Several years ago I started carrying 1911’s and I love the gun design. Its accurate and easy to shoot with and reliable provided you keep maintaining the weapon. But I miss the Glock 17’s ability to run no matter how you lube it. I hate how my 1911’s always seemed to need something tweaked. New extractor, new ejector, broken plunger tube (had it fall off my Wilson once when I took the grips off) I have kept my Wilson running for these last 8 years or so and it shoots great. But lately I have had strange malfunctions sparatically that I can’t identify (failure to fully eject case like a horizontal stove pipe. I messed with the extractor tension and thought it was find and had another malfunction the other day). So for now I am done. I ordered a duty rig for my Glock 17 and will start carrying that for work again. It makes sence for other reasons as well. I carry a GLock 26 as a BUG and now I will be able to use my duty guns magazines. I was constantly getting rust on my Wilson in the mag well area where the finishe is work off from lots of mag changes. No issue with the Glock. I guess the real reason I am switch back is I am just getting to lazy to up keep the 1911. I will still use them for competition. But I will use my Glocks for carry. Plus there is the fact I will be going from 9 rounds in the gun to 20 rounds with the Glock 17 and factory extended magazine pads.
Pat
Sounds like you made life easier for yourself. You need to be able to trust that your firearm is going to work, when you need it to.
Love my Wilson CQB, but I carry my Glock 19.
I’d also think Glocks would be much easier to use in the colder weather up there, when you’re wearing insulated gloves.
When involving a duty gun, anytime your thoughts start to dwell on reliability issues, it is a BAD thing. Subconscious thoughts always affect performance to one degree or another. They detract from what you need to be thinking about at the time.
If you have done everything you can to solve the issues, and the thoughts persist, it’s time for a change.
It’s hard to come up with a more reliable pistol than a Glock.
Well I would not trade my colt for anything but my glock 19 rides my hip and my wifes to
I liken my 1911 to a classic car. Fun to have, drive around town, and tinker with, but you don’t want to take it off road or on a road trip.
We need to get over the romance of the 1911 for defensive purposes though.
Im not sure if I could bring myself to subject a 1911 to the rigors of duty use. A glunk…ha ha nooo problem:D
I love the platform, but to me it is more art than tool
As markm spoke so truthfully, it is easy to fall into a romance with them…
I also echo the thoughts of the above posts. Love the 1911 and have shot 1911s forever. However when it comes to carry, it’s still the Glock that rides in the holster.
Things that work are boring! Where is your sense of adventure?
It’s not just romance with the 1911. It’s excitement.
The Glock is the girl you know is going to be ready to go out on time, doesn’t go psycho, and remembers birthdays and family members’ names.
The 1911 is the smokin’ six-foot blonde who may flip out and cuss and hit you in public if things don’t go her way.
Exactly, but which one do you bang the fuck out of, say goodbye and then call whenever you’re feeling like going clam diving?
Or, spend every day for the rest of your life with…
Guns will kill you, so will women. Thankfully, guns also can save your life. Choose the most reliable, boring, easy to use platform.
Why won’t you call me, 1911? WHY???
I like to see these sort of brutally honest posts. I think it’s a wise move. I went from a Nighthawk to a G19 years ago and haven’t regretted it once.
Sadly, I am having the same realization… I just don’t have the funding for the higher end 1911s nor their maintenance… I am looking at my Nighthawk Talon to become a safe queen and am looking at purchasing a Glock 19…
Agreed. My Gen 3 9mm Glocks have been extremely reliable, and I don’t miss selling my 1911s.
Just look at Gun Magazines as a microcosm of the marketplace:
They’ll run an article about a custom 1911 done up by Heirloom.
“Isn’t this gun sexy? It has no sharp edges! It’ll shoot 1.5 in. groups at 25 yards! It’s $3,500!!”
“Awesome, dude. Where can I get one?”
“Oh, you can’t have THIS gun. Are you retarded? There’s a 19-month waiting list.”
…
Then they’ll run an article about a Glock.
“This gun looks like a Glock. It’ll shoot 2-in. groups at 25 yards. It’s $500. It’ll probably work if you drop it in a volcano.”
…
It seems to me that part of the romance surrounding the 1911 has to do with having “The Perfect Gun” that no one else has. Anyone can have a Glock.
Welcome back
Although Im a big fan of the 9mm Glocks and carry one daily. Theres just something sexy and sleek about a Springfield Armory 1911 .45 .
Not that I’m some sort of 1911 cheerleader, but it sounds like the gun is due for an overhaul. “Messing with the extractor tension” is one thing. “Temporarily correcting the amount of tension while a new part is in the mail so it can be correctly fitted” is another. No offense. You clearly compete (and shoot) a lot. But there’s a time for shadetree gunsmithing, and there’s a time for letting a pro (not simply an “armorer”) handle it. A 1911 having a midlife crisis needs the latter, not the former.
edit: Not to say that switching to the Glock is a bad thing. It isn’t. But for every Glock out there that’s got eleventy bojillion rounds through it and is in perfect shape, there are plenty of other Glocks that have worn in the most curious manner possible and started to sporadically misbehave.
If you’re going to compete (and shoot) as much as you do, then please consider that picking a platform and learning it (no, armorer certs don’t count) will serve you better than jumping ship to another platform and simply hoping that next time, when you’re the better part of a decade into hammering on it, the failure will be easily diagnosable. The Glock doesn’t guarantee this. (Though, yes, your odds are better.) I’ve seen enough stock Glocks fail to know that if you really wanna shoot, part and parcel is learning more than just what’s in the armorer’s manual.
I, too, carried a 1911, but I went to Glock for all the reasons mentioned. I miss the 1911, and I sure as hell shot it better, but there are too many good reasons to carry the Glock.
Call me a 1911 fanatic all you want, but I simply shoot the platform better than I do the Glock. Perhaps it’s just me, but I grew up shooting the 1911, and it just feels right, both in my hand and in my holster. For me, the time spent maintaining the two that are set up identically for carry, is worth knowing I am just slightly more accurate with them than I am with any other pistol I own. That improved accuracy could be the difference between a good hit and a dead bad guy, vs a miss or poor hit and a dead GI Jew…
YMMV
H