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Posted: 11/30/2002 6:05:56 PM EDT
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I am kicking around getting a compact 45 for CC. (?Officer's ACP) What kind of smith work do you consider minimum for most factory 1911 pistols? Also, any holsters that are particularly good for cocked and locked concealed carry? |
I'm using a Colt 1991A1 Compact and a DeSantis Minislide. It's stock, but things I'm thinking about: larger grip safety larger thumb/slide safety I have been eyeballing the Kimber Pro Carry II. This is sweet! |
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Although I don't have any experience with an officer's size or smaller pistol. I've been carrying a Combat Commander (4 1/4", all steel) for about 4 years now and have had zero complaints. IMHO, one of the nicest things about the 1911 series is that even though it is a full size gun, because it is so slim it is a pleasure to carry IWB. Dirk |
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A compact .45acp is perhaps the hardest of all .45s to make run properly. Colt tried to make their Officer's model run for years & still never really got it right. Jury's still out on Kimber but it looks good so far. IMO I wouldn't buy any **compact** 1911 other than Kimber right now, excepting the custom Wilson/Baer/Brown stuff. As for holster, Fobus is the best one at the moment, IMO. Their syn paddle is stain resistant, never loses shape & is only $25 or so. Kinda hard to beat that combo! |
| A Kimber ultra carry with a 3" barrel ought to take care of any compact .45 needs. After what I saw on this site last week with a Springfield that blew the end of its slide off, I would never buy one of them nor recommend it to anyone unless I wanted them to experience great bodily harm. |
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Why not a full size 1911? IMO it's a much better choice for fighting. As for what work "needs" to be done... nothing provided the gun is reliable. The vast majority of quality 1911s work and work very well. If it ain't broke don't fix it. Carrying a box stock 1911 is a fine idea as long as the gun works for you. What work may need to be preformed on the gun will be dependent on what your likes and dislikes are and whether or not there is actually something wrong with the gun. Don't start "fixing" things or adding the latest widget or doodad until you've flushed out how well the gun works for you. After 100% reliability, a good set of sights, and a useable trigger are really all that’s required on a handgun. As far as good holsters go, two of the best IWBs available today are the Sparks Summer Special and the Alessi/BCP GWH. |
Bubba - lil ones are fine if shot a bunch before carried and allowed to smooth out. The main thing is velocity loss out of such a stubby pipe. Minimum smithing - get rid of the MIM parts - replace slide lock, firing pin stop, make sure the etractor is tuned correctly, may consider an extra power firing pin spring. Size - I have a LW commander that I like for shouler carry cuz it is lite. Otherwise with a good belt and a good IWB - a government steel frame carries the same as the LW on the hip. Holster - I like leather - some don't. I like Milt Sparks VM2s. Good luck. FWIW - I generally carry my 5". |
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I recomemd you check out www.1911.com. And some of the lil guns work very well an some don't. BUT they do require more maintance and spring changes. The 2 best sizes are the 5" and the 4 1/4". They wear the least and require less maintance to be completely reliable. Anything below the Commander length should hav a special spring setup. Colt developed the double spring for the Defender and it has proven itself very reliable. And Colt has quit useing the mim extractors and went back to the spring steel. I have bought 3 Colts this yr. I suggest you check out the new Colts before you comment on them. Also Kimber has a new fireing pin safety that is still causeing problems. And with this system Kimber does not want you to break the lower down to clean but send it back to them every 5000 rnds. As for the Officers model. It had it's problems but not in the frame size. The Defender has the same size frame with zero problem. The Officers problems were bushings and springs. There are a few smiths who have had great results with the officers and that's who would do a reliability fix on mine. SA seems to have some problems with a few models also. And for Carry I don't see the sense in not haveing the fireing pin safety( drop safety). the SA is a 70 series and does not have it. A carry gun does not require a Bullseye shooting trigger so any decent smith can make the 80 series trigger more than fine for carry. So what I'm saying is there is more differences in Brands than just bevertails and holes in parts. |
I think the farther you get away from the original design, the more problems your going to have, especially with a carry gun. Other than decent sights and a reasonable trigger, and as long as the gun is reliable with what you shoot out of it, you dont need any more. It really doesnt make any sense to carry a nice, high dollar gun anyway, its only going to get beat up, scratched up, and abused. Is that what you want for your $1200 baby? Most of the stock Mil Spec guns these days will do fine. They all have decent sights now, for the most part, and the triggers aren't bad, as long as they feed reliably, your fine. My only bitch with the new Colts is the plastic parts, but thats easy enough to correct, but I dont see why I should have to. Personally, I carry Colts(Commanders) over the others, the older Springfields aren't bad either. Once you get into all the gizmos, I think the trouble starts. I recently got a new Springfield Loaded model, full size. Its been the biggest pain in my ass. It wouldnt feed hard ball when I got it, the safety kept ripping my thumb up until I filed it to a reasonable size and shape(why I didnt notice this when I bought it amazes me), I had to replace the trigger with a short one(personal choice)I've replaced the rod and spring with a standard weight spring and plug.(I can press check again) After I switched the rod and spring, the gun got a lot more reliable, but I still dont trust it to carry it. Its not just the little guns that aren't reliable. Now I was looking at a Mil Spec Springfield when I bought it, but between my buddy, and another guy, and all the oohs and aahhs, I bought the Loaded, I should know better. As for holsters, get yourself a good IWB made of Kydex.(Blade-Tech makes a great one) Run away from leather, unless you only carry your gun on holidays and weekends. Leather smells nice and looks good, especially in pictures, but in the long run, especially if you carry IWB, it sucks. If you sweat at all(I sweat like a pig)it will get wet and soak through. It will stay wet. Your gun will get wet and stay wet. It will rust. This wont happen with Kydex. Blade Techs holster also has a guard that goes up the backside of the holster that protects your gun from you and you and your clothes from your gun. Leather will wear the finish on your gun, so will Kydex, so thats not an issue. Kydex is "click" adjustable to your gun. Some leather holsters have tension screws, but they still dont work as well as the Kydex. This adjustment is a big plus if you carry different guns of the same type. They really aren't the same size from manufacturer, no matter how much they "look" alike. New leather creaks. Do new leather shoes and boots annoy you with that creak? A new leather holster and belt will drive you nuts! You will think the the sound effect boy from Police Academy is following you around! Get Kydex and dont look back, save the leather for dress up. I'll bet you look spiffy in them chaps and spurs, now dont ya boy? 
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I'm with you AK, the more non stock parts the more problems. Funnyhow that plastic trigger shoe on the Colts bother everyone, it and the grips are the only plastic on mine. I started to change mine, but the bow frame fit was very good so I left it. Hadn't thought about it since. But it is funny how that plastic part stands out especially with the really plastic pistols out today. But I do like my Sparks leather. And I'm with you on the plug, Best wayI've seen to do the press check, and ifn it aint broke don't fix it. Funny how the rage in the 1911s is match grade bbls, bushings, and chambers today. For old farts like me, it's kinda like oil and water, they just dont mix, and when they are look for problems. |
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