Rossi Rifleman

I'm looking for a 1911. The two that I'm kicking around are the Taurus and the Ruger. This is just for fun, not concealed carry, home defense or competition. I've never had a 1911 and have always wanted one. So I'm looking for a decent gun that won't break the bank. If I really like it, I may "upgrade" later. If I don't care for it, then I didn't spend $2,000 finding that out. I'm about 90% sure that the Ruger is a better gun, but it costs more and I was really wanting a blued version, not stainless. The Taurus actually has pretty good reviews, but I thought that I would run it by you guys as well. Also does the Taurus have a bushing around the barrel and a beveled magazine? How interchangeable are the Taurus parts with "standard" 1911 parts? Thoughts???

My opinion with 1911s, like a lot of other things, is spend what it takes to get what you think you want UP FRONT and don't settle with the intent of polishing and swapping parts later.

Of the two guns you mention I'd be all over the Ruger if we could get them in CA. Since we are limited by the CA-DOJ extortion list that's not an option. I do however know two or three folks who have bought them in other parts of the country and the only complaint I have ever heard about them is that some early production ones didn't have a flat breach face where the J cut was made. This is extremely easy to check for. You just check the breach face on the slide and look for it to be machined flat without any mismatch or ridge.

IMO, the best 1911s on the market for the money are probably the Sig, Kimber, Ruger and maybe the Para.
Colt is still treading on the name and their guns are not as reliable out of the box as they should be IMO.
Springfield makes a good gun but is still not broken in from the factory. You can fix that with a lot of cycling and/or proper use of a dremel but you shouldn't have to.
Rock Island / Armscor makes a good gun but they are not as nicely finished or polished as the ones mentioned above.

I've not handled the Taurus and only know one guy who has but I'd pay extra to get the Ruger, made in the U.S. and their reputation for backing their product. They've done well for me in the past.

The SR1911 runs very well. The price isn't horrible. No blue? Shame on Ruger. Might be the biggest reason I don't have one. Rock Island is the best for the (low) money I hear.

GG,
Funny thing is I think I've got 1 refinished Army Colt that's been parkerized, 2 parkarized Springfield 4" Champions, 1 Blue/Black Kimber, 1 Kimber CDP Ultra 3" due tone, a Para P14-45 and a P12-45 both black. Haven't bought a pure stainless 1911 yet.

Thing about a parkerized gun is you have to break it in and keep it lubricated. The finish almost has a tooth that has to wear in on the moving parts. Stainless needs to be lubricated to avoid any possibility of galling. One of my OCD buds with a stainless Kimber claims it drives him nuts trying to get it squeaky clean because you can see the dirt on it. That's never been a downside for me with SS guns.

Archer wrote:My opinion with 1911s, like a lot of other things, is spend what it takes to get what you think you want UP FRONT and don't settle with the intent of polishing and swapping parts

If that was the case, I'd never buy a Rossi M92

I love my 1911 and carry a full size Kimber tactical II a lot. They are the easiest gun to shot straight and accurate compared to anything else I've ever shot. Go to a range that lets you rent them and try them out. I know nothing about Taurus on 1911 except they are new to the 1911 game. I'd be wary of them just from that as there are springfields, kimbers, ruger are all great for the money. I know some will say get the springfield G.I. the cost is uasaully the reason. I don't suggest that I'd get the modernized( beavertailed safety, flared mag well, flared ejection port, just better refined, and it will be better for everything unless you want it historically correct for reenactments of some sort. Also if you reload you can buy different weight recoil springs to taylor the gun to operate correctly with different loads. WOLFF (sorry for the confusion my phone auto corrects thanks archer ) sells spring sets for this reason

dvw86 wrote:

Archer wrote:My opinion with 1911s, like a lot of other things, is spend what it takes to get what you think you want UP FRONT and don't settle with the intent of polishing and swapping parts

If that was the case, I'd never buy a Rossi M92

Got three of them for what it'd cost me to get 1 Winchester BUT I knew going in what I was getting and what I MIGHT have to do and the actions were reasonably slick out of the box. The only 'work' I've done so far is the 1000-1500 dry cycle in front of the TV, plus wipe off/out the cosmoline and change the lubricant two or three times during the dry cycle.

I DO plan on changing the follower for stainless and I DO plan on possibly refinishing the stocks on the .44 Mags BUT I haven't HAD to do anything. I have no intention or expectation that anything I do to the guns will increase their resale value.

Buying a 1911 on the cheap IMO tends to be worse. You CAN polish a Rock Island / Armscor gun BUT because the quality of the underlying steel is not as good you run the risk of uncovering a void in the steel. Buying a higher end gun that's already got the finish you want on it and the risk goes to zero.

First of all I highly recommend cleaning and relubricating ANY new gun before you take it to the range or attempt to fire it. That said:

IMO & IME when you buy the Sig or Kimber or maybe the Para you get a gun that works out of the box, no tweaking required. The only thing I've done to my new 5" guns is change out the recoil spring to a 18# weight for a little more positive action. These guns are re-blueprinted and the tolerance stacks have been worked out. I have had or seen people deal with all three of these companies and the customer service was very good.

IME and based on customer comments and feedback Springfield Armory 1911s are solid guns that require a multi hundred round count break in period before they are reliable. Springfield does not/did not tend to deburr or polish any of the internal edges on their guns. This leads to feeding issues especially with rounds other than ball ammo. I put around 400 rounds through my Springfield Champion Loaded before I started trusting it. I blame half that on the burrs and internal sharp edges and half of it on the parkerized finish wearing in. I might have cut down on that with a dremel but I tend to be real leery of that sort of thing and was more so then than now. Back in the mid to late 1980s Springfield had a reputation for not tensioning nor radiusing the extractors. This caused stovepipe jams and failures to eject. It was a simple fix but required a consumer KNOW what he was doing or a return trip to Springfield to fix something that should have been done at the factory. The past couple years I've seen three high end Springfields (two TRPs and one EMP) returned to the factory for reliability packages. Springfield customer service IMO is good but perhaps a half notch down from the companies above.

Colt tends to be hit or miss. Their guns tend to have sharp internal edges. The guns have NOT AFAIK been retoleranced /blueprinted and so there is still some magic voodoo in getting one that runs out of the box. I'm never quite sure what's in the Colt catalog. Sometimes they have Enhanced models listed and some times it seems all they are producing is their mil-spec.

As I said I've heard good things about the Rugers. I've got one bud with a couple of them and known two or three others with them. One fellow traded his off saying it was simply too pretty for what he was going to do with it. The others still have them and have expressed no plans to get rid of them. Ruger has a reputation and history of standing behind their products.

You CAN attempt to fit most parts to any of the upgrade parts to almost any 1911 HOWEVER some of the parts are NOT drop in. Some require metal removal and/or fitting and may not work with every tolerance stackup. Even parts that are listed as drop in may not function smoothly. Last I heard there were about 5 different link lengths for the barrel link. Tightening up a loose slide from a low end gun may or may not buy you anything but I sort of doubt people are doing as much of it since the reblueprinted guns don't need it.

A 1911 is NOT IMO quite like a AR in that the AR really IS an adult LEGO set while the 1911 is more like a grandfather clock kit, some fitting required.


BTW, Wolff is the spring company. Wolf is the eastern block ammo company.

I wouldn't have a problem with a Taurus 1911.

Thanks all for your feedback and advise. I'm glad to not hear any horror stories on the Taurus 1911. Really wishing Ruger had a blued version though.

http://ruger.com/products/sr1911/models.html

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Black Nitride over SS.