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34K views 62 replies 33 participants last post by  rockjock 
#1 ·
The ubiquitous Colt 1911, Faithful servamt of United States armed forces since before WW1 and in continued service today with special operations groups has no peer among todays handguns....
There is no handgun made today that would stand up to the 100,000 round count or more that is pretty much standard for the remaining service 1911's.
The only thing you need to keep a 1911 running indefinitely would be spare parts ie: springs, extractors, ejectors, firing pins....The forged slide and frame lasts indefinitely, My Grandfathers colt 1911, made in 1916, served my Grandfather thru WW1 and is still serving me today...I have only installed new springs....
With all the available ammunition for the 1911 on the market, hollowpoints, snake shot, specialty loads, in my mind, the 1911 wins hands down... Also its natural pointability and small circumference grips allows people with small hands to operate the pistol with ease...My wife is a petite woman with small hands, but she is a dead shot with one.
In my opinion, no plastic gun with last anywhere near 100,00 rounds, no aluminum framed gun will last either. Also it is very easy to do maintenance on 1911s as opposed to other handguns.
In summary, name one other pistol made today which has the strength of forged slide and frame, myriads of different munitions for it, has the largest after- market parts business in the world, easily shootable, points well,
has an almost universal grip, loaded with safeties, and is very easy to do maintenance on....
My survivalist friends, I await your opinions......
 
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#3 ·
FXjohn,

To begin with, there is nothing wrong with S&W revolvers...I own multiple S&W model 25s'(45acp) and S&W model 29s(44mag). The problem with them is that they will not stand up any length of time with full power loads(a Few 1000 rounds) without experiencing timing issues(cylinder doesnt properly line up with barrel) and they have more fragile parts....
When I was younger I participated in handgun competition and I always carried at least three revolvers because of their tendency to lose timing or to a lesser extent, braking parts......Also, they are much more difficult to work on than a 1911....and they hold less rounds....
 
#4 ·
Nothing feels like a full sized 1911 in your hand.. NOTHING. DEFINITELY a great SHTF gun..

Here's mine.. 1917 manufacture, although as you can tell from the pic, it was touched up and re blued (arrgh) at the Colt factory (which is right down the road from me) by my Father in law some time in the 80's, and sports 80's grips..




Here it is next to my Beretta 418 for size comparison

..
 
#5 ·
Ford Prefect,

I totally agree, a Colt 1911 is like an extention of your arm....The old World War 1 Colts are drenched in history....and blood... My Grandfather was an artillery officer in the American arny in France, he was burned badly by mustard gas which precluded a German Infantry assault in 1918. This old Colt he gave me was on his side when this occurred.....My God, If this old pistol could talk.....
 
#6 ·
They are a dream to shoot. Other than a few rounds from a .22 when I was 9, the 1911 was the first "real" handgun I learned how to shoot.

It was my standard issue as an infantry medic. The first time I ever shot it was on the qualifying course. Using some "kentucky windage" to compensate for the bulet drop, I scored "expert" with a 36/40 hits.

I intend on purchasing one in the future, but it will be a military surplus one for the nostalgia...
 
#8 ·
I had a 1911 as a servicepistol for many years. However it was pulled from service and replaced by the glock after several incidents where it discharged all rounds in the magazine instead of only one as it should.
Didn't happen to me, but a collegue had it happen to him at the range and it wasn't very amusing.

But it was a magnificent pistol!

That said, I would like to add that I have no pistols or revolvers in my survival kit. Only two hand weapons. I simply don't see a need for it so I save that money for something else, like for instance more rifle ammo.
 
#9 ·
A target pistol in .22LR would be the ultimate "survival" pistol. 1911 is a great SHTF pistol though. If you have a convertion kit for .22lr then I guess it really could do double duty. I'm pretty sure they make those, corect me if I'm wrong on that one though. I'm just not a big fan of huge pistols with low mag capacity, just my opinion though.
 
#10 ·
The ubiquitous Colt 1911, Faithful servamt of United States armed forces since before WW1 and in continued service today with special operations groups has no peer among todays handguns....
There is no handgun made today that would stand up to the 100,000 round count or more that is pretty much standard for the remaining service 1911's.
The only thing you need to keep a 1911 running indefinitely would be spare parts ie: springs, extractors, ejectors, firing pins....The forged slide and frame lasts indefinitely, My Grandfathers colt 1911, made in 1916, served my Grandfather thru WW1 and is still serving me today...I have only installed new springs....
With all the available ammunition for the 1911 on the market, hollowpoints, snake shot, specialty loads, in my mind, the 1911 wins hands down... Also its natural pointability and small circumference grips allows people with small hands to operate the pistol with ease...My wife is a petite woman with small hands, but she is a dead shot with one.
In my opinion, no plastic gun with last anywhere near 100,00 rounds, no aluminum framed gun will last either. Also it is very easy to do maintenance on 1911s as opposed to other handguns.
In summary, name one other pistol made today which has the strength of forged slide and frame, myriads of different munitions for it, has the largest after- market parts business in the world, easily shootable, points well,
has an almost universal grip, loaded with safeties, and is very easy to do maintenance on....
My survivalist friends, I await your opinions......

http://www.volny.cz/glock/html/tested.htm

http://www.cloudymind.com/2008/03/01/cheap-and-bombproof-the-glock-pistol/


THere's a Rental glock at 'Some range' that has much more through it (I've read about it but can't find it in a quick search)

I love my 1911's, and have more than I have Glocks... but I am wearing 2 glocks as I type this.
 
