Speaking from personal experience, a Marine Corps armory would be the last place I would want to store a nice personally-owned weapon. It would get passed around and fondled more often than a drunken sorority girl.
I (stupidly) checked in a Colt Python to our armory when aboard Camp Pendleton. The front sight was missing the next time I checked it back out. The armorer lost a stripe, and the only way it got fixed was that the SgtMaj got involved. My story is not exactly unique.
Once I wised up, all my firearms were secured off base, in a trusted friend’s gunsafe. He was a Gunny assigned to MCB, and didn’t deploy much.
Not to derail this to much but, as a cop, I dont know to much about 1911’s due to running plastic guns my whole 11 year career. I do however love the Springfield line and have shot several rentals and friends. Question, where does the MC operator fall in line as you work your way up the Springfield “quality” ladder. I do know that the "PRO"is the top of the line but where does the TRP fall with the MC Operator? I have a hard time figuring out which one is more “duty ready”. I do read a bit on 10-8’s forums but I am not a member to ask there. Thanks to anyone that can straighten me out!
SA has the base models and then they work their way up to the “Loaded” which is a pretty darn good gun for the money. I think then it steps up to the MC Operator, About $1,150 street price. This gun is awesome. Then you go up to the TRP at street $1,350-$1,500. This gun is modeled after the Pro TRP (hence the confusion) and is damn near a custom gun quality at half the price. The best value on the market IMHO. I have a TRP and wanted another with a rail, however, the railed TRP comes with a Bull barrel and Target sights, so I bought the MC Operator.
The MC Operator is Duty ready in my opinion. Yet, I am not a lawman so take that with a grain of salt. The only three significant differences are: It comes with plastic grips which make it feel bulkier and does not have checkering on front strap / grip. The trigger breaks at about 5lbs, but feels lighter due to it being a 1911 style trigger. The TRP breaks at 3-4 lbs. The TRP has a magwell and MC does not, even though the MC is beveled to help reloads. I own $2,000+ 1911’s and there is a VERY narrow margin between those the SA MC and TRP. The only issue with getting either gun is finding one. Good luck.
That and if I want to take it out, it has to be when the armorer is at work. Soo i take it out on a friday, well i cant keep it in my barracks room, and I cant leave it in my car. So I would have to camp at whatever range i go to till monday morning and turn it back in.
A properly customized 5" steel-frame single-stack 1911 in .45 ACP is a superb, unparalleled choice for the dedicated user willing to spend a significant amount of money to get it properly initially set-up and considerable time to maintain it. Keep in mind with 1911 pistols that calibers other than .45 ACP and barrels shorter than 5" induce increasingly greater problems. I personally will not use any 1911 with a Schwartz firing pin safety (like on the Kimber II pistols) as I have seen high numbers of them fail; the Colt Series 80 firing pin safety is the only one I might trust for urban LE use, but I’ve seen several of them fail in harsh environments (particularly surf zone and high dust) so I generally prefer a standard USG style 1911 pistol w/o firing pin safety. However, I personally would not choose to carry most stock or even semi-custom 1911’s on duty without making sure they were set-up properly with reliable function, durable parts, and ergonomic execution. I firmly believe that if you want a 1911 for serious use, the minimum level of quality for a duty/carry weapon is the SA Pro model (either PC9111 or PC9111LR if you want a light rail); if you’re not willing to invest that much into the weapon system, don’t get a 1911… I write this after being around quite a few 1911’s over the past two decades of military and LE duty, including GI, commercial Colt, SA (Milspec, Loaded, MC Oper, Professional models), Wilson, Kimber, Nighthawk, Les Baer, and Para Ord, as well as custom pistols by folks like Bill Laughridge, Wayne Novak/Joe Bonar, Ed Brown, John Jardine, Hilton Yam, Larry Vickers, and Chuck Rogers.
For folks who want a .45 ACP pistol, but don’t want to invest the funds and effort into getting a good 1911, they would be better served with the S&W M&P45 or HK45.
OK Doc, Im new to the 1911 game. I did a quick look @ 1911forum for “standard upgrades”. Negative. Im getting a the topic gun in the next 2 years. What would I have to do for a proper initial set up?
theblackknight–Pistol smith and LE officer Hilton Yam has several relevant articles at the 10-8 Performance website (http://www.10-8performance.com/Articles.html). In addition, retired SOF veteran Larry Vickers is one of the most well respected pistolsmiths of this era–he teaches a class to help folks better run the 1911; his website also has some useful information (http://vickerstactical.com). If any issues crop-up, the SA Custom Shop is a useful resource in helping ensure your 1911 runs correctly. Good luck!
300 rounds of various ammunition this morning. No failures, FTF’s or FTE’s.
I used both the factory 7 rounders and 4 Wilson Combat 47D magazines.
Ammo was WWB 230 grain, Federal American Eagle 230 grain FMJ, Corbon +P 230 grain JHP and one mag of +P Corbon 185 grain. Also some Federal Hydro’s where thrown in one mag or two.
All casings ejected slightly to the right and fell just to the side of my right shoulder in a circumfrance of about a 1 and half foot circle. Accounting for bounce and roll of some of the casings.
I wasn’t shooting for accuracy, just for function so I do not have any fancy C-More targets to photograph and post. Next time.
I realize that 300 rounds is not exactly a “confidence” test, but it is a start and the gun performed flawlessly.
Once I get to the 1000-3000 mark with no failures then I’ll feel comfortable with this gun for a combat and duty gun and carry piece. I’ll of course change out the recoil spring and fireing pin spring at that round count. If there are any issues that creep up I will address them at that time and use the SA Pro shop for fixes and improvement.
For that price I’d buy one today, or in the morning. It’s got a funky guide rod system though. I’d change it out to a standard guide rod with a Wolf 18 pound spring and standard plunger.
That’s just me. Great pistol. So is the “MC” Operator.
Here we go again. So I researched a little bit. On Springfields website, it list’s all the models. Loaded, TRP, Custom, and Operator etc. When everyone refers to the “MC Operator”, where in the heck does the MC come from or mean. I thought the website would say MC Operator.
I’m a big fan of my SA 1911’s - a stainless Loaded and a Pro. No problems what so ever. Never seriously looked at the Operator’s since I don’t favor (of have a need for) a rail and light mount.
Wilson 47Ds have worked fine, but I recently tried a few Tripps and they are sweet too!
Congrats on your new Springer postola…
I thought MC = Marine Corps. (But what do I know, I’m just a retired paratrooper!! :D)
