acaixguard

Not a simple question. How good are you at building a 1911?

I am a big advocate of blacked out rears, and some type of dot up front. These days, I prefer fiber optic, as the benefit to me during daylight shooting trumps the minor benefit that night sights offer in darkness. With a handheld or WML, I can still align my sights up. Also, if you train enough on presentation, your front sight will generally fall somewhere within alignment of the rear notch. You can still get good hits on target without the front post being perfectly aligned within the rear notch if you have proper trigger control (within reason). I have found any type of dots in the rear to be too cluttered for my tastes. So much so that on my Springfield 1911, which came with Novak 3 dot tritiums, I blacked out the rear dots. I've tried almost every major combo of sights out there at some point. For fixed rears, I like the 10-8 and Heinies the best. The you will find to a Bomar rear face in a fixed version, which I think offers the cleanest sight picture. For defensive shooting in low light, nothing beats having CTC Lasergrips.

The one thing that should be mandatory to change out is the sights. The OEM plastic ones are absolute garbage. Pretty much everything else is optional.

Got one here too. Another use for it is bringing it to the range with you. In between live fire, get some dry fire practice done with the SIRT. Especially if you find yourself getting sloppy with live fire trigger control. It's a great diagnosis tool for what you are doing wrong. As BullzeyeNJ mentioned, they offer great customer service.

This is why it's in your best interest to go with a Colt or Springfield. With 1911s, either go with a very basic no frills model (Colt or Springfield), or spend the money for something like a Wilson Combat, Springfield Custom Shop, or full custom from a 1 man shop. "In-between" 1911s that look like full custom guns are always a compromise when it comes to small parts quality and fit.

An opinion that is shared by many industry experts that have forgotten more about 1911s than anyone here will ever know about. Also, the internet argument of "my [insert favorite gun] has never given me problems" doesn't prove anything. And to be fair, neither would my lone argument of "my pistol was problematic". Especially if said guns were never used in conditions beyond an indoor range. One needs to look at the larger track record established over time. One source of this is talking to those in the know, such as gunsmiths who have worked on thousands of 1911s over the years.

Springfield Armory Mil-Spec, or Colt Series 70 (re-issue) if you can spend a little more. Shoot the base gun a lot, then once you're more familiar with what features you may want on a 1911, get it customized by a good smith. Amongst bigger name gun manufacturers (ie. brands you will typically see in gun stores), there are only 2 that make 1911s worth a damn...Colt and Springfield Armory.

There is a medical order called Do Not Resuscitate (DNR), in which a patient confers with his/her doctor and decides on not having CPR done in the event of cardiac arrest. I don't see how this is too different. I too am for patient choice here.

Agreed...there's a reason some guys like Doug at ATEi don't offer Cerakote as a finish. It's hard to be melonite type finishes for durability. Also, spray and bake finishes tend to only look good when new. After putting some abuse on them, they look more battered than some other finishes. I can appreciate a nicely cerakoted gun, especially on a rifle, but I never really understood why people pay good money for fancy colors/patterns on a working gun.

10-8 .140 width U-notch rear with their .115 front fiber optic (red) gives an awesome quick sight picture. This is my latest setup, and don't think I will go back to tritium anytime soon.

I always found Cory's to be a bit of a tool with his techniques. His motions are overly exaggerated to the point that he looks poser'ish. His holster draw and press out is pretty ridiculous. As proven when Ron Avery shaved off a decent amount of time from his drawstroke. Of course, though, Cory reverted back to his old ways not long after that. Also, he overdoes the scan/assess prior to reholstering. I'm completely in agreement with Pat McNamara, about how doing a scan like this is pure theatrics. If you are going to scan, your gun needs to follow too...which obviously can't always be done on a shooting line. Another pet peeve of mine is how Cory (and others are guilty of this too) ALWAYS does a pointless press check, using his thumb over the front of the slide. I can understand doing a press check for safety reasons, but what is the point of doing them when you are shooting several strings of the same drill back to back? Don't you know if your gun is chambered? Again, more theatrics from him. Anyhow, exposing his lies is just the icing on the cake for me.

What's the cost of participating in the match this Sat?

