S&W 1911 Pro 9mm

[mcracco]

I have the spec sheet for the S&W 1911 Pro SKU 178047 pinned up next to my PC as it is one of my ‘wish list’ guns. I like 1911’s and having one in 9mm just makes sense from a cost of ammo point of view. ( I will conveniently ignore the fact that I can buy two M&P 9’s for the price of one 1911 Pro)

At a match last week and one of the stages was 6 shots on 3 targets while kneeing...but you had to use someone else’s gun. Of course most everyone had Glocks but one guy had a silver 1911. Asked if I could shoot his 45 and lo and behold it is the S&W 1911 Pro 9mm. Only shot 6 rounds on the clock but that was one sweet shooting gun. Decent sights, don’t remember trigger pull (good), and seems to be accurate enough. But the recoil on the heavier platform was such the follow through seemed much easier. I frequently pull my second shot low but my pairs on these 3 targets were side by side. I was impressed.

Anyone else shoot one of these? Along the way I had heard the S&W 1911 9’s jam but this owner said he had no problems with his. Sure would like to find one under the Christmas tree this year.

[CocoBolo]

Try a softer recoil spring in your gun.

[Maksim]

Never had a jam in the thousands of rounds. Love my 9mm

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk 2

[eisenhow]

For a little more than half the money buy an sti Spartan 9mm. Spend the extra money on mags and ammo.

[Art Yeo]

Check the gun thoroughly before you take it home is my advice.

I bought my first Performance Center 1911 45ACP some time ago and it cost me close to $2K by the time I paid tax.

Shot it in a few local matches IDPA and it ran good with under 2,000 rounds in its odometer. Then, come the WA state IDPA championship and the safety-lock plunger tube broke in the middle of my competition. Slide locked every couple of shots and destroyed my scores completely.

Had to switch over to my M&P45 as a backup but confidence was shaken by then.

Wrote a big complaint to the Performance Center head. No apologies was given and they acted like it was a routine happening. Fixed the gun the usual way and returned it back to me.

Here was my initial report to this website ...

http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=134615&st=0&p=1514128&fromsearch=1entry1514128

Visually, it is a beautiful gun but QA level for the SW1911 guns does not seem comparable to those of Les Baer, Springfield Armory and Kimber.

What followed after this incident, I have learned 2 lessons:

1. to never buy an expensive gun from a manufacturer who does not have a long track record producing the particular type of gun I am intending to purchase. My current 1911's (Les Baer, SA TRP and Kimber Grand Raptor) are all solid as a rock and have accuracy above what I have.
   
2. Always have a backup gun that's exactly the same; or, at the least, close to exactly the same when going to attend a larger championship; otherwise, you are preparing to fail.
   

NOTE: IIRC, the two largest and most successful 1911 manufacturers are Springfield Armory and Kimber. There's a reason for that status.

Edited August 29, 2012 by Art Yeo

[mcracco]

Thanks for the firsthand feedback on the SW1911, both good and bad. I don't have the bucks in my pocket right now (thanks to an AR15 purchase) so I have some time to think about this one. Where I am at now is:

* I am not looking for this to be my main competition rig. Maybe I will have an epiphany but I'm still thinking I'll fare better with Tupperware for training and matches. But I do like to mix things up a bit so this would be similar to the 45M&P I picked up not too long ago.

* I hear Art's pain and disappointment with the mechanical failure of his gun. But since this isn't a chronic point of failure it wouldn't dissuade me from the purchase. My M&P 9Pro choked early on and caused me to drop out of a big match but now that the cause is understood and fixed it hasn't let me down in 10,000 rounds.

* I buy guns like cars and do exactly what you should not do; I fall in love with a specific make, model, and color which prevents me from evaluating other products in the same category. To me the S&W is sexier than it's competitors so the dance stops there. Not the most economical approach.

We'll see. Thanks again for the insight.

[Taylor Murphy]

That is a good looking gun but the STI is definitely a cheaper alternative and in my opinion just as reliable.

[Anopsis]

... to never buy an expensive gun from a manufacturer who does not have a long track record producing the particular type of gun I am intending to purchase.

S&W started producing 1911s under their name back when I still had my retail store open. If I recall correctly, they had been building frames/slides for other companies for years, and used this knowledge to begin production of their own version.

FWIW, I used a base-model SW1911 back in '05 for three gun, and after converting it to .460 Rowland I shot it in pin matches for two years. Never had a single failure of any kind out of that gun.

[buddy_fuentes]

I have a Kimber 1911 9mm that shoots with anything out there. I bought it to shoot steel and it has digested over 40K rounds. My carry gun is a custom built STI Commander length 2011 with the aluminum frame. Sweet to shoot and only weighs 26 ozs. empty. So that tells you the 9mm is just an easy shooting round.

When I shoot production I use the M&P Pro and I am very pleased with it...probably 12K rounds through it.