Justifying 9mm 1911 purchase?

[Highwayman]

I finally have my first full-time job out of school, after months of working at a big box outdoors store working the gun counter. I have a week left there before moving on to my new job, and I'm now told I can get a Springfield for nearly half shelf price. So, I have a matter of days to decide if I should pick up a 9mm Loaded because I don't reload and would be able to shoot 9mm the most.

The snags:

1. My first and only handgun is a Glock 17 which I carry daily, have trained with, and I know the true advantages it has over older designs. Thus, this 1911 will not be carried or stashed anywhere for defensive use.

2. Currently I compete in IDPA with that same Glock, have the magazine stash and rig for it, etc. I have no intentions of making this a full-time gamer gun, but would still take it to the occasional competition or drills night to exercise it and experiment.

3. I'm one of those annoying tactical guys who has to have a purpose for every weapon. My AR is an AR. My 10/22 is a trainer and varmint gun. My Glock is my carry weapon and bedside companion. What the heck would a 1911 be?

4. Would training with the 1911 detract from my trigger time with my Glock?

The luring factors that make me want the gun:

1. My great-grandfather stole his issued 1911 in WW1, and my grandfather trained the first Chinese Air Force to use this pistol.

2. I want to learn the design for its history and culture.

3. I've had a long road roughing it out at this gun shop watching people buy junk or shelf queens, and I want something that is true quality that will be appreciated.

4. Maybe years down the line, I am sitting around in my hover-mansion and decide to have a race gun made. I could just hand over the Springfield as a well-established base gun.

5. Could there be a legitimate niche for a low-capacity, bulky, accurate 9mm in my paranoid little world?

What are your thoughts?

[Kraj]

If you want to buy it do it. Thats really all the justification you need

[KSwift]

WTF? Unless you're spending every last dime you have on this purchase (unlikely since you're leaving a job on good terms and going to a better one), then wash the sand out and stop spinning out mentally over a gun purchase.

Get it.

If you don't like it, you picked it up cheap enough that you won't even lose any money on trading it in for something you want more later on.

Maybe once you have the gun, you can start thinking about what amazing spot in your heart it will suddenly attain or how much of your life is going to be sucked in by it. Or maybe none of that bullsh!t.

Edited November 13, 2014 by KSwift

[flack jacket]

I finally have my first full-time job out of school, after months of working at a big box outdoors store working the gun counter. I have a week left there before moving on to my new job, and I'm now told I can get a Springfield for nearly half shelf price. So, I have a matter of days to decide if I should pick up a 9mm Loaded because I don't reload and would be able to shoot 9mm the most.

The snags:

1. My first and only handgun is a Glock 17 which I carry daily, have trained with, and I know the true advantages it has over older designs. Thus, this 1911 will not be carried or stashed anywhere for defensive use.

2. Currently I compete in IDPA with that same Glock, have the magazine stash and rig for it, etc. I have no intentions of making this a full-time gamer gun, but would still take it to the occasional competition or drills night to exercise it and experiment.

3. I'm one of those annoying tactical guys who has to have a purpose for every weapon. My AR is an AR. My 10/22 is a trainer and varmint gun. My Glock is my carry weapon and bedside companion. What the heck would a 1911 be?

4. Would training with the 1911 detract from my trigger time with my Glock?

The luring factors that make me want the gun:

1. My great-grandfather stole his issued 1911 in WW1, and my grandfather trained the first Chinese Air Force to use this pistol.

2. I want to learn the design for its history and culture.

3. I've had a long road roughing it out at this gun shop watching people buy junk or shelf queens, and I want something that is true quality that will be appreciated.

4. Maybe years down the line, I am sitting around in my hover-mansion and decide to have a race gun made. I could just hand over the Springfield as a well-established base gun.

5. Could there be a legitimate niche for a low-capacity, bulky, accurate 9mm in my paranoid little world?

What are your thoughts?

You definitely have thought this through....

Questions for you.

1. Is it within your means?

2. Do you actually Like the gun? Or is it the mere of the "Idea" of having the 1911 pistol

3. Would you call yourself a Shooter or Collector?

​

3. I'm one of those annoying tactical guys who has to have a purpose for every weapon. My AR is an AR. My 10/22 is a trainer and varmint gun. My Glock is my carry weapon and bedside companion. What the heck would a 1911 be?

Whatever you would like it to be.... There is is reason this 100+ year old design is used in many facets of shooting today, Defensive or Sport.

Have you tried a 9mm 1911? If not, It may be in order....

