1911 choices.

[223to45]

Been doing a lot of reading on here lately.

Trying to find a new 1911 to run USPSA SS.

The ones I have narrowed down too are.

All are 9mm

1)SA Combat Operator.

right at 43oz, no FCS.

2)DW PM-9

3)SA RO in SS.

No FCS, no FSC

4)STI Trojan

overall quality of fit seems to be all over the place from what I read.

they all seem to have pros and cons.

The DW seem to get the most positive reviews.

Just wondering out of those what would you choose?

I want something the will out shoot me for a long time.

the other idea was go straight to the STI DVC Classic, decided not to, not good enough to earn that right

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[Aircooled6racer]

Hello: Look at the Sig Max as well. Has all the good parts already. I had one in 45 that worked great. When I get another one it will be in 9mm and I will grind on the parts to fit my hand better. The Springfield limited stainless 9mm I have is a well fit pistol if you can find one. I would handle as many of the pistols as you can to see what fits your hand the best. Mag choices are Tripp, Dawson, Metalform and Wilson. Good luck on your adventure and welcome to the forum! Thanks, Eric

[egldriver]

I have a range officer for IDPA (staying with G34 for USPSA). In fact I have three range officers (5'" .45, 4" Champion, 5" 9mm Stainless). The 5" guns are very accurate but benefit from an aftermarket (EGW) bushing. The Champion went back for jamming issues, but I had an excellent support experienced and they fixed the gun (even upgraded internals) in about a week and a half. Now they are all very reliable with reloaded ammo.  If I were to do it again, I would have got a Dan Wesson Pointman or Valor even though I think highly of the Range Officers. Depends if MIM bothers you or not. If it does and you end up changing to tool steel parts, you might as well buy the Dan Wesson. The front strap checkering on the DW will almost make up the difference.

Guns are a risk because you cannot really try them (unless you can rent) and once you buy there's no returns. Good news it seems that used gun asking prices are not that much less than new (if you shop right)

 

Dave

[223to45]

1 hour ago, egldriver said:

  If I were to do it again, I would have got a Dan Wesson Pointman or Valor even though I think highly of the Range Officers. Depends if MIM bothers you or not. If it does and you end up changing to tool steel parts, you might as well buy the Dan Wesson. The front strap checkering on the DW will almost make up the difference.

Guns are a risk because you cannot really try them (unless you can rent) and once you buy there's no returns. Good news it seems that used gun asking prices are not that much less than new (if you shop right)

 

That is part of the problem , no one in my area really carry any of them. As far MIM part go, the RO is only one out of the 4 that have any, and no they really don't concern me  since SA MIM seem to do just fine.

Right now the DW PM-9 is at the top of the list, but all are fairly close with the RO in last, mainly just because of the lack of FCS and FSC

It all started out really wanting the SA 9mm Combat Operator, figured it would go nicely with my SA TRP Operator.  But then started to look around .

I think it might come down to picking two and flipping a coin.

 

 

[Sarge]

FCS?

FSC?

im sure it's obvious but what is this?

[223to45]

Front cocking serrations , and front strap checkering

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[jon49erfan]

Havent owned any of the ones you listed except the DW PM9. I love it. The front strap checkering really grabs the hand. I could have completely smooth grips and I don't feel like it would make a difference with how well it holds in the hand

[motosapiens]

19 hours ago, Aircooled6racer said:

Mag choices are Tripp, Dawson, Metalform and Wilson. Good luck on your adventure and welcome to the forum! Thanks, Eric

fixed. For 9mm I wouldn't bother with anything else, although some of the others may run with certain guns and certain bullet profiles. I use my tripp mags for dryfire practice.

I personally shoot a pm9, and I also have an STI USPSA model. I do like the front cocking serrations on the pm9 and trojan. they come in handy for unloaded starts, and the only thing i don't like about the uspsa is the lack of serrations.

I could care less about front strap checkering. I vastly prefer grip tape in that area, and the checkering just makes it harder for a real gripping accessory to stick.

With the pm9, you will probably need an aluminum MSH to make weight (or GI guide rod or something). The trojan may or may not need it. The flat-topped slide *should* be lighter, but my trojan is a 45 cal, not a 9mm.

I found that i had to replace the extractors (with wilson) before either 9mm would run 100% perfectly. Before that I would get an FTE every few hundred rounds.

Edited September 14, 2016 by motosapiens

[223to45]

45 ouch, STI has it listed at 42.
Dawson has it listed at 42 too after they add stuff.

that one might not work.

The PM9 is listed at 41.5

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[motosapiens]

25 minutes ago, 223to45 said:

45 ouch, STI has it listed at 42.
Dawson has it listed at 42 too after they add stuff.

 

no, i meant my trojan is a 45 caliber, not a 9mm, so i don't know much about the weight in 9mm. my other sti is tri-topped instead of flat-topped, so it is lighter than the trojan.

my pm9 is just over 43 oz with a dawson magazine and ice magwell with steel MSH. With the aluminum MSH it's way under.

