1911 vs Glock

I've been able to shoot a great many of the currently available pistols out there. Some range rentals, some owned by friends, some owned by myself. My two favorite autoloaders at this point are the Glock 17 and the 1911 platform. I keep the same setup on both, 10-8 rear sight with a gold bead front sight. I absolutely love it.

Reliability is excellent with both....my 1911's are a Wilson CQB and a Les Baer TRS and group much better for me. I can't speak on the ACCURACY as I'm not shooting from a rest and am admittedly not a good enough shoot to get those little golf ball sized groups at 15 yards that I see many 1911 guys getting :D I tend to put 6 magazines or so through a tennis ball sized hole before putting up a fresh target. At the price point of both guns I would EXPECT the best performance :p both my Glock and 1911's eat whatever I feed them. I have absolute faith in both.

You can't go wrong with getting a Glock 17 or 19 but EVERY gun guy needs at least ONE 1911 as well!

I really like the S&W M&P's.....if you want to try out another polymer gun, I HIGHLY recommend one! I plan on getting a .45 M&P since I don't have a polymer .45 and would like one. I was going to get a 21SF but after shooting the two guns side by side, I'm going with the M&P. It just shot better for me and fit my hand much nicer.

This is a crappy cell phone pic but I just got my TRS back in the mail from being DLC coated after having a Harrison Medium trigger added. Fits me like a glove now.
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pbubsy said:
This is a crappy cell phone pic but I just got my TRS back in the mail from being DLC coated after having a Harrison Medium trigger added. Fits me like a glove now.
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AWESOME 1911! Everything you need, nothing you don't. And a real looker to boot. It doesn't get much nicer than that. :thumbup: Love those VZ Alien grips, I have a similar set on my Kimber.
 
There is little doubt in my mind that there are more (in sheer numbers) reliable Glocks out there than there are 1911's.

My military career was long by just about anyone's standards and I am old enough to have carried the 1911. It is a fine weapon and one of my favorites. Every 1911 I shot was very reliable. Every 1911 I shot was also loose as a goose and not very accurate.

I have owned a bunch of custom 1911's in my life and still have most of them. Guns from Hogue, Frank Pachmayr, Fred Sadowski, Don Fisher, Frank Paris, etc. All excellent and accurate examples of the 1911. Some have been super tuned 1911's that are basically all Colt with reduced tolerances. Some have been highly altered with accurails, compensated barrels etc. All are superbly accurate. They are also incredibly reliable IF they are clean. There is no such thing (in my experience) as a super tight 1911 that is also tolerant of much grunge. Now some will run just fine with a lot of powder fouling from an extended day at the range. ie: You can shoot an entire pin match without cleaning any of my Paris guns they are pretty filthy at the end of the day but still functioning 100%.

But take those same weapons for a swim in sediment filled waters and you will have malfunctions you didn't even know were possible. That trigger stop that was so finely adjusted might keep the trigger from resetting rendering the weapon useless.

I also carried the Beretta extensively. I don't have a fondness for this weapon but I do own a couple. It is big easy to shoot well and can pretty much handle any abuse you can throw at it that doesn't involve a sledge hammer. Accurate? No not really but much better than what most deem to be combat accurate. To me it is a tool and it feels like a tool. I don't love it but I don't hate it. When it is in my hand I am not wishing for something else though.

The Glock can be pretty darn accurate out of the box. Accurate as a tuned 1911? Nope but way better than an out of the box Colt 1911. As reliable as an out of the box Colt? Better, maybe a thousand times better. Are there out of the box 1911's that have run a zillion rounds with no malfunctions? Sure, a few, not as many as people claim though. Way more function well but consistently have a malfunction here and there. The Glock is the best out of the box all world real world pistol I have come across.

Do I like it? Yes. Would I carry one? Yes. Have I ever carried one and used it for real? Yes. Is it my favorite pistol for everyday carry? No.

I carry an alloy framed Browning Hi-Power. Is it better than a Glock? No way. It is nicer and it is easier and more comfortable to carry in civvies.

If I were to carry in a hostile environment my first choice would be the Glock. But there are many other weapons that are just about as good. One of the most reliable weapons I have ever seen are the old Astra big bore pistols that are so common in Central/South America.

Whatever you you decide to carry. Make it work for you. Shoot it, shoot it a lot. If it breaks fix it or get it fixed. No weapon is any good if you can't use it well. You can spend 10 grand on a fine combat handgun. But if you can't afford to shoot it then you have wasted your money.

In the end buy whatever the fak you want. Heck buy them all. It's America (for a while longer) you don't have to either/or. There is no reason to limit yourself to just Glocks or 1911's.
 
I've owned and carried both, but just never could fall in love with the Glock. My overall choice always came back to the 1911. That, however, was based strictly upon my own preference and not based on which gun was the "best". That's something only you can decide for yourself, but they are both excellent quality handguns.
 
smccabe17 said:
I have had both. Went to a pistol class with Tactical Response. Afterwards I sold the 1911. I have also done force on force training and a pistol with no manual safety is the only way I would go for a defense handgun. I sold the 1911 because I only had so much money and I wasn't going to use it very much. I would love to get another to play with, but I will only carry a Glock or SW M&P now.

