I'm a 1911 guy from way back. To me the only two calibers for a proper 1911 are .45acp and .38 Super. I have plenty of both.
I always considered a 9mm 1911 to be pure blasphemy!
However, not long ago as part of another deal, I ended up with 4 brand new 9mm 1911 magazines. So now I'm kinda thinking why not? I'm open to it if the right deal comes along.

I've actually seen the Colt used by Tom Selleck on the show. Evidently he purchased it and has since donated it to the NRA's National Firearm Museum. The actual main prop from the show; Colt MKIV/Series 70 Government Model, 9×19mm Parabellum.

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I type. Therefore I am.

It is in remarkably good condition for a TV show prop, then again, it was not featured in that many episodes.

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VCDL, GOA, NRA

i have a 9mm colt bought new. it has 9mm on the clip also. it is a collecters item. and nice to shoot.

I thought the same thing when I first saw it. Compare that to the Model 19 used by Danny Glover in the Lethal Weapon movies. Or ,even better, the Beretta 92F used by Mel Gibson in the first movie and Bruce Willis in Die Hard. Those two handguns saw some hard usage. The extended slide release on the Beretta was installed for Willis because he is a southpaw.

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I type. Therefore I am.

Though much smaller for the CCW market the Kimber Micro 9 is an example of a 1911 designed around the 9mm and also the Sig alternative. Ive had several Star model Bs and though they are there own thing nevertheless they are heavy steel guns that are about the same size as a traditional 9mm 1911. Parts and magazine availability can get ridiculous with those Star pistols so I stick to the traditional 1911 design. I never had a Star BM however could never get into one because the new line of carry 9mms make the BM completely obsolete. You can find them ridiculously cheap though on the used surplus market which makes them attractive as long as the price is right.

The whole discussion, illustrated:

Nowlin Sr. did not build many complete pistols, so when I found a six inch 9mm Challenger, I just bought it. It is so smooth that any of my Swiss P210s seem crude. It is a fantastic shooter and a perfect gun when good shooting results count!

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FFL08

in the 60's, colt added a few new cartriges (like 9mm) there is a few more that i don't remember all of them, one was that bottle neck shell.

The bottleneck cartridge was the .38/.45 Clerke. I don't think this was ever a factory chambering.



.38/.45 Clerke - Wikipedia

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VCDL, GOA, NRA

Shot my Sig 1911 yesterday. Been sitting for some time. It is ,5" acp. Did pretty darn good with it. Have a S&W .45 acp. 5". Then there is a RIA Tactical II, in .40 S&W. It is a commander. Lastly have a RIA Tactical in 9mm, 5" barrel. I like them all! Bob

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If you can get your hands on a Dan Wesson ECO that would be good money spent. I consider that gun one of the best 9mm 1911s you can get if not the best 9mm in any configuration period! Also the Ruger Officer size SR1911 is a good money too if you dont got the cabbage for the ECO.

The Hi-Power is a great gun but it's discontinued, "new" or "like-new" examples are pricey. It still has pretty good support but even that can't hold a candle to the support for 1911s. It was never available in the variety of formats (Officer, Commander, etc.) that the 1911 is. At least not on a production gun basis.

For new purchases today the BHP isn't really a practical option. The 1911 has wide availability in any price range and enormous parts / magazine / repair support. Despite its age its popularity seems to constantly increase. It's phenomenal really.

I shoot revolvers mostly. But even I have two 1911's. A .45 and a 9mm.

Only new Colt Commander I owned was a 9mm back in early 70s. Had S&W 39 and Browning HP at time. The only good point of the 1911 in 9mm was that it tolerated and functioned with any 9mm you could shove in it.
Down side was lousy accuracy. Also I never wanted a Win m70, 22 Hornet.
Why carry full size package with cartridge of less power?

Most 1911s with full length guide rods have a hole in the hide rod designed to allow a bent paper clip or similar “disassembly tool” to be inserted.



