I have my eye on the field model with novak sites. Under 400 and they look great. If you own one whats your 2 cents on it.

2 cents worth:  they are junk, and at close to $400, you can find a decent used 1911 or get a Springfield GI.  I could go into all the things I feel are wrong about the CD, RIA, and all the other Philipino 1911s, but it's been commented on so many times it's unreal.

Hobbs is right. I own a Charles Daly. In the begining it looked cool and was the right price at 350ish. Can't remember exact price. If I had reseached prices and warranties, I would now go with something different. Some people talk of inferior metals, specs, and tolerances, but I was lucky and have not had any problems in that area.

My problems came into play that the handgun was an older model, that did not have the lifetime warranty. When the hammer and sear wore down, it fired F/A all 8 rounds in the mag, and the hammer bit my wife's hands webing. At that point I was wondering if this cheap gun was worth it.

I then started learning the workings of the 1911, and decided to take it to a gunsmith. He hinted at the point it was a lesser pistol and told me to come back in a week. He didn't fix it and gave me the new hammer, sear, and disconnector for free. Make a longer story short, I now know that there are better 1911 clones, but if you can pick it up for $200 or less it will be an ok plinker.

I now have a correct working Charles Daly 1911 with all new quality inner workings. It runs like a champ and I no longer have any problems with it. I will stake my life on this pistol now, because I know what is in it. I will never be able to sell this pistol and get the money out of it that I have put into it.

ETA: Thanks again Hobbs for all of your help!

blackta6, though I already stated I'm not a fan of the CDs, that sure looks cool!  I'm glad it all worked out for you.  I agree %100 on picking one up for aplinker if the price is right.  I bought one recently for $250, and it was fine as a fun gun, but it was not reliable, and the metal was very soft.

I just inherited one.  Seems nice, but I haven't had a chance to take it to the range.  Mine is from the Phillipines.  Are there any good ones from there?

Yes there is. People will tell you no, but certain other "name brands" still use frames made from the Phillipines.

My friend had one he thought it was crap and I had to agree with him. Stay away from it.

I purchased one brand new for $400.00 The first round I fired out of it did not extract fully nor the 2nd 3rd...and so on. So I ripped it apart and found the extractor looked like a two year old machined it. It had no bite at all. So I replaced it with a Ed Brown Hardcore extractor and that took care of that problem. Back to the range I went. What a Nightmere I could not group with this gun at all flyers everywhere.. Stove pipes you name it. I considered sending it back to Daly for repair but having a box full of High Grade 1911 parts at my disposal I just dug into it. And this is what it took for me to get this .45 to perform at a level that I could feel confident of it.

New Ed Brown Extractor & Ejector
New Bar Stow barrel with link, Pin & Barrel Bushing
New Ed Brown   Firing Pin &  Firing Pin Stop
I also added a EFK Bushing Comp

So after totaling everything up the parts I installed to bring this 1911 up to speed cost more than the gun. Not to mention the time it took to fit and tune it...
It runs like a Raped Ape now but I would never buy another one

BUY A SPRINGFIELD OR A COLT THEY COST A BIT MORE BUT YOU DO GET WHAT
YOU PAY FOR...

Heres  my Nightmere....

http://home.neo.rr.com/mrfreeze/New%20Folder/daly.JPG

Or at least get a Norinco, there frame and slide are harden and no MIM parts.

Go for the SA GI. Almost the same price and it is quality. You can always upgrade the pistol but you would be suprised at how well it shot stock.

Lhama or charles daly????

Quoted: Lhama or charles daly????

or stick needles in my eye?  

Well, I also inherited several other pistols.  The top one is a H&K USP 40.  The plan is to sell some of them to help my mom out, but I wanted to keep one.  Sounds like it's probably going to be the H&K.  Still, I plan on taking them both to the range today to get a feel for both.  I mean, there had to be some reason why my dad bought the thing.

I have two CD 1911s, one I bought was mfg in 2000 (5"), the other was mfg in 2004 (4"). They both run like champs, and I've never had any problems. My 5" has had probably 3k rounds put though it and has never had any work, and my 4" has probably had 1k though it, and other than an occasional fte, about one of every 80 or so, has never had any probs. I have thought about replacing the extractor and will probably do that in the next month or so.

That being said, I have been leaning towards replacing them with a couple of Springfields or maybe Para, haven't decided yet.

I will have to concur with the "Don't get it" crowd. That is unless you have more money than sence and want a handgun that you will have to work on for the next 6 mos just to get it running.

I paid less than $400 out the door for mine and I think that was too much. The problem I have with mine is this: insert magazine, pull slide back and release. The round does a nose dive and stops cold on the feed ramp jamming the slide up. I thought about sending it back, but I don't have the luxery of waiting around the house for FedEx to pick it up and drop it off. I have been trying to re-angle the feed ramp with a jeweler's file. The next step is to polish the feed ramp with the Dremel tool.

ETA- not all of the parts are interchangeable with other 1911 parts. I tried to swap the CD slide onto the Norinco frame and vise-versa and it wasn't even close.

I will also concur with getting the Norinco. I naught one 2 weeks ago for $350. The only problem with them is that they are hard to find due to the 89 import ban.

Quoted: I will have to concur with the "Don't get it" crowd. That is unless you have more money than sence and want a handgun that you will have to work on for the next 6 mos just to get it running. I paid less than $400 out the door for mine and I think that was too much. The problem I have with mine is this: insert magazine, pull slide back and release. The round does a nose dive and stops cold on the feed ramp jamming the slide up. I thought about sending it back, but I don't have the luxery of waiting around the house for FedEx to pick it up and drop it off. I have been trying to re-angle the feed ramp with a jeweler's file. The next step is to polish the feed ramp with the Dremel tool.

What mag? Factory one's? Buy a couple of good mags before you take a evil dremel to a 1911, also check the extractor, and see if it's to tight. If you have to take matl off the feed ramp we are already to late.

Quoted: Quoted: I will have to concur with the "Don't get it" crowd. That is unless you have more money than sence and want a handgun that you will have to work on for the next 6 mos just to get it running. I paid less than $400 out the door for mine and I think that was too much. The problem I have with mine is this: insert magazine, pull slide back and release. The round does a nose dive and stops cold on the feed ramp jamming the slide up. I thought about sending it back, but I don't have the luxery of waiting around the house for FedEx to pick it up and drop it off. I have been trying to re-angle the feed ramp with a jeweler's file. The next step is to polish the feed ramp with the Dremel tool. What mag? Factory one's? Buy a couple of good mags before you take a evil dremel to a 1911, also check the extractor, and see if it's to tight. If you have to take matl off the feed ramp we are already to late.

The one that came with it, a MECGAR.
It would seem that the evil Dremel has done the job. I used some snap caps and two different magazines to verify the work, it chambered every time. However, with that said, I still have to go to the range and run live ammo through it to ensure every thing is good to go.

In this thread there is a pic of how someone else ramped, polished and throated my CD. Turned out well, and has ate most ammo I have put through it. I will agree, that some will need it done to feed reliably.