Posted: 1/13/2008 7:38:22 AM EDT
| What are my options for a compact 1911?I have a friend with a Colt officer and I like the size of it but I want to start with a basic pistol and add the options I want like the SA Mil-Spec I just finished. |
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You picked the wrong platform to be vauge about. 1911s are the broadest-ranging, most customizable handguns out there and they can do/become anything you desire so long as your tastes don't outpace your wallet. Standard range: 5", full frame ("Government", "full size") Intermediate range: 4"-4.25", full frame ("Champion", "Commander") Compact range: 3.5"-4.25", compact frame ("Officer", "Compact", "CCO") Subcompact: <3.5", compact/subcompact frame ("micro", "subcompact") If you liked BOTH the shortened slide and frame of the Officer platform, then the standards and intermediates (the most popular choices) are out. Nevertheless, you still have a range of products from various manufactures ranging from junk to hand-worked masterpiece. The cheapest is the RIA Compact and the most expensive is Wilson Combat, with a quite a few in between from Kimber, Colt, and IIRC, SA. The price ranges from <$400 to >$3,000 and I assure you... there IS a difference in what you pay for, ESPECIALLY when you start fooling with more demanding compacts. The general rule is the most margin for error comes with the full size pistols, and that margin gets tighter and tighter as you make the 1911 smaller. Pay the right outfit enough to get the job done right and the size won't matter so long as you maintain it. BUT if you go cheaper (and often $700 can be considered "cheap" in this category of pistols) you begin to roll the dice with the quality control of the mediocre outfit with respect to that margin of error. Words to live by (literally) if you are considering this weapon for CCW. I went with a "cheap" 3.5" compact (which cost >$800) and it was pure hell. When I had enough saved I went with a Wilson Combat that cost much, much more than that and I have no regrets whatsoever. If spending that kind of money scares the hell out of you, then you had better reconsider your bells and whistles and get a solid base pistol from a company that can make a reliable compact, or you better move up to the intermediate/full size category so that the margin of error is increased for that mediocre outfit to build you a "bells & whistles pistol" with spotty but acceptable QC that fits your budget. FWIW, much of the same logic applies with the larger pistols as well... The ones that get it right always, charge a hefty sum and the mediocres churn out bushels where the wheat is not fully separated from the chaff (only there are often fewer lemons by percentage as the margin for error increases). Also, the 4" conical bull barrel on some compacts is a much more pleasurable shoot than the 3.5" bushing "officer" setup. HTH. |