When you release the slide, it maintains the compression on the recoil spring so that you can remove the slide with out having to fight the recoil spring.



It then allows you to remove the recoil spring assembly.



At that point you can leave it that way apply some oil and just reinstall it, or you can put pressure on the spring to hold it, remove the paper clip and slowly release the spring.




——


Not all 1911s with solid guide rods used that method. My first 1911 was a Randall Combat Model and while it had a full length guide rod, it had a slot cut in it to allow you to depress the open ended recoil spring retainer by the edge with the base of the magazine and then rotate the barrel bushing through the slot in the guide rod. From that point disassembly was like a GI 1911.

Given the rib on the side of the 9mm magazines I have never mistaken a 9mm magazine for a .45 ACP magazine or vice versa.

I have however mistaken the shorter officer model magazine for the full size magazine. *That* is a serious problem as the magazine will seat just fine with the bullet way too low to feed.



I normally only carry the full length magazines in my spare magazine carrier. The full size magazines function just fine in the commander grip frame 1911s and give you an extra round. The extra length also makes them very positive to seat, even without a bumper pad on the bottom.

The perfect 9 mm 1911 has been with us since the 20's in the form of a 38 Super. No need to reinvent the wheel.

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That's just somebody talkin.

I’m a bit biased as I have three Star BM pistols and in total they cost me about the same as my single Micro 9.

I had high hopes for the Micro 9 but I think the Star BM does it better in every category in terms of actual shooting. At 37 ounces loaded it is much more controllable and can be shot with accuracy much faster than the 21 oz Micro 9. The Star BM is a pound more to carry, but it is very well sized to the 9mm Luger cartridge and carries 9 rounds rather than just 7 in the Micro 9.

The Star BM retains most of the pleasant handling of the 1911, but in a slightly smaller yet still easy to control and comfortable to shoot all day long package.

It’s a matter of chamber pressure and bore diameter.

The 9mm Luger operates at magnum pressures of 35,000 psi, just like the .357 Magnum and blasts it out the same diameter bore. The 9mm+P operates at 38,500 psi, 3500 psi more than the .357 Magnum.

In comparison the .45 ACP operates at 21,000 psi (and 23,000 psi in +P form).

In terms of decibels, the difference is significant. The 9mm Luger produces 160 dB while the .45 ACP produces 157 dB. That doesn’t sound like much difference until you consider that the acoustic energy measured by decibels is not linear. The acoustic energy level doubles every 3 dB, so the 9mm is literally twice as loud as the .45 ACP.

That also makes the .45 ACP less damaging to you as the shooter and your hearing when you are forced to fire in self defense in an enclosed space.

I’m split roughly 50/50 on the issue.

I *like* .45 ACP and I’m old enough to recall when 9mm Luger first became a thing in US law enforcement. It got off to a bad start with a few jurisdictions insisting it be fielded with FMJ ammo under the flawed argument that if it is good enough for NATO it’s good enough for law enforcement, without understanding the key differences in roles and rules. The poor performance continued with the less than reliable hollow points available then.

On the other hand I noted shooting practical pistol competition that I could score 3 A zone hits with a 1911 in 9mm in the same it took to score just 2 A zone hits with a 1911 in .45 ACP.

I realized that the major/minor category distinctions and scoring formats generally still gave the advantage to the .45 ACP. At the same time I also realized:

1) practical pistol shooting and rules designed to promote competition were causing it to become increasingly removed from the reality of real world shoots;

2) that Jeff Cooper had become out of date;

3) modern 9mm hollow points were not giving up much at all to the .45 ACP in terms of terminal performance on assailants;

4) three wound channels in an assailant form modern 9mm hollow points had a significantly better chance of obtaining rapid incapacitation than 2 wound channels from .45 ACP hollow points fired in the same amount of time; and

5) you can carry 9 or 10 rounds per magazine with 9mm compared to 7 or 8 for the .45 ACP.

