ken_mays

I’ve seen a couple full sized and a couple compacts for sale, in person.

When you're looking at semi-custom 1911s, it all comes down to the features you want, the appearance, and the price you want pay. In other words, it's mostly personal preference. For the purposes of this post I'll talk about the $2000-5000 range. I've owned Wilsons but never could warm up to them. They were well built, reliable and accurate, but I didn't really get much enjoyment from shooting them, so I sold them. I also never had to call their customer service for anything, but I know a few owners who swear by Wilson because of the high amount of hand-holding they do for their customers. I've heard much the same about Nighthawk, but I've never cared to own one, so I don't have first hand experience. Les Baer is known for building very tight and accurate 1911s with a more traditional appearance. They are priced a bit below Wilson and Nighthawk and they offer a bit less fit and finish. Dan Wesson makes a very solid production 1911 and they are probably the best bang for the buck currently going, but they can have the occasional issue, and the customization options aren't really there like they are for the semi-customs. STI/Staccato is about the same as Dan Wesson, a high end production gun. They are generally well built and they do a consistently great job fitting their barrels for accuracy, but despite their high price tag, they don't really get the amount of hand fitting and finish that someone like Wilson does. On the far end of the spectrum you have Infinity, who'll build you a 1911 or 2011 and give you a large number of options to select. You pay for the privilege, but they also hold their value remarkably well. Then there are dozens of custom shops out there, which are a whole other subject. As far as my personal preference, most of what I shoot are Infinity, Les Baers, and random custom guns that I have accumulated or built for myself.

The SA-35 is a better High Power than FN ever built. Trigger, sights and safety that are all very usable... which can't be said about the original line. The new "FN High Power" is a completely different gun (and an improvement IMO) but more expensive, and in true FN fashion, take completely new magazines. My Girsan MC 35 would be a lot more usable if it weren't for the 8 pound trigger... but otherwise I like the features on it.

Thank you for the 10 year old information

Tisas is gaining a good reputation by delivering well built 1911s at a budget price. Disclaimer: no firsthand knowledge personally

Generally speaking, if the slide will fall all the way back when the recoil spring is out and the muzzle is pointed upwards, it doesn't need any lapping. I think these have too light of a recoil spring installed, which is why some users are getting failure to return to battery and similar issues. Springfield is really irritating with their 9mm guns because they use the titanium firing pin to make them 'drop safe', but this requires a much heavier mainspring to get reliable ignition, which is then addressed by installing a correspondingly light recoil spring in order to get the gun running. Everyone I know with a Springfield 9mm 1911 who wants to run them in competition generally trashes all the springs, replaces them with a 12 or 14 pound recoil and 19 pound mainspring and buys an EGW steel firing pin.

I’ve always enjoyed shooting FALs. The highly adjustable gas system usually means that if it feeds OK, you can shoot about anything. I have seen DSA rifles going for less than $1500 so it might pay to look around.

Ruger American rimfire

The issue could be with the case or the projectile. Mark the whole round with a Sharpie and see where the rub marks are when you try to chamber it in the gauge. There is a commonly seen problem with some of the 9mm bullet profiles available where the ogive gets wide fast and this causes the round not to chamber in barrels with short throats. Two ways to fix that -- recut the chamber to provide an adequate throat, or seat the bullet deeper.

Beretta 85 Arex Zero Compact HK P2000 SK or P30 SK. S&W 6906 or 3913. Yes, they are no longer made but they also made a billion of them, so they're out there. Not to leave out the Chief's Special and the other variants. Even something like the second gen 469 or 669 would be a fair pick. The Stoeger 8000 is a decent option based on Beretta's Cougar design. There are surplus and newly imported Makarovs as well, but you're looking at either .380 (meh) or 9x18 Mak (ugh) chambering.

I know you already decided, but here's my thoughts anyway The CZ is going to be better suited to putting a lot of rounds through than a BHP design. I'm personally not the biggest fan of CZ-75 pattern guns but they are more flexible and customizable than BHPs. And I think you can get a much better trigger with far less trouble on a CZ. That said, I have a SA 35 and it's a quite nice modernized take on the BHP with a trigger that is approaching decent and a set of sights and a safety that are welcome upgrades over the traditional BHP parts.

Keep in mind the EMP is Springfield's proprietary downsized frame. While some 1911 parts are interchangeable, some aren't. That said, I'd still probably pick it over the CZ. I've owned a bunch of CZ 75 variants and have come to the conclusion they just don't work for me, so I'm done trying. Just my personal opinion and experience. I'd really rather have a M&P or Walther with a RDS installed over either, for carry.

The grip safety should not be pressed in while trying to remove the slide. Otherwise the firing pin safety lever can stick up enough that the slide hangs up on it.

