A Different Sort of 1911

[brucev]

The very first handgun I ever bought was a blued Colt Commander Ser. 70 in (of course) .45 ACP. I've been shooting different 1911's since 1980, all of them in .45 ACP. A few weeks ago I was at the LGS to do some shooting. I looked in the display case and saw a used Springfield 1911 in 9mm. There was a meeting of the minds and the pistol went home with me. This past Tuesday afternoon I had time to get to the range while my grandson was taking his afternoon nap. This pistol shoots like a champ! Out of the box my first round was a frogs hair above the precise center of the X in a B-27 firing one handed at 5 yds. The next three only made the first bullet hole a little bit larger. I was using cheap 9mm ball... Perfecta FMJ's imported by Wolf from Italy, possibly made by Fiocchi. Shooting at 5, 7, 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25 yds. I shot the qualification course my brother and I used to fire. Had one 8 at 3 o'clock, three 9's again at 3 o'clock. The rest were all in the 10/X ring. At 25 yds. I pulled four down to the 9 ring at 6 o'clock. All in all, I am extremely pleased. With a bit of practice I expect this pistol will be just about ideal for shooting matches at the local PD when they have a fund raiser for the Cancer Society, etc. I've always used a revolver and will likely continue to use revolvers. But, this 1911 in 9mm will be nice to have available. Seems they have a rule that one cannot use a handgun with a barrel over five inches long which rules out my six inch 686. Odd to me that they would draw the line at five inch barrels, but that does allow the 1911's... and of course four inch revolvers, etc. Had thought I'd end up trading the six inch 686 for a four inch. May still. But, right now this 9mm Springfield 1911 is looking real good. Sincerely. bruce.

 

[Bob O]

Nice read!! Pics please.

Sent via phone

 

[LEO918]

Well done Bruce! I'm down to two 1911s in 9mm right now and find them a joy to shoot with ammo costs about half the price of .45 ACP while
developing/retaining muscle memory for the 1911 pistol.

 

[Goblin]

Which SA model did you buy?

 

[WC145]

I'm a fan of 9mm 1911s, they're fun, accurate, and smoking fast. I've got a couple of them and just ordered a new Springfield EMP 4 Champion 9mm for our youngest to shoot in action pistol.

Yeah, Bruce, you gotta post pics or it didn't happen!

 

[GatorFarmer]

I messed around a bit with a Citadel full size 9mm a little while back. It shot well enough and was controllable, plus the ammo was relatively inexpensive. But...a 1911 in 9mm seemed...wrong.

Less subjectively, I already had a CZ 75 variant, which handles much the same as a 1911 and had more than twice the capacity (19 versus 9).

Some people find the 9mm only fits them in single stacks though, and a full size 1911 was a pleasure to shoot.

 

[model70hunter]

I've had 2 in 9mm, fun gun, accurate but for carry the 45 was more comforting.

 

[Grayfox]

But...a 1911 in 9mm seemed...wrong.

My feelings exactly. If you're gonna go to a mid-bore cartridge in a 1911, do it right. .38 Super!

 

[LEO918]

Well said. ^^^^^^^^^^

Well I'm down to two Colt Super .38s right now and find them a joy to shoot.

However the paper targets don't seem to notice and the ammo cost is still considerably higher than 9mm.

 

[t-astragal]

My granddad left me a series 70 colt in 9 mm. I'm about to send it off to be built into a target gun. Maybe I'll give it to my future grandson.


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