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best SS pistol right out of the box?


XDman

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I have 5 Wilson 1911s and an STI Trojan. If I was in the market for another 1911 it would be a Trojan. I am not taking anything away from the Wilson pistols, the are very nice with excellent fit,finish and accuracy. But the Trojan is without question a very nice pistol at about 1/4 the price.

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Let's stir up the ammo bucket with this one!

For SS, which 1911 would be the best to purchase with the least amount of gunsmithing involved?

If you are actually looking for a gun there is a Kimber for sale right here on the Forums. A good model of a pretty good gun at a reasonable price too.

Kimber

If you are just looking to start an argument amongst the fan boys...Why?

Edited by Merlin Orr
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Let's stir up the ammo bucket with this one!

For SS, which 1911 would be the best to purchase with the least amount of gunsmithing involved?

If you are actually looking for a gun there is a Kimber for sale right here on the Forums. A good model of a pretty good gun at a reasonable price too.

Kimber

If you are just looking to start an argument amongst the fan boys...Why?

Nope, not looking to start an argument, but truely interested. Am in the market for a SS, and was wondering.

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Nope, not looking to start an argument, but truely interested. Am in the market for a SS, and was wondering.

If you really want a deal on a nice 1911, consider buying a used 1911 from someone who's already tweaked and tuned it for your game. In the last 10 days, there have been 3 or 4 nice guns offered here that already had magwells, upgraded components, nice sights, and had been broken in enough that reliability shouldn't be an issue. At $750-1200, any one of these guns would be a good buy compared to paying a similar amount for a new gun and then spending the next couple of months (and $$$) tuning, tweaking, and breaking it in.

Box stock is nice, but tuned and tweaked is much better!

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Something like THIS may be a good option for you. certain upgrades added and the gun will be tweaked for reliability before you get it. there are a variety of places that offer things like this. little to now work needs to be done other than adding ammo

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Les Baer Premier II

Well if we're talking about semi-custom guns, I have a box stock Ed Brown Kobra that is *almost* as nice as my custom guns, and it only cost a few $$$ more than having one built from the ground up to my specs! :rolleyes:

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Having seen more than three guns in my life, I have never seen a Trojan run reliably out of the box. I ended up replacing parts pretty quickly. It was a .45ACP. The Trojans that were 9 or .40 seem to need work. The accuracy on the Trojan was outstanding, just MIM parts.

SA seem to be the best right out of the box. I believe Bill L at C&S recommends SA for his gunsmithing class. It is a great platform.

Kimbers seem to need some work also but were not nearly as accurate as the Trojan. All these guns run about $1K. For $1.5K-2.+K, it is hard to beat a Baer, Wilson, or Nowlin.

Of course, this kind of question can easily invoke a flame war, which I am not intending to generate.

Over the past 5 years or so, I have talked with a lot of folks and it seems most out of the box guns need something, the pricer the gun the less it seems to need.

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While my 9mm Trojan has moved to one of the top positions in my keeper pile, it did require quite a bit of work to run.

Went with a young man last week to purchase his first handgun. He's on a limited budget but wanted a pistol just to plink with and a 45.

After several gun shops we ran across a Metro Arms Classic 2 that was new, had extended safety, slide release and a nice grip safety. Sharp clear sights along with cocking serrations front and rear. Blued finish with polished flats on the slide. It's made in the Philippines, fit finish looked good. It even had that good feel just before the slide goes into battery.

At the range I pulled the slide to give it a shot of Mobil 1 and there was plenty of oil from the factory. He had bought two boxes of Winchester White box and I brought some handloads, 200gn lead over 231.

It ran 250 rounds through the Metro mags, my Wilsons and both kinds of ammo with out a glitch. I would change the front sight for me but the more he shot the better he hit with it. A mag well and holster and a few more mags and he's off to the races.

While I'm a STI guy with a few Kimbers I'll end up with one of these for myself, nice shooter out of the box, good quality. I'll hold out for the one that comes plated.

The retail price in the gun shop was $500 and it's been a long time since I've seen a decent 1911-45 go for that price.

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I will second Bob's comments about the American Classic 1911 made by Metroarms. Very impressive pistols for the money. I replaced the slide stop and sights, slapped on an S&A magwell and did a bit of minor trigger tuning, and it runs and shoots great!

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I've had a Springfield TRP Operator for 5 years and would take it over the Wilsons and Les Baers I have shot. You can find them for right about $1200 and it's as reliable as a gun gets. Great sights, excellent trigger, supurb slide to frame fit, and amazing reliability. For me, it doesn't get any better!

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I bought a Dan Wesson SSC in 40sw and then a STI Trojan in 40sw. Best out of the box was the Dan Wesson.

It has a fiber optic front sight and adjustable rear. What gun comes with a FO front right out of the box?

It has a steel mainspring housing and a magwell attached right out of the box.

It has a great slide stop, I think it is a nighthawk slidestop, cause I bought one for my STI Tactical.

It has ambi thumb safeties......no need to change it as it works well for competitition.

It is stainless and has a polished slide.

The slide is flat topped and serrated.

I replaced the trigger, but only becasue I wanted an SV long flat. Original was alum curved.

It has grips that are like G10 grips, but I think they are called shark skin grips. They are aggressive cut. No need to change.

Only thing I did was change to a tungsten guide rod, change trigger, recoil spring, and did a trigger job.

They don't offer it anymore, last year they discontinued it, but, to me it is the best out of the box .40 ss pistol.

Randy

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I've had a Springfield TRP Operator for 5 years and would take it over the Wilsons and Les Baers I have shot. You can find them for right about $1200 and it's as reliable as a gun gets. Great sights, excellent trigger, supurb slide to frame fit, and amazing reliability. For me, it doesn't get any better!

Springfield TRP Operator is not legal for USPSA Single Stack.

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They don't offer it anymore, last year they discontinued it...

I was a little bit disappointed when I heard that they had been discontinued. These were certainly one of the better deals on a near-perfect out-of-the-box SS pistols in .40S&W. They don't come up in the used market often but, if I found one, I wouldn't hesitate to pick it up.

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