#11 · (Edited)
The ubiquitous Colt 1911, Faithful servamt of United States armed forces since before WW1 and in continued service today with special operations groups has no peer among todays handguns....
There is no handgun made today that would stand up to the 100,000 round count or more that is pretty much standard for the remaining service 1911's.
The only thing you need to keep a 1911 running indefinitely would be spare parts ie: springs, extractors, ejectors, firing pins....The forged slide and frame lasts indefinitely, My Grandfathers colt 1911, made in 1916, served my Grandfather thru WW1 and is still serving me today...I have only installed new springs....
With all the available ammunition for the 1911 on the market, hollowpoints, snake shot, specialty loads, in my mind, the 1911 wins hands down... Also its natural pointability and small circumference grips allows people with small hands to operate the pistol with ease...My wife is a petite woman with small hands, but she is a dead shot with one.
In my opinion, no plastic gun with last anywhere near 100,00 rounds, no aluminum framed gun will last either. Also it is very easy to do maintenance on 1911s as opposed to other handguns.
In summary, name one other pistol made today which has the strength of forged slide and frame, myriads of different munitions for it, has the largest after- market parts business in the world, easily shootable, points well,
has an almost universal grip, loaded with safeties, and is very easy to do maintenance on....
My survivalist friends, I await your opinions......
Actually, there are several that will and do. I have seen H&K USP's pass 100,000 without a single malfunction.
 
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#12 ·
I don't know, i still think that 8 round capacity even in .45 kind of disqualifies the "ultimate" statment. Plus as a game getter your going to be very limited with the .45 round, talk about exploding squirls. If you were just using it as aback up for your rifle and for self defence from 2 and four legged threats then go for it. I still don't like the fact that the mag only carries 8 rounds, I don't go for revolvers for the same reason.

1911's are very reliable from what I hear and they are definately built to last a life time.:thumb:
 
#14 ·
the 1911...great AMERICAN gun. true many have been built in argentina, spain, etc. but the original concept is american. Call me old fashioned, but if something works well, why tinker with it?

I have just over 2k rounds thru mine in 5 years. As for SHTF, I have 10rd mags for mine.
For critter killin, my Smitty 22-a is perfect.

I'd rather have my 45 for stopping 2 legged critters as a compliment to my MBR because I can handle it, and I know you will go down with a body shot.
 
#18 · (Edited)
I have 2 1911's and I love to shot them, never had a problem with them at all, great fun to shot. Having said all that I prefer my HK USP's over the all 1911's. They are butter smooth in operation, hold almost twice the ammo, are lighter, well balanced , comfortable and after over roughly 8000 rds through one and 6000 rds through the other with zero malfunctions (oops, except for the two mags of Wolf that failed twice) I need not look any further for my choice in handgun.
 
#20 · (Edited)
well back in the 1970s and 80.s era of the survival movement ,,you would not found a glock or a beretta much there..the 1911 was king then,,most of the old time people that i know in the survival movement do not carry anything else but the 1911 pistol..as one person put it in this words to effect,.THE 9.MM MAY EXPAND.BUT THE 45.WILL NEVER SHRINK..you could not pick up a survival magazine without seeing something on the 1911 pistol..those now of the younger people set have a diff choices of pistol that work for them then they did back in the early days of the movement..and yes i am telling my age here in this post...when i got married in the 1982..my father in law give me a matched set of 1911 pistol for a wedding gift .,.with a full sized 1911 govenment model for me and commander sized pistol for my wife ..with both pistol have been worked over to make them complete reliabiluty for survival with along with extras mags and belt holsters and mag pouchs for ccw carry as need ..there was a book called survival gun at the times in which listed the basic survival armory that you had to have at the time for survival ...in the top part of the fighting firearms section was the 1911 pistol ..that was the only pistol jeff copper said was the ultimate fighting handgun at the time...
now that i have the girls with me a have kept the 1911 in the safe for time being and went over to a glock pistol so to have interchangeable mags for the group..but iam working on them to see they go for a new 1911 pistol set up when they get better at handleing weapons,,plus the 45.mags where a lot easlyer to get dureing the first assult weapons ban time frame area..that my 2.cents on the issue
 
#22 ·
i also have a 45.acp supp for my pistol ..went though all the paperwork for it and waited about 5.months ..sent my paperwork into the atf for the short barrel rifle ..so to be able to attched a shoulder stock to the pistol for a little fun gun and short range hunting weapon as need ..my eyes are not what they use to be ..and a shoulder stock handgun helps me shoot a little better when hunting ..a dealer here in texas has one shot it and thought to my self that was a good idea for attching a shoulder stock to the pistol
 
#25 ·
OK, I don't like showing my toys. But here are two I built and the bottom is the officer model that I had to parkerize. I do carry these from time to time but have other light weights for the daily carry on the bike. My 45's feed fine and have and will depend on them when it is time.


One of my past times is building 45's and AR 15's.
 
#27 ·
as long as you have no criminal record and pay the $200. tax
 
#28 ·
Not to be a jerk about it but the $200 tax is like a spit in the face to anybody who works for a living(not saying you didn't work for it if you can pay that sum).

I would have to vote for the revolver if I wasn't taking ammo capacity into consideration, but if ammo is a consideration then the 1911 would definately come out on top.

I stand my ground on this one as a young wipper snapper.... the 1911 while being a solid and dependible pistol is not the end all of pistols. It's a great gun I'm not knocking it in the slightest but there are some major draw backs when compared to some of the more "modern" pistols.

I like the idea of a 8 round .22lr revoler with a full length barrel though if that's all you've got.

In the end a pistol is just a back up, so it's more up to what you are comfortable with. Better have a rifle/shotgun if your thinking about surviving.
 
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