An M1911 Fan Boy

And now something a little different, but not much.  I want to do a little fan boy piece on the M1911A1 and similar pistols.  To help with that, Bob Campbell has written a valuable contribution to the liturature over at Cheaper than Dirt entitled Winchester's New Win1811 Loads Work Well With Colt 1911. For the true 1911 snob, of course, nothing but Colt will do here. I have neer been a fan of Colt, however, and I consider Kimber, Springfield, Les Baer, as well as imports like Rock Island to be excellent copies of the original John Browning design. Indeed, any of today's 1911 style guns are more accurate, tighter fitting, and have better triggers that the M1911 that entered WWI.

Note for those that will, no doubt, take umbrage that I did not favor their favorite brand of handgun, I have nothing against Glock, Sig, Beretta, Kahr, or indeed, any other brand or style of handgun.  I must confess that the "wonder nines" are indeed wonderful.  Having 15 or 17 rounds at your disposal has a quality all its own.  And I confess that it is a burden to lug around all that steel every day.

Each gun was designed around certain priorities, for which it is eminently suited.  You must make decisions for yourself about what may be your priorities.  I don't question those, as you have to live with them.  I don't.  You may have a lifestyle that demands extremely deep concealment.  There are guns designed around such situations, and I applaud the fact that you carry despite these hardships.  You may have a background in cowboy action shooting such that you are more comfortable shooting a Single Action Army revolver.  Fine, carry it.  Oh, and tell us about your experience in the comments.    

The 1911 style pistol has its detractors, of course.  They will point out, quite truthfully, that 1911s are heavy (typically 38-40 ounces) and have a very limited capacity (typically 7, 8, or 9 rounds.)  They will point out that the weapon requires an extra step to fire it, namely remembering to snick off the safety.  Some will even point to the typical carry method, having the hammer cocked, and the safety on is itself unsafe. (I do not agree with this assessment.  People who say this have an irrational fear that needs to be overcome.) Why, oh why won't these knuckle dragging troglodytes come into the 21st century and learn to love the polymer wonder nines?

To find out, you need to read Bob Campbell's article, which mirror's my own experience with the 1911:

My handgun is a 1911. The term 1911 once meant the Colt Army gun, although now the term encompasses dozens of makers and numerous variations of the 1911 theme. There is no handgun that suits me as well. I have been taken to task as to that choice more than once, and no matter how the argument is planned, or how skillfully the opponent measures his skill at linguistic jousting, he cannot persuade me to feel differently. Every year that goes by reinforces my faith in the 1911 pistol and, in fact, it seems that more and better 1911s are yet to come.

...snip,,,

I did not arbitrarily choose the 1911. I did not choose the 1911 because it is a good-looking gun or because it was expected. I recognized the 1911 for what it is. You simply cannot undermine the persuasive evidence in favor of it. If a Smith and Wesson Model 10 .38 Special revolver had been the ne plus ultra of handguns, I would have kept my old, heavy-barrel Military and Police. It was not. The Browning High Power was not, either; the low-bid, polymer-frame guns also are not. The 1911 offers the best combination of fighting pistol attributes of anything I have tested.

The term synergy comes to mind. Synergy is the interaction between elements or forces in a manner that makes the combination of those elements more effective than the individual elements operating separately. While I favor the 1911, I have not avoided firing every other type of handgun. I have gone through case lots of ammunition testing all types of firearms. I do not believe I wasted the ammunition because I learned a great deal about handgun construction and performance.

Handgun geometry is rather simple. The grip has to be comfortable and the controls in ready reach of the digits. The grip should be angled to present the sights toward the target. I discovered the 1911 early in my quest; just the same, I continued to test others. After 40 years, I concluded that nothing equals the 1911 in the important particulars. Few handguns even approach the deadly efficiency of the 1911 in trained hands.

Campbell goes on to explain what he is talking about in more detail before getting into Winchester's new offerings, which I have yet to try. I suspect though, that Winchester has developed a good combination of training ammunition, on the one hand, and carry ammunition on the other. I have, over the years, put thousands of rounds of Winchester 230 grain FMJ in 100 round value packs through a .45 Auto 1911. I have experienced only very rare malfunctions. But the truth is that malfunctions are a fact of life for any weapon system. In my more recent .38 super auto musings, I have found that Winchester Silver Tip ammunition runs smoothly through that weapon, and I like its lower recoil.

While it is possible to improve on the execution of the M1911 pistol, as evidenced by the modern builders who are making remarkably better products than the original, it is pretty hard to beat the design itself.  This is not unprecedented, however.  Like the Mauser M98, that still shows up in modern hunting rifles, John Browning's M1911 is not an old design, but rather a timeless one.