carries a 9mm.



All that said, I would look at the Sig P938.  They aren't a true 1911 clone, but they share a nice single stage trigger and are very compact.  I normally carry a Sig Scorpion Carry .45 (just because I like it) and my wife has the Sig P238.  The P938 is on my list to pick up as a smaller sized alternative to my full size Scorpion.



 

I would rather carry a 40 or 45 any day over a 9mm.   Personal opinion and I'm not trying to start a debate over which caliber is better.  If I had no choice, I would love to carry a 9mm, shit even a .380 is better than nothing.   Yes the 9mm can provide faster follow up shots and inflict severe damage to flesh especially with the right ammo.   But I still rather carry larger than 9mm. Just to throw it out there, I personally know a few LEOs that feel the same way.  That is why a few of them carry 10mm or 357 Sig while off duty.


Haha Should I just get a 45 Super for concealed carry?????

I've been carrying a Kimber CDP II  Ultra for over a year.  Once I swapped out the Kimber mags for Wilsons it ran/runs fine.  It's my first and only compact 1911 so I can't comment on the reliability of them in general.

Me too

I don't give a fuck what the ARFCOM Mob and the gelatin doctors say.

.....I've killed enough big midwestern deer to learn that the larger caliber pistol rounds work a lot better.


45ACP is an easy round to shoot, and handload, the brass lasts forever, and a good 230gr HP makes a very large hole when it strikes meat and bones.

I do handload all my pistol calibers, I carry store bought self defense rounds.   And my jacketed 250gr flate nosed swaged bullets tear the shit out of anything they hit!   Still working on load development on them.   So far they're just a blast to shoot!

I carry the same gun with Wilson Combat mags every day.  Super accurate, reliable, a little bit snappy with +P rounds but so is everything else!  

I love my Para p-12. Very compact and yet still have 12 + 1.

I would get something with at least a 4" slide.  Much less finicky.

I putting a plug in for my STI Guardian  CCO style just a tick shorter at 3.96 vs 4.25 barrel

I used to think this, but it isn't true anymore. I have an ATI officer that shows me small guns can be reliable. If this gun can, others can too.

I have  had no reliability issues with the 3.5 inch barrel on the P-12. And maybe it's just the way it fits in my hand but I find it to be just as accurate as my full size Colts. I know it logically  shouldn't be, shorter sight radius and all.

When I carry a 1911, it's usually a full-size or commander length, but I do have one of the Colt New Agents that has been 100% for the 500 rounds or so I've got through it, and I'm the 3rd owner of the pistol as well.

It takes some getting used to the gutter-snipe sight, or trench sight, but I think all the newer ones now have regular style sights on them.

Yep. The Sig C3.

SIG C3 is nice,also the traditional stainless compact!

Don't forget about the S&W 3" Pro Series .45, it's an excellent carry pistol with a super accurate barrel and great features. Also don't discount the Kimber's this is grandpa's Ultra CDP II in 9mm with crimpson trace master series and fusion main spring housing. It's boringly reliable and the reason I purchased my own 3" 1911 alloy frame Ccw gun. He has carried and used that 9mm kimber for over 4-5years 24/7 when out and about.

I'm always impressed with both of these though the 9mm is a pleasure to shoot, 12" steel plate at 100yards is easy to make hits with the 9. Makes the rifle range guys get up and come see wtf it is lol.

Old-School 1911 compactness.



I'm in the process of ordering new springs for this little 1911, a Detonics Combat Master. Detonics was the original chopped-down 1911 company, and their guns were hand made one at a time. It was a great blaster and easy to carry, but it desperately needs to be re-sprung. New recoil, main, sear, and magazine springs are enroute.

I'll give a short review on each of the sub-compact 1911s I have owned. I will start buy saying, those who say it is a crape shot when buying a sub-compact 1911 are right. The platform is more prone to problems then most. That said it is still possible to get one that you can trust your life to, but you have to be ready for some trial and error along the way.

Colt 1991 compact, 3.5". This gun was no frills, accuracy was hurt by small GI sights, but still more then combat serviceable. The park finish held up well, but reliability was only so so, would occasionally have FTF, FTE problems. Sold it.

