I travel a lot for work. It’s probably THE best perk about my job. My travels this past week took me to Scottsdale, AZ and the first thing I did with my free time was head to the Scottsdale Gun Club to rent out some toys. Among the toys I rented out was my grail gun, a Wilson CQB.
I’ve never fired a 1911 before, probably because I knew it would make my HK’s look like their triggers were made out of…plastic. Well, it certainly did, especially compared to the Glock 21 I rented (everyone keeps saying Glock this, Glock that, had to try it, not impressed).
Regardless, the Wilson was the sweetest shooting thing I have ever experienced. Recoil what? AND THE TRIGGER.
I think you know what I mean. This thing was their rental Wilson, it looked like it had been through the seventh layer of Dante’s Inferno and it still shot like perfection. Now I need a 1911, but I’m better served saving the better part of $3,000 on say, furniture for my new place.
What I’d really like to do is get an idea for what kind of iron I can get for $1,600. I can deal with that. I really like the Springfield TRP, something about the bull barrel screams sex. I want a railed 1911, period, which leaves me in a quandry because the TRP generally does not come with a rail. Help!
I’ve seen clean, used, CQB’s going for $1600-1700, I’d get one of those. Wilson Combat’s lifetime warranty follows the gun and their customer service, in my experience, is amazing.
This. If you can’t find a good Wilson in that range, I have definitely seen some Baer’s running in that price range. I have a cqb elite that is my daily carry and love it. You won’t be disappointed.
Hard call. I’m a strong advocate of Wilson 1911s, and own/have owned several, but the price creep I’ve witnessed over the past several years has tempered my enthusiasm for buying new.
Once you enter the $2,500+ territory, you’re really in a position to commission a true custom gun in one form or another, and the rationale for a semi-custom 1911 like a Wilson, Brown or Baer becomes less well-defined. That’s not to say that they aren’t worth the money, but there are enough folks out there responding to the marketing hype that it has become relatively easy to find reasonably-priced used Wilsons that have very, very low round counts on them. In terms of the total value component, this represents something of a “sweet spot” in the market, because you stand to save $500 or $700 off of retail without giving up anything in terms of performance or owner satisfaction. It’s true that you may end up with a bit less control over how the pistol is configured features-wise, but again, we’re talking the semi-custom class of pistols, and the basic recipe doesn’t tend to change very significantly from one example to the next. Given WC’s legendary commitment to backing their product, regardless of original ownership, there really isn’t a downside to looking for someone else’s safe queen.
At that price point, I would heartily recommend a Les Baer TRS or UTC, but you may have to pony up a little more moolah. Personally, for your first 1911, maybe an STI Trojan would be a good choice for around $1,000. With that, you are getting something between a production gun and semi-custom. You can figure out what you like/don’t like for a semi-custom down the road. The problem is that you shot a Wilson CQB first and will be spoiled.
I vote for a used Wilson. add a rail later if you so desire.
Personally, I’d save a bit more and go after a used custom 1911, but that’s MY preference. I don’t believe the Les Baer (or STI, or Ed Brown, etc) will satisfy you, even if you get one of the same quality. Your first experience with a 1911 was with a Wilson, and it will nag at you indefinitely until you get one.
I am all too familiar with 1911 lust, love, longing, heartbreak, and satisfaction.
A used CQB, or a used very nice shape Baer/Brown/SpringPRO unit might be the only cure.
There is a lot to be said for prettying up a Springfield MC Operator or Colt S70, but if you have the cash, go full custom, or start with a factory semi-custom and make the slight changes you want.
Any of the high end (or true custom) units will ruin you on lesser 1911’s, that much is a fact. The semi-custom units are fantastic (ones like the Wilson CQB, the Nighthawk 10-8 and Vickers, the Baer TRS, UTC, and CC, the Brown EE, SF, and the Springfield PRO line are all great pistols that will hold value fine, and then there’s waiting on a custom job from a great smith (Berryhill, Rogers, Morrison, Yost, Christansen, just off the top of my head) where you can start utterly from scratch and have a true one-off unit.
If you see the right lightly used safe queen, and the price is right, snap it up. Both my Baer TRS’s were impulse buys, but I couldn’t be the least bit happier. I’m still shuffling some parts, adding rails, changing grips, but I’m already extremely happy with the hardware, and trying to improve my software operating them.
I do agree with the sentiment that staying close to the original JMB blueprint and making the types of effective enhancements seen on the CQB is really the secret to having a reliable, accurate pistol that will maintain value.
I’m really enjoying my DW Valor. Ran it this afternoon as a matter of fact – love the way that gun shoots. I got a “blem” for an additional $250 off of a very competitive price. I’ve compared it side by side to my buddy’s Nighthawk and there is no appreciable difference between the two (except the price!).
Check out the Valor. I’m partial to the clean, professional look of the all black model. All I’ve done is put some black Nighthawk G10 grips on mine (it came with Straight-8 night sights) and I couldn’t be happier with fit, form and function.
If you are patient and do a bunch of digging around - you can find some good deals on good quality 1911s. I have been looking for my first one for about 9 months… yesterday the search ended.
I’ve had good success with the 3 Colt Gunsite 1911’s that I have purchased. Reliable and accurate out of the box. two of them have been my EDC for 5 years and one is my Single Stack gun.