In short, it’s hard to argue against the 9mm 1911 compared to a 1911 in .45 ACP when it comes to self defense.

Either way the 1911 has a generally excellent trigger with a very short reset and it double taps faster than just about any other pistol on the planet. The 9mm Luger cartridge just takes that to full advantage.

That change over time is reflected In my current stable of 1911s

On the left side I have the .45 ACP pistols with a Kimber Gold Match II, a Charles Daly version of the Colt Commander, a Kimber Compact CDP II, and a Kimber Ultra Carry II.

The the right side, I have a Ruger SR1911 Lightweight Commander, a Kimber Pro Carry II, a Citadel Officer Model, and (with honorable mention as a sorta 1911, but one very right sized for the 9mm Luger cartridge) one of my three Star BM 9mm pistols.

Right now, nearly all my concealed carry is split between the Kimber CDP and the Pro Carry. I shoot both of them extremely well. I’m slightly faster with the 9mm Pro Carry, but the .45 ACP is still .45 ACP and still inspires a great deal of confidence when it smacks a steel plate. That confidence easily generalizes to self defense purposes.

You can have it all on one .45 frame. Easy to find a 9mm slide which can be used for both 9mm and .38 Super, matching barrels, and a 9mm/.38 Super ejector. That, plus magazines (and recoil springs), gives you three CF calibers on the same frame. You can interchange in a couple of minutes.

Then there is the .400 Cor-Bon, for which I have the greatest admiration. Just a necked-down .45 ACP, a very simple case to form if you have the reloading dies, and they are readily available from Lee. Forget factory ammo. The only drawback is the magazine capacity is the same as .45 ACP. All you need to convert is a .400 Cor-Bon barrel. I bought one for $40 some years ago. Ballistically, it can be loaded to 10mm levels if you wish. I don't do that.
.400 Cor-Bon - Wikipedia

According to John Browning there is a better option.....

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Who watches the watchers?

One of the positives of many of the 9mm 1911s out there (Ruger, Kimber, etc) is the barrel integrated feed ramp.

I particularly like that feature with aluminum frame 1911s as some magazines (with compressible magazine followers that allow an extra round) will “peck” at an aluminum feed ramp when the last round in the magazine drags the follower forward. A barrel integrated feed ramp makes that a non issue.

An integrated feed ramp is not essential to reliability (I have a Citadel 1911 in 9mm with a conventional feed ramp that is very reliable), but it makes it easier to engineer a reliable 9mm
1911.

In any case, having multiple slides/barrels in multiple calibers for a 1911 is certainly a valid approach, just be careful that you are getting a package that has been well engineered to function reliably with all of the cartridges involved.



——-



Someone also commented that the 9mm in a 1911 wastes the available space in the magazine well. My thoughts on that are “not really”. That’s particularly true in the commander and officer model frame 1911s were the slide over run distance goes from not much to almost none.

Most 9mm magazines are designed with a spacer in the back that moves the cartridge forward slightly. That creates more slide over run distance and generally improves reliability, especially in the shorter slide 1911s where the slide over run distance is reduced compared to a full size 1911.

A .45 ACP S&W semi auto??? What? Thats crazy talk! Why???

Because the Performance Center Target Champignon easily outshoots most 1911s.

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FFL08

SA Mil Spec still in the safe.

The Colt Series 80 Mark IV Govt model was bought used with some kitchen table Gunsmithing done to it. Been awhile since I checked but it’s probably about 30 years old. New Commander Hammer, Sear, recoil spring and she is a Decent shooter. Now that I got the extractor just right she is rock solid as far as reliability.

