Posted: 12/15/2008 4:43:37 PM EDT
| how does the colt xse compare to kimbers and springfield armory 1911s for the same price? |
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To save you some time, allow me to tell you what you're going to be reading.
In no particular order: 1) Colt sucks! Never buy one! 
2) Colt is THE best 1911 EVER! Never buy anything else! 
3) Mehhhh, they're average at best. Some hit, some miss.......... 
4) Kimbers rule! 5) Springfield's rule! 6) Buy a used Baer/Brown/Wilson/Nighthawk for the same $$$$$. 
Seriously, 1911 owners are about THE most brand loyal - brand hating folks you'll talk to, IMO. The Colt lovers will certainly defend their brand to their death & the haters will attack for about as long too, IMO. Generally speaking, once one reaches a certain price level on a 1911, the quality should be there regardless of brand. No doubt there's gonna be exceptions to this as all mfgrs turn out the occasional turd. The best advice *I* can offer is to closely inspect whichever 1911 most appeals to you & check for fit & finish. Chances are, the better the fit & finish, the more attention was paid to the internal fitting, IMO. Whichever 1911 you end up buying, be sure to post pics! My .o2 |
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Quoted:
To save you some time, allow me to tell you what you're going to be reading. In no particular order: 1) Colt sucks! Never buy one!
2) Colt is THE best 1911 EVER! Never buy anything else!
3) Mehhhh, they're average at best. Some hit, some miss..........
4) Kimbers rule! 5) Springfield's rule! 6) Buy a used Baer/Brown/Wilson/Nighthawk for the same $$$$$.
Seriously, 1911 owners are about THE most brand loyal - brand hating folks you'll talk to, IMO. The Colt lovers will certainly defend their brand to their death & the haters will attack for about as long too, IMO. Generally speaking, once one reaches a certain price level on a 1911, the quality should be there regardless of brand. No doubt there's gonna be exceptions to this as all mfgrs turn out the occasional turd. The best advice *I* can offer is to closely inspect whichever 1911 most appeals to you & check for fit & finish. Chances are, the better the fit & finish, the more attention was paid to the internal fitting, IMO. Whichever 1911 you end up buying, be sure to post pics! My .o2 Well, now I know I'm messed up, I am working on getting at least one of all of them. To the OP. I have a Combat Commander XSE in stainless steal. It's not fancy or lovingly hand fitted, it has no night sights, or any other fancy parts but it has gone BANG every damn time I pulled the trigger. You really can't go wrong with a Colt. |
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They should all be roughly equivalent in fit and finish. The SA and Kimber will be ahead on features like sights and beavertails.
The Kimbers I've seen and owned tend to be fitted a little better than the others, with more attention paid to dehorning, etc. Colts have the least junk parts of the three but like the SA, tends to come out of the box sharp enough to shave with. Kimbers & Colts have firing pin safeties. The SA doesn't but will come with the ILS locking mainspring housing. Colt has inconsistent cosmetics, but will probably have the best chance of running out of the box. Springfield will likely need to have the extractor properly tuned and may need other minor adjustments to get it running reliably. Kimbers tend to have certain things wrong with them like chatter marks inside the bore and relatively higher rate of parts failure. Springfield's customer service seems to be the best, followed by Colt's. Kimber seems to have more than their share of stories that end with "...it's been back to Kimber three times and still doesn't work right." |
Ours is a lightweight commander....probably real close to the gold cup far as the pieces fitting...carry sights..ambi-safety..light-adjustable trigger..skeleton hammer..goes bang and is accurate as hell...think we paid 850-maybe 900 even..last year..can`t compare, since all we have is colts..........
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I loved mine..sold it and regret it.
I have Springers. So I can compare. It is a matter of what you like in features. I think the Colts have less MIM. They are series 80 with firing pin safety. I would buy a new Colt any day. I would love to have the Special Govt model but it runs about 1500.00. I will save and buy one. I love my Springers and have had great luck with them. Also customer support and the Custom Shop cannot be beat. Lifetime warrant on SA. I cannot comment on Kimbers except to say that lately I have been looking at them and think they are too expensive for what they are. |
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i got my xse commander for $835 delivered.
nice gun, but the MSH was plastic, the beavertail sucked, and the ambi thumb safety had to go too. grip panels needed to replaced also. once those items were fixed, it was all good. about 2000 rounds later, the only hiccup happened in the first mag. |
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I'd say buy a Nighthawk, Ed Brown, Les Baer, or a Wilson. It's about the same price as a XSE  You know that is incorrect...XSE runs from 800.00 to 1000.00 depending. Darn, my sarcasm didn't successfully seap through the internet this time. I was making Bob's last point in his list since alll the others seemed to have been covered. 
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I cannot comment on Kimbers except to say that lately I have been looking at them and think they are too expensive for what they are. Depends on the model. I wouldn't buy anything more expensive than the Custom II or other "budget" model Kimber. The profit margin certainly appears higher on the more expensive Kimbers. |
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Colts have the least junk parts of the three but like the SA, tends to come out of the box sharp enough to shave with. Of my 3 Colts, the only one that was remotely "sharp" was the blued NRM Commander. The other 2, while obviously not super-detailed dehorn jobs, are WELL within the realm of normal service pistols. Actually, I can't think of a single 1911 that I've handled that had any particularly sharp edges or corners. Then again, I don't go for any of the lower-end stuff (RIAs etc), so I can't speak for those. But SAs, Colts, and Kimbers... nothing of note there, in my experience. YMMV. |
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Colts have the least junk parts of the three but like the SA, tends to come out of the box sharp enough to shave with. Of my 3 Colts, the only one that was remotely "sharp" was the blued NRM Commander. The other 2, while obviously not super-detailed dehorn jobs, are WELL within the realm of normal service pistols. Actually, I can't think of a single 1911 that I've handled that had any particularly sharp edges or corners. Then again, I don't go for any of the lower-end stuff (RIAs etc), so I can't speak for those. But SAs, Colts, and Kimbers... nothing of note there, in my experience. YMMV. My last Springfield Loaded needed some quality time with a needle file and emery cloth before I felt comfortable taking it to a match. It also needed a lot more than that, but I'd rather not digress. |
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how does the colt xse compare to kimbers and springfield armory 1911s for the same price? I bought a new Kimber a couple months ago & I have nothing but good things to say for it. Fit & finish are perfect, it's tight, smooth a good crisp trigger, accurate. No mis feeds, no jams with JHP or FMJ I purchased some Chip McCormick mags & some more KimPro TacMags they all function perfect but as far as best fit & finish on the mags that would go to the kimPro. They come with the anti-tilt follower, Chips don't the feed lips on the chips are flimsy & the KimPro's strong & stiff. I bought the SIS CUSTOM RL & thank god have had no issues with it. |