I have a Colt XSE, 2007 model with the Duckbill style grip safety. In the six years I have owned it; it has been a wonderfully reliable and accurate pistol. Round count at this point is close to 7K. The only mods so far have been swapping out the FLGR for the GI type.
For some time I have considered having a beaver tail grip safety installed and last night I fired a friend’s 2013 model XSE with the factory beaver tail and I just didn’t notice much difference. At least not enough difference for me to spend the money for a new grip safety.
I use a fairly high hold, high enough that the standard GI type grip safety bites my hand.
What am I missing? Could it be the radius of the factory Colt beavertail? I think the beaver tail looks better, but I’m not one to spend money on mods just for cosmetic reasons.
Thanks for the feedback. As far as the recoil spring goes, I’ve been following Hilton Yam’s maintenance guide so I’ve already replaced it twice. I may still go with a beaver tail but one with a more pronounced radius like an Ed Brown or STI. Beschatten, you make a good point on the draw. I need to explore that more.
I should have mentioned, this gun is not my EDC. For that I use a G19. But I’m thinking of making the switch.
Personally I felt a nice difference going from a Duck bill to a King’s #207. Where I didn’t feel a much of difference is going from a standard grip safety to a drop-in. That is par for the course though.
If you are not sold on the idea you might not feel it worth the cost. Aside from fitting the new grip safety to the frame, you’ll have to have the frame refinished as well. So the cost jumps up. If you aren’t 100% about it don’t do it. Instead put that money you would have spent on it elsewhere.
I don’t think you’re missing much at all. If you’ve already got several thousand rounds through the gun and have experienced no real points of concern, then I suppose we’ve got to chalk this up to more of a thinking/academic exercise than a question of any real need. Many 1911-related decisions fall into this category, of course, so no real surprise there.
There are probably two main issues related to the grip safety that I would consider important here:
Is it set up correctly for your shooting style (i.e. does it disengage consistently with your preferred high grip?).
Does it interfere in any way with your comfort or safety (i.e. are you getting hammer bite?).
Assuming two green lights here, we’re basically talking about considering an upgrade for the sake of considering an upgrade … and you’ve seemed to indicate that even the upgraded part doesn’t seem to make much of a difference to you. That, to me, sounds like a competent answer in and of itself.
We’ve come to accept the beavertail as the new de facto standard, of course, but we’ve also gone to different hammers and such as part of that migration. Many variations. Most representative of progress. That said, there are still plenty of 1911s out there being built more or less according to the original recipe, and many custom full-house Retro guns being deliberately-fitted with spurred hammers and Old School standard grip safeties.
Another case of right and righter answers, perhaps, but I doubt you’re really dealing with any wrong ones here.
Thanks for all of the thoughtful replies. The duckbill, as unsightly as it may be, is working for me just fine. But I’m a novice when it comes to 1911s so I wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing something obvious. Based on most of your responses I think I’ll keep it in place for now. I think I’ll look for a newer model Colt with the factory beaver tail and do a long term side-by-side comparison. That should clear things up.