4. Would training with the 1911 detract from my trigger time with my Glock?

If you train to use a pistol as a tool, you will understand the essence of pistol shooting and won't matter what is in your hand at that time. I understand and appreciate preferences as any shooter has, including myself

Good luck!

[GSonnen]

If the price is that good, buy it regardless, then sell or uptrade for something you like.

Quality guns are always a good investment.

[greyhounder]

If the price is that good, buy it regardless, then sell or uptrade for something you like.

Quality guns are always a good investment.

No better advice along with a great pistol no down side.

[buckaroo45]

Every thing said above is valid enough reason(s) to pop for the Springer. Who knows, Maybe your hands will prefer the 1911. Mine do. As said above, I see no down side to the purchase. That said, you can't ignore maintenance on a 1911 the way you can on a Glock but you shouldn't ignore maintaining ANY gun. Now go shoot snot out of it.

[fishsticks]

If you want to buy it do it. Thats really all the justification you need

Yup. And, word to the wise from one with um, experience.....

Don't sell guns either. You'll later regret it.

[Highwayman]

You definitely have thought this through....

Questions for you.

1. Is it within your means?

2. Do you actually Like the gun? Or is it the mere of the "Idea" of having the 1911 pistol

3. Would you call yourself a Shooter or Collector?

​

1. Right now, I'm capable of buying the gun in cash without any hazards. I'd be particularly frugal for approximately two weeks until my first full-time paycheck arrives, at which point I would have my spending money back. The rent is covered, the pantry is stocked.

2. While I've held a few at competitions, I have never fired one. I definitely want to own the platform, but won't pretend to have gotten a feel for the gun.

3. I am a shooter learning the different weapons and styles, not a collector. If I would not be training with this pistol and shooting it regularly, I would not buy it.

[Rob01]

Buy one. I actually just picked up a slightly used STI Trojan 9mm off Gunbroker for $725. I put a Dawson magwell on it and got 3 Dawson mags and brought it out this past weekend and shot it at a local IDPA match in ESP. Was a blast. I have a Trojan in .40 as well that I use in USPSA Single Stack. You will have fun with them. Shooting 9mm from a 42 ounce 1911 is almost cheating LOL

I have shot Glocks since 1988 and the only thing that is different for me, besides the obvious trigger which for me isn't bad to go back and forth, is the grip with the 1911 thumb safety. Holding the same grip my Glocks won't lock back as my finger in on the slide release. Not a big deal except for IDPA SSP. I still use my Glock 34 for 3 gun and very rarely go to slide lock.

[zimm33]

Quit thinking about it and buy one. If I turn my salary into an hourly rate i usually end up wasting more money (time) contemplating, researching, drooling, and debating back and forth then the gun actually costs. I got my 9mm 1911 and then got into 2011's. Mine doesn't get a lot of use now but it's staying in the collection. (Can't say as much for my .45 1911's which were all sold off)

I got Dawson's CRP Trojan and just swapped out for a different weight recoil and mainspring and it is a great soft shooter.

Edited November 13, 2014 by zimm33

[shotgunone]

If you saying you can buy this gun for $400 to $450 range - it's a no brainer. I shot lots of 45 acp in 1911 in my younger years. Started back shooting, and began with IDPA. Decided to go with 9mm 1911 and picked up a STI Trojan. It's a great and fun gun to shoot. Then like zimm33, I got a 2011. The 1911 / 2011 is iconic and they shoot well. Not knocking the plastic fantastic guns, I have a couple of them too. But there is something about running the 1911's, maybe its my age. And if you can get it for the price you say, go for it, you can't loose any money.

[JayDee]

Justify a new gun purchase? I just look outside. If the sun is shining I buy the gun. If it is dark, I don't pass it up

Seriously though, sounds like a screaming deal on a quality pistol.

[drewbeck]

Just defy all your mental hesitation.

The only gun transactions I truly regret have been sales not acquisitions.

Like I tell my wife they are investments....

My safe and guns cost about as much as your closet. If I die you have a good asset that you can sell to take care of yourself..... If you die it's gonna take me five trips to goodwill to get a two hundred dollar write off.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[shotgunone]

Just defy all your mental hesitation.

The only gun transactions I truly regret have been sales not acquisitions.

Like I tell my wife they are investments....

My safe and guns cost about as much as your closet. If I die you have a good asset that you can sell to take care of yourself..... If you die it's gonna take me five trips to goodwill to get a two hundred dollar write off.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Five trips? You must have a big truck or you wife is more frugal than mine. 5 trips might get the shoes. Lol

[mwc5]

Only problem I can see is - once you run some rounds through your new 9mm 1911, you may find you like it MUCH more than your Glock(s) and you'll then be looking to buy more 1911s, then a 2011 hicap and ............