The Kimber Custom 2 Two tone is a more accurate (I think they call it “tack driver”) but less reliable gun. About a stovepipe every couple magazines or so on the last trip. Extractor seems to be fine so haven’t figured it out yet. May be a magazine issue, could be a more Magazine sensitive gun than the Colt. Next time out will probably have to take enough to cycle through each mag at least 3 times then take time to isolate out and label each one based on performance. She was bought new and is 1-200 rounds past the 500 round break in. A lot of people say some Kimbers are glitchy until the 5-600 round mark then they suddenly just run. So I should know what it needs after the next trip out.

I don’t regret messing with the platform. They are fun shooters, you just have to know you’re shooting ammo the platform wasn’t designed for so some tuning may be necessary.

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Shot a friend's Wilson Combat 1911 9mm. Sweet trigger and amazing accuracy. My personal 1911 inventory includes a full size .45 ACP Sig Blackwater, and a recently inherited micro 9mm Sig p938. Happy with both .

What!? 77 posts and I'm the only guy who carrys the torch for the "House Brand" 9mm 1911? Really there's no more difference in the .45 vs 9mm in the 1911, than there is in the .357 vs .44 in the N-frame.

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Wayne
Torn & Frayed

Blasphemy!

When I want to shoot or carry a full size 9mm...it's a Browning High Power.

1911 is a .45acp

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Stay protected my friends.

The 1911 has been chambered for the 9mm since about 1948-49; the .38 Super since about 1930. Nothing new. I have a couple 9mm 1911s. So much fun to shoot.

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213th FBINA

I just put my Springfield RO Compact up for sale. Great gun. I actually love the way it's put together...cone style barrel, integral ramp, reverse plug, dual stage guide rod, alloy frame...I carried it a lot, but didn't particularly enjoy shooting it.

At the end of the day my all steel 5" 45 carries just a little worse, but is my favorite shooter and gun overall. It gives up only one round to the compact nine.

I have always considered that having multi-caliber capability in a handgun is a wise idea, even if you are a single caliber preference person. That is especially true at present and possibly even more so in the near future. My multi-caliber M1911 (.45/9mm/.38 S/.400 Cor-Bon/.22 LR), and it is a M1911 from 1918, has always performed flawlessly with all calibers, and nothing resembling any serious gunsmithing was ever needed. Of course, nearly every internal frame component has been replaced over the last 50 years of use. About all I can say beyond that is that having an assortment of slide springs of different weights is important.

I went from concealed carrying a 5” 1911 way back in the day all the way down to a 3” Ultra Carry. And then I worked my way back up to a Commander sized 1911. It seems to be the sweet spot for me.

I’m ok with .45 ACP or 9mm and carry and shoot both on a regular basis.

If I lived in a jurisdiction where I had to designate a limited number of pistols on a concealed handgun permit, I’d definitely make sure they were multi caliber capable.

I’d probably go with a 1911 in .22LR, 9mm and .45 ACP plus a revolver with .38 Special and .357 Mag capability.

I still have a .400 Cor Bon barrel but I didn’t much like shooting it. It was unnecessarily hard on the frame snd didn’t really offer any advantage over .45 ACP. But if the only bullets I could find were .401 diameter, I’d dig it back out and put it back in service.

What was that .38 revolver made in Texas back in the 1990s which would chamber and shoot about any cartridge (rimmed or rimless) close to .38? It could use .380, 9mm, .38 Super (and its close kin rimless 9x23s), .38 Special (and also the .38 Short and Long Colt), and .357 Mag? Maybe even .38 S&W but I'm not sure about that. I saw one at the last local gun show, first one I had seen for a long time. For those who may not be aware, SOME .38 Special and .357 Mag revolvers may be usable with SOME brands of .38 Super ammo.

That isn't a 9mm.

A 1911 in .45 ACP was used in the initial pilot and first couple episodes, but was swapped for a series 70 1911 in 9mm as 9mm blanks were easier to obtain. You**™ll also see a Star Model B in a couple early episodes, apparently before they acquired a 1911 in 9mm.

Here**™s the Star Model B in S1 E3:



Here’s the link to the Series 70 9mm in the NRA Museum in Fairfax VA.