12'-15' is pretty close, but start with what makes you comfortable. As a rule, the closer you are to the target, the tighter you should expect your groups to be. So at the distance you are describing, I would strive for being able to at least keep all rounds in the 10 ring on an NRA B-8 target. If you haven't yet, learn proper trigger control, and you'll notice your groups improving.

There is just something wrong about trying to place the SIG P320 in the same category as the G19. Without a doubt, the G19 is the winner. One of the best carry pistols you can get.

At a static range, "The Test" is probably the best drill you can do, assuming you have at 10 rounds in capacity. Hang a B-8 target up at 10 yards (or any other 5.5" bull). Start from low ready, and at the buzzer, fire 10 shots within 10 seconds. All rounds should be in the black. Probably the best drill to work on when you can't draw from a holster. Best if the range is pretty empty so you can use your shot timer. Failing that, guess you'll just have to estimate.

Congrats. Great gun. Just get some decent sights for it, and you'll be set!

You will need to try out any pistol yourself. What feels great for one person could be terrible for another. Between the PPQ and XD, there is no comparison...go for the PPQ. It's one of the more highly regarded polymer striker fired pistols you can get today.

I'm all for a class by LAV...having taken 2 of his classes before, I can attest to how worthwhile they are. However, why are you suggesting a class that focuses on the 1911?

Hk VP9 and a Glock 17 to go with the G19.

I will say though, the sights are the one thing that are absolutely worth changing as soon as you get the gun. In fact, I will now have my preferred sights ordered before I pick up any new Glock in the future, so that I can swap them out as soon as I bring it home. The plastic OEM sights are utter trash and good for nothing.

I start with one patch filled with Hoppes in the bore, and let it sit. Then clean everything else with MPro7 and a brush. I spray off with Slip2000 725 Degreaser. On Glocks, since it's so easy to detail strip the frame, I do that and run the bare frame under warm water and scrub with a brush quickly. Once I'm done with all that, I go back to the barrel, and clean with MPro7 and Slip2000 too. Then lube all metal surfaces with FireClean. I do this with any gun that I won't be shooting the next day. Since I do things like practice draws and dry firing (safely of course), I prefer having a clean gun. Just something I could never get over I guess. But I acknowledge that having a very clean gun isn't necessary. In a multi day class, I will only wipe down and re-lube the gun after each day.

Chamber a round, remove mag, and then fire. Repeat a bunch of times. The shell casings should still eject out of the ejection port and not fall down the mag well. This is one indicator of proper extractor tension on a 1911. Many Glocks with the OEM extractor will fail this test.

I have one. Great gun overall. It's all business, no extra frills. Lacks some of the finesse you will find in Wilson Combat, but very fine workmanship overall. If you don't like an aggressive grip, then think twice. The 20lpi checkering can be aggressive for some. It will likely be very tight when you get it. Mine was difficult to even rack the slide before I shot it. Remember now to field strip it by using the bushing wrench when the slide is in full battery. Doing so can ruin the fit of the barrel to bushing (as advised from Springfield Custom). Take the entire slide off as one unit, and turn the bushing after the barrel is halfway forward of the bushing. There are 3 things I wish were different... 1. I don't like the Novak's sight picture, nor do I like 3 dot tritium. I still think about changing it, but part of the reason I keep the sights is because I want to keep the Pro in the original configuration. I did take a Sharpie to the rear tritiums though. 2. HIgher triggerguard undercut. For some reason, Springfield went with the GI shaped frontstrap instead of cutting it higher like most modern 1911s. Not a huge deal when shooting, but would've been a nice touch. 3. Very minor, but I really love the scalloped bevel on the sides of the S&A magwell that some custom smiths do. Wilson Combat has this on their new one piece Bulletproof magwell. I believe Springfield Custom will do this for you as an option.

With a light at 10:00-11:00, is there an ideal technique to activate the light if shooting lefty? Looking forward to that AAR.

Thanks for the info. Interesting on the P2X vs the X300U. Does the Fury really throw much more than the X300U? I see his point about the X300 at the 12:00 position not solving many problems though. A shadow is going to be inevitable unless you position the light so it is flush or extends beyond the muzzle. I just liked the ambi-positioning of at 12:00. I just wanted to get Pat's take on whether there are any downfalls to consider though. Sounds like there isn't unless you are going to be running a DBAL too.