Parra Warthog 3". This gun was a train wreck from day one.dont think I ever made it though two consecutive mags without a FTF or FTE, I tried to make it work, it would not. It was accurate had great sights, but the finish was the worst I'd ever seen on a gun. I swear it would wear off just looking at it. Sold it.

Springfield Armory EMP 9 3". Wanted to like this gun, good fit and finish, accurate. But reliability was a problem. As long as it was shot slowly, target practice, plinking it was fine. But when you started to really run the gun, drills, speed reloads, mag dumps.it would have problems. Sold it, also found with this gun, i perfer my 1911s to be .45 and only .45.

Kimber CDP Ultra 3". Bought this gun new in 2009, it has been one of the best handguns I own, almost as accurate as my full size 1911s and just as reliable. I honestly can't remember the last time it had a failure or if it has. Have fired thousands of rounds with it, hard training and hollow points, it never wobbles. I do carry it sometimes in the summer months, finish is holding up OK does show some wear, great sights. I will never sell this gun, it is the holy grail of sub-compact .45s.

I have six 5" and two 4" 1911s and will buy more of each the 1 3" Kimber I have is the only one I will ever own. The one out of four odds are a time consuming and expensive ordeal, I will not be playing again. But I am thankful for the gem I ended up with.

I also do not mean it as a slam on the manufactures that did not work out for me, I really believe with any of them it is luck of the draw. But that said I do believe Kimber has a leg up on the others, do to the fact they make more of them then the others combined.

Whatever you wind up with hope it works out.

Springer light weight  champion operator. Light, compact, accurate and dead sexy.

 

Colt Defender was the most reliable compact 1911 I ever had.
I never had a failure.

Dave N

Back in early 91' bought a two tone Colt Lightweight Officers after I got home from GW1.  Guess I got lucky as I never had any issues with that one.  Rode the river with while working with the USBP with it that year. Carried openly before KY passed their CCW, then concealed.  Used to shoot ISPC with it in stock auto and at the time shot very hot loads with it.  Don't remember what I traded it for but I should have kept it.  Never had any issues with the Devel followers modifying the 6 rd mag to 7 rds (still have those).


CD

Just bought one. I have a STI....problem, but the doctor said it will clear up.

Still haven't made my mind on which one to get.  You guys have showed me many fine examples of a small carry 1911.  Trying to get some of my friends friends to bring their carry 1911s to a range so I can shoot them and get a feel for what I want.  Thank you all.

Where in Texas are you?  I'm in SW Houston.  If you'd like to try my Kimber CDP II Ultra I could meet you at Boyert, Tactical, or Athena.

Thank you for the offer, but I'm in Dallas. That would be a good drive to try out a pistol haha

1st half of post!!!

In my humble opinion, 3” 1911’s are the most ergonomic to hold, powerful and yet comfortable to conceal handgun.  I think 1911’s have the potential for the most precise triggers of any handgun.  When I purchase a 1911, I fully expect it to need a bit of fitting and human attention to detail.  For me, it is part of the appeal of the 1911.  Nothing gives me confidence in a weapon like customizing and personalizing it and then shooting about a thousand flawless rounds without cleaning.
 
    My two Springfield Micro Compacts were not 100% from the factory.  The extractors needed to be properly radiused, polished and tensioned.  The recoil springs were woefully under powered, the magazine springs were terribly weak.  The firing pin stops had the large radius instead of a nearly square edge with a tiny radius.  I fitted the slide stops by removing much of the un-needed internal lug, very lightly dimpled the lug face to mate with the plunger and I filed a small grove on the back of the lug which reduces the tendency for the dreaded “idiot scratch”.  I put in more powerful mainsprings.  All things that the seasoned 1911 pistol smith might do.  I did put a tool steel hammer and True Radius TR sear in both.  Now, they are both undoubtedly stone cold reliable and scary accurate.  From my obsessive viewpoint, their only drawback is their potentially limited round capacity in a potential gunfight.  But, really, is this actually a concern???  I don’t know, maybe it is???