I put an Apex trigger in one of these and test fired it afterward. Due to the grip shape, it was one of the most uncomfortable pistols I've shot in a long time. The flare at the bottom of the frontstrap plus the rather square edge of the trigger guard along with the unnecessary hump under the middle finger all combined to make several hot spots. The slide serrations on this one are fine enough that they would be of little use were your hands slick or muddy. The optic plate on it was plastic and I was not able to tighten it down sufficiently to keep it, and the Crimson Trace optic, from visibly moving, but this seems like something you could avoid with a different optic plate. Reliability was OK as was accuracy, but nothing impressive. On the plus side, they're cheap, I guess.

It may not be dead yet but it has one foot in the grave and another on a banana peel. If it were a straight wall case, there would be reloaders to keep it around, but nobody wants to mess with bottleneck cases. It’s not unpleasant to shoot but it’s quite loud.

If I had to start over and buy from scratch, I would go with the Lee turret press. Cost is reasonable and the utility is high. Also, swapping dies 3 times to load one round is tiresome in the extreme. Lee products are not always the best you can buy, but they certainly are up to the job, and I use a lot of them (dies, hand primer, powder measure) even though I load on Dillons and RCBS at the moment. If you ever want to go progressive, I recommend Dillon for a progressive press due to the “buy once, cry once” principle. Lee does not make a great press for that, IMO.

PM incoming

Battery life: most decent RDSs have at least a year of battery life, and usually more. Holosuns have the 'shake awake' feature which means it will shut the dot off if the gun isn't moving, which saves battery power, and usually a solar panel to drive the dot if it's getting enough sunlight at the time. "Finding the dot" is a muscle memory function and one of the biggest challenges for people transitioning to RDS for carry. It just takes a certain amount of holster presentations before having the dot on target becomes automatic. There is also a Holosun sight with the ACSS Vulcan reticle which is a huge assist for shooters who find themselves hunting the dot. The ACSS reticle includes a center chevron, but there is a large surrounding circle that can be seen from almost any angle when the gun is misaligned, but disappears when the center chevron is on target. Basically, if the chevron is visible in the window, you can align it, and if the chevron is 'off screen' you can see part of the circle. Going back to irons is effortless, at least for me.

I have a grinder stand like the one shown above and it's not the worst thing I can think of to mount a press to. But it's not the most stable once dynamic forces come into play since it has a 3-legged base. I think the Workmate folding bench (or a knock-off) is a great idea. They have a broad, stable foundation once deployed and there is room for a loading block or brass container next to it. And it folds up when you don't need it. To piggyback on what slickrick said, one of my workbenches is a folding banquet table (think church dinner) sitting on top of a couple secondhand Steelcase office drawers that I picked up at a used office furniture store. I don't have it attached to the drawers but it would be trivial to put a few self tapping sheet metal screws into it if necessary.

A couple ideas. Maybe we can do a weekend get together at MSSA for those of us who can make it. They have all kinds of events open to non-members and there is plenty of space. Bring a lawn chair and maybe a cigar and we'll hang out. If we get enough interest, I am happy to go to the club management for approval. We could also have another event during the week, maybe one evening, at a tap room around town. Restaurants are complicated. I know not everyone drinks beer, but tap rooms are a good venue to people to come and go as they please, and many of them have room inside and out. The Ready Room tap room on Brookhaven Circle off Poplar is a good centrally located one, and food and non-alcoholic drinks are available.

I've used Trijicon's RMR, Vortex Venom, Burris Fastfire III and Holosun 407, 507 and 508 and one or two other models I can't recall. I have about 6 Holosun 507s now and they are my preferred optic. They hold up pretty well, have shake-awake, and I have grown to prefer the circle / dot combo. I can get on target faster with it than just a 3 MOA dot. I also like the slide-out battery tray. The window is also slightly taller than the RMR and 508. The RMR is a solid optic but I don't like the excessively tinted glass, and I'm not a fan of the bottom mounted battery and need for a sealing plate. The ACRO sights have some promise but the bugs haven't been worked out IMO. I've been seeing lots of reliability reports with the P2 version.

Dealing with pistol optics and RDSs, a torque screwdriver / wrench is money well spent. I've been using the Wheeler FAT driver and it does the job so far. If it saves you from breaking just one screw off in a slide, it'll more than pay for itself.

That's Phil Colley. I have never done business with him, but know plenty of people who have. Consensus is that he's pretty good but he's slow. I have friends who have had 1911s built by Colley back in the 90s. Here's a racegun he did for one of them. I think the comp was removed and some other things done later, but it was nice work for the time.

Don't know about the best product of the century, but this is a pretty handy one.

I mean, they're 2011s. Meaning you are dealing with all the quirks of a 1911 along with fairly expensive and occasionally squirrelly double stack mags. Everything else is just figuring out what slide and frame size you want to live with. They do carry considerably easier if you remove the extended magwell. They're fine for carry if that's what you want to do, but realize they are somewhat of an enthusiast's pistol and will require a bit more knowledge and maintenance than your out-of-the-box Glock or similar.