NRA Museums:

the Colt Commanding Officer. Officer's slide & barrel on a standard length grip frame


1911 9mm perfection

Ned

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Devil's afraid I'll take over.

I think that if you like it, go for it.

But when I think back to it, 12 years ago before it really started to get going amongst the big name trainers. I attended a rifle course with Super Dave Harrington and he said 9mm was where it was at as he shot his Wilson Combat (IIRC) full size 1911. He had sights of his own design on it and he was VERY fast and accurate.
Then you have people like Ken Hackathorn and Bill Wilson saying 9mm is today's best choice.
I think that the people that are too busy listening to themselves to listen to SME's are really hamstringing themselves.

I think they shoot really nice. I need to get a proper photo of the Dan Wesson.

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SWCA #2922

That would be the Medusa. It was mentioned in a recent issue of American Handgunner.

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Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220

Aw, shucks, the proliferation in this
day and age of the 9mm 1911 is
merely history attempting to correct
a mistake made in 1911.

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Ubi Est Mea

Welllll....mostly Dieudonné Saive, but yeah.
That said, if I'm not carrying a Hi Power, I carry a Ruger SR1911 Lightweight Commander in 9mm.

I used to mess around with a lot of Star "1911 style" pistols. I always liked them. I still collect them! There really isnt anything like it as far as an all steal 1911-ish small 9mm. There is however some very good NEW options now that I think are better than the Star BM. Ruger SR1911 9mm Officer comes to mind and also the Dan Wesson ECO. Two excellent 9mms that I think make the BM take a back seat. Better size and weight and you can actually get new mags and parts for them which grow on trees.

Probably the Medusa.. Or what I like to call the hobos gun cuz you can carry a sack of mixed up ammo on a stick and shoot all day with it.. The gun really should be called the rich mans lucky find because good luck finding one and if you do you will pay the piper for it.

It is you can see the tell tale 9mm mag being slammed into the mag well by Mr Selleck.

I can tell you that my 9mm Range Officer is my wife’s favorite gun to shoot. My 10 year old really enjoys it also but he is just happy to shoot anything. And almost everyone that shoots with me almost always gravitates back to the 9mm Range Officer. The general consensus is that the 9mm 1911 shoots very soft, smooth, accurate and is easy to rack the slide.

So I decided to be a cool guy and steal all your women once again... I went to don my Japanese warrior samurai robes and tighten the belt of my samurai sword around my ripped killer abs and get the new Ronin Operator. Women from a 600 mile radius will now be drawn to my animal magnetism in thanks to Springfield Armory. More specifically its the new Ronin "Commander" thats in the nine em em. A lot of things I like and a few things I hate. Im going to cover the things I like first. Its a 9mm which is super awesome Magnum PI kinda stuff. Since its in that caliber I like the forged aluminum frame that it gives you. Its lighter and very comfortable to shoot. If it was 45 I would want an all steel frame. I like how this "Commander" model has a 4.25 inch barrel with a normal GI style guide rod and actually has a bushing and cap. Makes getting and putting in different upgraded parts and springs much easier. Speaking of that its also a "70 series" style so that makes it easier to work on too. The two tone look is great too. There is a few things I dislike about it. I didnt expect this gun to have slim bushings in it. Ill have to change out those slim grip bushings because I dislike them and find them pointless just making grip changes more difficult since I have no slim grips. I knew the EMP had them but I guess this gun has them too. Unfortunate but nothing that cant be resolved. Also one mag? Really??? Its 2022 man we need more mags! Get with the program SA! So this gun looks to have potential as a shooter. We shall see... More to come! LOL Ronin...

I'm with Walter's earlier post. My Colt Series 70 in 38 Super checks the "1911, not 45acp" box quite nicely.

I'm a little late to the party, but I have the SA Ronin EMP 9mm w/4" barrel (it's bottom left in the photo) and am quite pleased with it. It is one sweet shooter.

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