"A 1911 is: A 39-ounce, all steel, 5-inch, single-action, 7-round (Not 8!) pistol with a slide-locking manual safety and a pivoting grip safety with an inertial, spring-loaded firing pin that doesn't NEED a blocking device if the spring is changed every few years. It has a barrel bushing and a single, linear-rate recoil spring, and an internal extractor made of good, spring-tempered steel, and if it has a true, captive half-cock, it can be carried in Condition One for a hundred years as safely as a loaded gun can be carried. It is also more durable and probably more functionally reliable than anything you can buy...assuming that everything within the gun is correct and in-spec...and halfway decent ammo is loaded into good magazines.
A Colt Commander is NOT a 1911. Neither is an Officer's Model or Defender.Ditto for a Para P-14 or LDA. If ya wanna get really picky, the 1911-A1 isn't even a 1911...but I ain't gonna get that picky."
This from one of the moderators nicknamed 1911 Tuner, over at THR - Powered by vBulletin
The man has FORGOTTEN more than I ever knew about .45 semi-automatics, his word is gold, and, as you can see from the above quote, he's quite persnikety when it comes to describing precisely WHAT a real model 1911 is.
And if that's the case, then I'm at a loss to describe a modern day version of the 1911 as actually being one. External extractors, MIM parts, barrel lengths down to 3" in some cases...yuck.
A firearms manufacturer, ANY firearms manufacturer that set down to make a genuine 1911...and keep the beancounters away from the drawing board...would make a mint.
Guaranteed.
And stop right now, just stop before you go ahead and say that the government issue .45's were inaccurate because I've heard it all and then some.
"Remember to shake out yer gun every mornin' kid to be sure you scoot out alla them little forest critters who crawled in fer the night", was in reference to the supposed gaping tolerance the old .45's had, and let me say this about that:
At 100 yards I could hit a 12" circle on a 55 gallon drum and do that all day long. And forget about practice targets for a moment; the .45 I carried in a shoulder holster took it's share of walking ones.
More than it's share. It fed, fired, and flung without a hitch and saved my undeserving ass more than once. And now I'm basically a revolver guy because so many of today's semi-auto's are too finnicky to trust my life to. I'll plink with 'em, but unless it's one of the two or three makes and/or models I've wrung out and believe in, gimme a wheelgun any day.
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