[223to45]

no, i meant my trojan is a 45 caliber, not a 9mm, so i don't know much about the weight in 9mm. my other sti is tri-topped instead of flat-topped, so it is lighter than the trojan.

my pm9 is just over 43 oz with a dawson magazine and ice magwell with steel MSH. With the aluminum MSH it's way under.

OK, misunderstood.
Good to know about the PM9.

Now with the Dawson mags, are you using the aluminum competition base??

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[motosapiens]

33 minutes ago, 223to45 said:

Now with the Dawson mags, are you using the aluminum competition base??

 

 

Yes. with the ice magwell, ya gotta have the big fat basepads no matter what mags you use.

Edited September 14, 2016 by motosapiens

[egldriver]

One more thought on the RO. I added a Wilson combat front strap checkering thingemabob. It actually works very well, a lot more stable than I thought. For $10 a cheap investment. It doesn't exactly match the finish of the gun (stainless) but neither does grip tape. Maybe not the most elegant solution, but a solution none the less. No help on the front serrations.

Dave

[223to45]

I did see that, i wondered how well it worked

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[chbrow10]

Rock island armory. Bought one in 2008. Love it, can't say enough about it. Use the money you save to add a Dawson ice magwell and ammo.

[BeerBaron]

i use the wilson front strap checkering thing on my SA loaded 9mm stainless. it actually looks pretty good. everyone who has seen it thought it was checkered till I pointed it out. lol.

[Matt1]

i use the wilson front strap checkering thing on my SA loaded 9mm stainless. it actually looks pretty good. everyone who has seen it thought it was checkered till I pointed it out. lol.

I've got the same on my Norc. Does a good job.


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[egldriver]

9 hours ago, BeerBaron said:

i use the wilson front strap checkering thing on my SA loaded 9mm stainless. it actually looks pretty good. everyone who has seen it thought it was checkered till I pointed it out. lol.

Do you think it will scratch the frame? I put some scotch tape, trimmed to fit on the back of the checkering plate with the hope that it wouldn't scratch. I have a blue version coming for my aluminum frame champion but am having second thought for fear of scratches.

Dave

[motosapiens]

If you are freaking out about what your competition gun looks like, you are probably doing it wrong. Assuming you actually practice, your gun is going to get beat to heck anyway from holster wear and various other things.

[chbrow10]

If you are freaking out about what your competition gun looks like, you are probably doing it wrong. Assuming you actually practice, your gun is going to get beat to heck anyway from holster wear and various other things.

Concur. Hence my recommendation for an inexpensive gun that you won't be concerned about when it gets holster wear and scratches in the mag well, which you will get a lot of in single stack.

[egldriver]

2 hours ago, motosapiens said:

If you are freaking out about what your competition gun looks like, you are probably doing it wrong. Assuming you actually practice, your gun is going to get beat to heck anyway from holster wear and various other things.

You can rest assured that I am quite calm about this. If I can avoid damaging something I own I will seems like a prudent thing to do. You can assume that I practice. So no freak out and no condescending attitude is required. Just engaging in the conversation if that's ok with you.

[BeerBaron]

10 hours ago, egldriver said:

Do you think it will scratch the frame? I put some scotch tape, trimmed to fit on the back of the checkering plate with the hope that it wouldn't scratch. I have a blue version coming for my aluminum frame champion but am having second thought for fear of scratches.

Dave

I think if it's fairly securely held by the grip panels it should be ok. I'd say the only scratching would occur if it can shift position under grip pressure. and if it was moving around it would be distracting as well. 

you could put a piece of the thin double sided tape under it in the middle which would create a small buffer and also stop it moving around. 

I honestly can't really remember looking under mine to see what it looks like so I don't know if it scratched up my SA loaded stainless. it's been on for about a year now. I'm about to put the blued version on my trojan which as we all know has a pretty easy to damage blued finish. hopefully it won't mess it up too bad.

 

[Sarge]

6 hours ago, egldriver said:

You can rest assured that I am quite calm about this. If I can avoid damaging something I own I will seems like a prudent thing to do. You can assume that I practice. So no freak out and no condescending attitude is required. Just engaging in the conversation if that's ok with you.

Ooh another with thin skin! 

 

 

 

 

[terrydoc]

I used a front strap for a while but removed it in favor of grip tape

 

[igolfat8]

I have a RO and Trojan, both in 9. The Trojan is a great gun but the RO is a better value IMO. If you are buying a pistol for games, as others have said, its going to get wear, scratches and worn, no matter how careful you are. Buy a RO and put the money into mags and ammo. I owned a RIA in 45 and it was the most reliable 1911 pistol I've shot so a 9 RIA might be worth considering as well if you expect to put some wear on it. Sure it would be nice to have a DVC, a more expensive STI model or PM9 but I would cry if I invested that much $$$ into a pistol and then scratched it all up