[EkuJustice]

Ya if you shoot it you will be hooked. A steel frame 1911 9mm dosent recoil at all and is a great shooting gun. I have a 9mm spartan and it shoots great and dosent move

[427Cobra]

IMHO you should the money on reloading equipment first, then treat yourself to a 1911

[drewbeck]

1911's and 2011's are way more fun to shoot in competition, and I am of the personal opinion that glocks are way more fun in real life and are the best for carrying. I only really shoot my G19 carry gun when I take out new shooters and to have some fun. The trigger is awesome for a glock, but junk next to my 2011. I could not pick up and shoot my glock in competition like my 2011 but the fundamentals don't change and when the sights align it still goes bang. I don't think I lost any "skills" I had developed with the glock When I go back to it, by my skill with other guns has advanced further, the trigger, weight, recoil management, are just so different from a competition to self defense need.

Self defense speed is a reaction, competition speed is premeditated. Your reaction speed will increase with your premeditated practice and you you will be far better off by doing more shooting than any loss in skill from switching guns.

I am actually one of the few people that fight the 1911/2011 grip angle compare to a glock. Pointing a glock is far more natural and comfortable for me. Anytime I pick one of them up to shoot it always aligns, adjusting back to a 2011 is far more challenging and time consuming.

Like you, I look at my glocks as tools, just because you have a more specialized tool doesn't meant it's the one for every day jobs

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Rob Tompkins]

Counter Point: Don't buy it.

A 43oz steel gun shooting a mild 9mm will feel stupid soft. Accuracy will be very good and the trigger will seem feather light. You will want to shoot it is ESP for IDPA and/or SSTK for USPSA and you will feel good shooting it. It will make the games fun, fun, fun. While Glocks have many virtues but owning a 9mm 1911 will highlight all of its vices and you will not longer feel completely satisfied with by a Glock.

Just stay with the Glock. Ignorance is bliss.

[mynameisryan]

Those reasons seem like the biggest pull for justification ever but whatever gets the thumbs up in your head. The half of shelf price is where I would have been pulling my wallet out. I shoot the 9mm range officer in ESP and carry my range officer compact daily

Edited November 15, 2014 by mynameisryan

[Highwayman]

Well, it's my last day at my retail store, and I turned in the paperwork to order the Loaded. Hopefully the manager files it through after I'm gone, but the answer is finally 'I'm doing it'. However, it looks like I'm just falling deeper into the rabbit hole. Looking into it with my coaches, I was told to get a Smith and Alexander magwell...but wait...apparently the Loaded comes with an integral locking system in the mainspring, meaning I would need to replace all the nearby parts to get it running right with the new mainspring and magwell. Now I have to replace the spring for a lighter trigger pull? That and it has wood handles. My instinct says cheap rubber Hogue, my coach is a former carpenter and says it's a sin to turn down cocobolo, and I just watched Pulp Fiction last night and damn it, now I want pearl handles.

My weekend has been spent googling the endless 'Range Officer versus Loaded' debate. I nearly cancelled the order because I was being told all over that the RO offers superior lock-up and finishing internally despite being a lower price, supposedly it's a budget model of their top 1911s with the extras taken off, while the Loaded was more expensive but had inferior fitting and parts. Two days of frantic searching later, I found out the entire internet has been quoting an old magazine article that said that, and in reality all the parts are the same. Even if it is true, I ordered the 9mm 'Target' model which would be assembled in the same shop as the ROs and thus even if there was some kind of fairy dust being applied, I would still have the better gun.

One perk I'm realizing is that Springfield includes a very basic holster and mag pouch in the box, meaning I'm a third magazine away from taking this out to a drills night and testing it out. But now, I have to sort out which magazine to get...And what color mag plates...and what flavor oil to use...

[RigPig]

One perk I'm realizing is that Springfield includes a very basic holster and mag pouch in the box, meaning I'm a third magazine away from taking this out to a drills night and testing it out. But now, I have to sort out which magazine to get...And what color mag plates...and what flavor oil to use.

Is Springfield still offering 3 free mags with purchase? That'd give you a total of 5. The answers to your last questions are "red" and "I like using motor oil on my 2011s and 1911s. One quart will last you a lifetime." I personally use 15w40 Rotella synthetic, because I buy it by the 55gal drum for my diesel trucks.

[andy27al]

Just get it. I've made plenty of purchases. I hold regret for many of them. None of that regret is held for a firearm.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Bunsen]

Buy it and don't give it a second thought.