Originally Posted by Puller

Many have a real or imagined romance with the 1911 .45ACP. While there is nothing wrong with the .45ACP caliber, according to Larry Vickers, you may want to find another pistol platform to shoot it from.

That's essentially the message ex- Delta Force, author and now self defense gun instructor Larry Vickers tells his students. Larry Vickers goes on to say that he has seen about every make and model of 1911 in his classes, along with every type of failure to fire, jam, and failure to feed situation that you can possibly think of with the 1911 and his end message to students is this; "Unless you have $3,500+ to spend on a well fitted and tuned 1911 as well as understand exactly what ammo it personally likes to feed & eat best then, just go buy a Glock!"

Every time I think about getting another 1911 I think about Larry Vickers message and instead turn my thoughts to a more modern designed .45 ACP that holds twice the ammo while still being nimble and, most importantly, goes "bang" every time you pull the trigger. Oh, and for $3,500 I could buy a several decked out modern polymer pistols with money left over for .45 ACP ammo versus owning a minimal acceptable 1911 while praying I can locate the exact manufacture and bullet weight my specific 1911 is reliable with (more challenging to do today with ammo shortages). Yes, there is no denying that a forged steel, hand fitted 1911 with a trigger that breaks like glass is a beautiful piece of mechanical engineering, but for serious work perhaps it's better for such 1911's to reside as vault queens in 2021 .

I wonder who has made the journey into the world of 1911 platform pistols and then left for other more modern pistol platforms which exhibit better reliability, increased ammo capacity, are less picky about ammo to feed, are more nimble and have the ability to add red dot sights, lights, etc.? Conversely, if you journeyed into the world of 1911's and decided to stay primarily with the 1911 platform, what makes you stay when the evidence seems overwhelming that a more modern pistol platform just has too many advantages to over look ?