My First Impressions of the 1911 Platform

One of my co-workers lent me an M1911 A1 pistol to take shooting. He caught a whiff of a general desire on my part to get a .45 and, although he doesn't want to part with this one, he did offer an exchange: I can shoot a box of his ammunition through his gun if I give it a cleaning. Deal!

Background: I have never had anything to do with a 1911 before. Never so much as handled one outside a gun show. Never shot, disassembled, or cleaned one. Ever.

A couple of nights ago I found a series of disassembly and reassembly videos on youtube and #2 was keeping me company while I gave it a detail strip and cleaning. He hung out until my Darling Wife got home at well-past-bedtime o'clock and he had to miss the reassembly, but he'll probably see it the next time I have the weapon apart for cleaning (we're supposed to go shooting next weekend). After he went to bed, I ran a few presentation drills for comparison with my Glock Model 22 and considered the two weapons in relationship to each other. Here are my initial impressions:

The 1911 is classy in a way that the Glock is merely functional. It was made when every weapon produced warranted individual care and fitting. There are a hundred things you can tweak to make one better, and then you have a classy pistol that is uniquely your own, runs perfectly, and shoots a devastatingly powerful round. The Glock is mass-produced and so well done that you can mix and match and still end up with a gun that is reliable to the point of being boring. The 1911 is a case of form and function coinciding. The Glock is strictly an expression of function, although there is a certain beauty to that, also. Looks are a matter of taste so it's a wash. Both have their own flavor of mechanical excellence so that's a wash, too.

I have full size man hands. I do not have any difficulty getting a grip on a Glock, and so the slightly-smaller 1911 has no great appeal from that angle. In fact, to me, right now, the 1911 platform is (sit down 1911 lovers) just another pistol as far as the grip goes. I decided long ago that the Glock vs. 1911 debate comes down to personal preference. That they have differently-shaped grips throws some people off completely and they can't cope. Me? I have got my hands used to grabbing the Glock so it naturally points straight for me. When I first clicked off the thumb safety and pointed, the 1911 pointed low for me. End of the world? Hardly. I just shifted my grip. Then the 1911 pointed fine. The Glock has a larger protrusion where the 1911's mainspring housing is, and if you align the bore with your forearm, it will point about 15 degrees high. If you align the 1911 on a line that goes from your elbow to your wrist, it will point straight. A Glock will point high. If you rotate the swell on the Glock's grip just a little farther away from the palm of your hand, the muzzle comes down where it should, and the recoil force is no longer in a straight line with your bones, so you have to use your grip and muscles to control muzzle flip. If you hold it properly, no big deal. If you are going to carry a pistol, you should train with it to the point that you don't even have to think about your grip, and this becomes a non-issue.

Capacity: Sure, the Glock holds more rounds. If you need them all, you are either a) a terrible marksman or b) in a steaming pile of poo (pack of dogs/zombie invasion).

Trigger feel/action: a wash. My Glock has a factory 3.5lbs trigger and a '1000-round trigger job'. It breaks as cleanly as a Glock trigger can, right at 3.5lbs. It is about as good as a Glock trigger gets. This 1911 has a heavier trigger. It's not a problem and can be dealt with by a competent gunsmith. I have felt triggers on pistols that seemed as if the hand of God himself must have put a whetstone to the sear. It is a beautiful thing, truly, like driving a sports car you will never be able to afford, or eating a steak prepared by someone who knows what they are doing. In my opinion, however, paying 2 to 10 times as much for a pistol because of the trigger alone is NOT a worthy trade-off at this point in my life.

Power: obviously the 1911 wins over the G22, which is why I care to go bigger than .40S&W in the first place. A 230-grain JHP loaded to +P levels will give a Goblin something to think about. I wouldn't mind getting a 10mm Glock, or a .45ACP or .45GAP for that matter. Between the weapons in my hand that night, the 1911 was obviously the winner.

Maintenance: a wash. The 1911 is its own toolbox, which is very cool and absolutely wonderful in the field where you might have to piss in the action to clean it. If you have access to a simple set of tools, even improvised tools, the Glock is not too bad to take all the way down.

Sights: Glock wins, hands down. Mine has factory night sights, and the 1911 is as-issued with a set of GI sights. The GI sights are unimpressive in the first place, but against the BIG WHITE DOTS or GLOWING GREEN DOTS, they are decidedly slower and harder to use. Not hard to use, but harder.

Weight: It's a few ounces, deal with it. I call it a wash.

Ergonomics: a wash. The Glock is fatter in the slide, which is a little harder to conceal. Big whoopty. The Glock has a trigger "safety" and the 1911 has a grip and a thumb safety. Big whoopty. The real safety lies not between the hands but between the ears. The shape of the weapon is something you train to deal with, whether it be designed by the sainted John Moses Browning (pbuh) or someone named Gaston something. The grips I already mentioned.

One clear win for the Glock: the rail. I have a Glock light for my Glock and it's like the sun at social distances and a pretty decent flashlight across the yard. 1911: No rail. That light alone makes the Glock a better house gun IMO but I'm sure there will be a few of you who disagree. :D

The 1911 is an interesting pistol and I took it out shooting this weekend and hope to do again next weekend. Range reports soon to follow.