45 acp

[JParanee]

Is the magazine not fully inserted? A lot of space at the bottom.

It is an 8 round Ed Brown .. A bit long

 

[richstag]

u812 - I will check into this, thanks!

flatlander - NICE!!!

RedbeAR15 - Thankyou!!

I think I will go by the range and a dealer near by that both happen to be HK authorized dealers. Hopefully the range will have one and I can figure this out very quickly.

BTW, I looked at the Les Baer/Busse Combat Package. Now we are way back on topic!!!

Thanks again everyone. I will report back with what I come up with.

 

[rbmcmjr]

A couple that haven't been mentioned yet:

CZ-97B

S&W 4516

HK P9S

The 4516 is unstoppable. It's a heavy little booger, but it's also dead reliable. The P9 is accurate but almost too rare to use. The CZ is a big piece, but works great.

The 4516 sees the majority of use. I've been dabbling with a Commander, but have not yet committed to it the way I have with the Smith.

 

[jsrice]

Id go with a glock 21sf-short frame. 13 rounds of .45. You can get ambi mag release 2. Round cap. of a hk23 w/o the bulk. Its as accurate as my sig p220 so far.

 

[shunsui]

The 4516 is unstoppable. It's a heavy little booger, but it's also dead reliable...
The 4516 sees the majority of use.

That brings back some memories. I've got a buddy who has the old S&W 645 full size auto from Miami Vice fame. Novak had some trigger mods and a replacement ambi safety lever that cleaned it up pretty well.

http://www.deactivated-guns.co.uk/i...Smith_and_Weson_645/smith_wesson_mod645_5.jpg

 

[Sagittarius]

"I am in the market for a new one. I was narrowed down on the HK MARK 23".

Might as well stop right there; there is no better .45 in all the world, jmo ! :thumbup:
I like the Sig P220 for 2nd place.

 

[1whobuys]

I've had 2 or 3 SOCOM's they shoot great, are about 30% quieter thana Sig 220 but are Monster sized guns.
I have sold them all and stay with the regular 1911's.

If you want a 70 Gold Cup National Match gun email me...I have one I'm getting ready to move...Cheap..it is in wonderful shape.

 

[Buffalohump]

Are you planning on carrying this gun regularly?

If so, the MK 23 is not an option, unless you have the same shoe size as The Rock.

I have a Colt Series 70 and that too is a lot of gun to tote around with 8 rounds in the mag. But at least its fairly slim.

If you want a pistol that you will actually be happy to tote around, I would look at the H&K USP Compact.

Even the full size USP is a big pistol and heavy, when fully loaded.

I think the USP Compact or Glock 30 are the way to go, from a practical standpoint.

From a purely aesthetic POV, Kimber, Les Baer, Wilson Combat are all awesome - hell, yeah!

 

[UDDwaine]

For around the $1000 mark you mentioned, the S&W 1911s are great.

Now, if you want to talk the $2000 mark, then you cannot go wrong with an Ed Brown.

 

[oldrifleman]

For around $1000, I would go take a hard look at the Dan Wessons. I picked up a Classic Bob-Tail Commander for mid 8s in Feb. It has zero MIM parts, it is a series 70 pistol.

 

[moonwilson]

My favorite Sig Sauer in .45 Auto is the P220R Carry SAO. It, too, is the size of 1911 Commander, and has a great trigger. I own two of them. The all-black one wears Nill grips:

My Two-Tone version wears standard grips:

Sig P220 for the win! :thumbup: I ended up buying mine after posting a similar thread a while back. I like it much better than any 1911 I've ever shot. I think the Sig and the HK are roughly equivalent in terms of toughness, accuracy and price. Sig got the nod from me because of the trigger. All of the HKs I tried out had horrible, jerky, stacking triggers. The P220 trigger is the best "out of the box" trigger on an automatic I've ever felt. YMMV.
The one drawback to the P220 is the weight- they are not light weapons. They are built like tanks and they feel like it when you carry them. But this translates to a plus when you're shooting them- felt recoil is negligible, and muzzle climb is slight.

 

[Steel-Junky]

Just a warning... If you plan to carry this gun you'll want to avoid the Mark 23. It is a pig. It almost the size of a desert eagle without the extra thud. It's a great gun though. I own one and love it... but I don't carry it.