I look at it different for the busse comparison. The glock is the busse. You don't have to clean it and it will handle any abuse. I have had the glock magazine and slide filled with dirt and mud and it ran smoothly. The 1911 you have to keep clean like sr101 so it doesn't rust.
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+1 There is no real comparison between the two. The 1911 is a great range gun. Buy a G36 to go with your 21. Put some better sights and a 3.5# trigger job. You will not be disappointed. Also please don't think I am raggin on the 1911 as I love them, I just think you will have alot more options going a different route.
 
moonwilson said:
AWESOME 1911! Everything you need, nothing you don't. And a real looker to boot. It doesn't get much nicer than that. :thumbup: Love those VZ Alien grips, I have a similar set on my Kimber.
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Thank you sir :D as you could guess: I'm VERY happy with it! It's loosened up a little bit from when I first got it but is still pretty tight. I got a great deal on it used (only 200 down the pipe) but after owning and using it for over a year: I'd have no problem with spending the $$ on a new one. An incredible gun! I've made some changes, but nothing major. It was a finely tuned shooter right out the box.
 
Contains 1000% more awesome than any Glock.
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It's still dirty from the range, and is not as fancy schmancy as Pbubsy's, but it not only gets the job done, it does it with STYLE! Still mostly stock, the only changes I've made are adding a stainless Ed Brown mainspring housing, the VZ grips, Wilson Combat mags, and a little bit of slicking on the trigger. It didn't need much. ;)
EDIT: I don't know why those images are posting like that, I rotated them in Photobucket. Oh well.
 
moonwilson said:
Contains 1000% more awesome than any Glock.
191668f6.jpg

045fb2b5.jpg

It's still dirty from the range, and is not as fancy schmancy as Pbubsy's, but it not only gets the job done, it does it with STYLE! Still mostly stock, the only changes I've made are adding a stainless Ed Brown mainspring housing, the VZ grips, Wilson Combat mags, and a little bit of slicking on the trigger. It didn't need much. ;)
EDIT: I don't know why those images are posting like that, I rotated them in Photobucket. Oh well.
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Very nice! I dig the color combo! Kimber makes an attractive gun! Wilson mags are great, my Baer seems to like most mags (mainly use CMC's, Tripps and 47-D's I wore the springs on and rebuilt with Tripp kits) but doesn't like the Baer mags. Baer mags are absolute garbage. The only malfunctions I've had in my gun were from them. I've had 3 malfunctions in roughly 15,000 rounds fired.
 
glock for me, I own both, I have experienced and witnessed many more malfunctions with 1911's than with glocks. But to all their own. Hey get a glock 20, more power than a 45 1911 with 15 in the mag
 
BigLebowski65 said:
Someone whose strong hand gets injured and he has to return fire with his weak hand? Just a thought…
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I hear if you stand on your head and kick your feet back and forth to the beat of Fat-Bottomed Girls, the Glock will also jam up every time.

Seriously, let's not be absurd here. Is your left hand really so much weaker than your right that you couldn't hold a remotely firm grip on a glock? It doesn't take a body builder, you just have to actually HOLD it.
 
Skrapmetal said:
I hear if you stand on your head and kick your feet back and forth to the beat of Fat-Bottomed Girls, the Glock will also jam up every time.

Seriously, let's not be absurd here. Is your left hand really so much weaker than your right that you couldn't hold a remotely firm grip on a glock? It doesn't take a body builder, you just have to actually HOLD it.
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Here is a quote from one of the viewers of those videos:

• Arguably, one might sustain injuries in a gunfight or have to retrieve a gun and fire rapidly. Either one of these could result in an unintentional limpwrist firing. A gun should not just be reliable under optimal firing conditions. One might not *intentionally* limpwrist a gun while firing. If nerves are damaged in a firefight or the hand injured, clearing a malfunction caused by such an injury just adds to the complications.

Here is another:

• …a firearm should be reliable even under the most unlikely circumstances. Every time I hear a fanboy yell "Your grip's improper, not the gun's fault!", I want to ask them what they plan on doing if their shooting arm, hand, or finger ever become too disabled to use perfect form in a crisis. Give up? Stop and do a malfunction drill? Throw it at the guy?
Their usual response is "That'll never happen, I have good form". Well, you might not always! A full-size/weight handgun that can't tolerate some limp wristing is a liability in CCW.

I cannot disagree with those opinions.
 
BigLebowski65 said:
Here is a quote from one of the viewers of those videos:

• Arguably, one might sustain injuries in a gunfight or have to retrieve a gun and fire rapidly. Either one of these could result in an unintentional limpwrist firing. A gun should not just be reliable under optimal firing conditions. One might not *intentionally* limpwrist a gun while firing. If nerves are damaged in a firefight or the hand injured, clearing a malfunction caused by such an injury just adds to the complications.

Here is another:

• …a firearm should be reliable even under the most unlikely circumstances. Every time I hear a fanboy yell "Your grip's improper, not the gun's fault!", I want to ask them what they plan on doing if their shooting arm, hand, or finger ever become too disabled to use perfect form in a crisis. Give up? Stop and do a malfunction drill? Throw it at the guy?
Their usual response is "That'll never happen, I have good form". Well, you might not always! A full-size/weight handgun that can't tolerate some limp wristing is a liability in CCW.

I cannot disagree with those opinions.
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I can. The videos that those comments are from are not even examples of limp wristing. They are exaggerated finger-grips that you will never use in a "firefight"... If you are down to the point where you are shooting a firearm the way he does in that video, you've got worse problems than ejection failures. Or you're the star of the next Die Hard movie.

If you want to throw around "what if"s all day about absurd scenarios that would cause you to shoot a Glock that way and cause failures, you have to accept the hundreds of equally absurd scenarios that would render a 1911 into a fancy paperweight.
 
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