As far as 1911s go... I really like the All Stainless S&W 1911 with the light rail on it. I am seriously considering getting on of these for carry. I've heard great things about them.

 

[UDDwaine]

Sig P220 for the win! :thumbup: I ended up buying mine after posting a similar thread a while back. I like it much better than any 1911 I've ever shot. I think the Sig and the HK are roughly equivalent in terms of toughness, accuracy and price. Sig got the nod from me because of the trigger. All of the HKs I tried out had horrible, jerky, stacking triggers. The P220 trigger is the best "out of the box" trigger on an automatic I've ever felt. YMMV.
The one drawback to the P220 is the weight- they are not light weapons. They are built like tanks and they feel like it when you carry them. But this translates to a plus when you're shooting them- felt recoil is negligible, and muzzle climb is slight.

I have a P220 as well, one of the ealier stamped slide WG models, and its trigger is no where close to the S&W, or Ed Brown, 1911s. It is a great gun, and I have several Sigs, but from an overall accuracy point of view, the P220 is behind the 1911s.

The only Sig that is close to my Ed Browns in accuracy is my Sig X5.

For a carry gun, that level of acuracy is not important, since it will be close range shooting if any in that case.

 

[lunde]

moonwilson, you wrote:

The one drawback to the P220 is the weight- they are not light weapons. They are built like tanks and they feel like it when you carry them. But this translates to a plus when you're shooting them- felt recoil is negligible, and muzzle climb is slight.

It sounds like you're referring to the P220ST, which is all-stainless, and about 40 ounces. Here is one of mine wearing Nill Master II grips and with a ten-round magazine:

The standard P220, including the P220R Carry, have alloy frames, and their weight is closer to 30 ounces. Still, they're built like tanks.

 

[I'mGatMan!]

I keep seeing all these favorable opinions about Kimbers, but my experiences with them were bad. Of course, I'm one guy out of many, but IMHO they are NOT worth the price. QA is down, and I actually heard from a local smith that he has seen many of them in the shop for rusting. He told me that Kimber appears to be using stainless steel with more carbon in it than earlier on, and as a result there are problems with guns rusting/pitting very quickly.

If I were going to buy a production 1911 right now, it'd either be a a Colt, an S&W 1911pd with the melonite finish, or a mid/high grade Springfield. Won't own another Kimber until something changes.

That said...I'm still just one guy with my own experiences and the hearsay of a few others. I love the 1911 platform, but prefer simpler, more tolerant guns. I will someday own an Ed Brown or something similar. No Wilson Combat, no Kimber.

J

 

[Bravado]

If you want something that's going to run very well get a Glock! Yeah I'm a fan of 1911's but when my life is on the line I'm going with the Glock!

 

[modus]

My advice is handle a few and find which one suits your hand best and feels most ergonomic/natural. There are a bunch of fine pistols out there. Best bang for the Buck are the XD's in 45 with it's glock like build, free holster, loader etc, but has a huge handle.

I find glocks, which are a fine gun in their own right, angle wrong.

1911s and p220s too narrow.

XDs and 226's just right.

YMMV

 

[DowntownDM]

my favorite .45s are:

- custom Colt 1911s by Ted Yost and crew at Heirloom Precision
- semi-custom 1911s by Ed Brown, especially the Kobra and Kobra Carry
- early/West German Sig P220s, especially those worked over by Gray Guns

There are many fine .45s out there, but those are the ones I really love.

Best of luck.

I have no real experience with the HKs, other than shooting a couple of hundred rounds through one at the range one day - and while it worked fine and was plenty accurate - it felt like a huge plastic toy, like a kid's raygun or something. Not my cup of tea at all (whereas, conversely, I do love the G20 which is also large and plastic... go figure...).

 

[GregB]

If you like the grip angle of the 1911, but want higher capacity, try the XD in .45ACP. It's my favorite Hi Cap .45.

GregB

 

[modus]

my favorite .45s are:


- early/West German Sig P220s, especially those worked over by Gray Guns
(whereas, conversely, I do love the G20 which is also large and plastic... go figure...).

I have a circa 1991 stamped W. Germany 220 I'd like to sell..what do you think it's worth?

It's so true about pistols what works for some may not work for others. There is no one size fits all here.