OK, so I've kind of been half a$$edly(?) looking around for a 1911 here for a little while, and can't for the life of me come up with the right way to go. There's that crowd that says spend no less than 2 grand on the gun, before upgrades, the crowd that says buy a mid-range gun, and leave it alone, the crowd that says anything under $500 should be used as trotline weights, guys that say a $450 gun is fine, blah, blah, blah.

Then comes the 'break-in' period. some say 500 rounds of ball ammo and after a few FTE's or FTF's and your ready to go. But no, some guns are ready NIB.

With all this to consider, all the upgrades, parts that may or may not drop in, being picky when it comes to ammo, andspending up to a grand or even a lot more, what, if anything, is keeping me from buying an XD, sig, or ruger?? I'm not loyal enough to any one company, and although the 1911 is historical, famous, and whatnot, to me, right now i just dont feel like the hassle that could follow it. CCW is a big no-no here, so I don't need to discus that, but I'm just looking fora weapon to KEEP, that goes BANG, and will be fun/easy to shoot/practice with. I haven't heard anything negative about the XD. I kind of like the 4" Xd40 in OD green, which, by the way, is more inexpensive than most 1911's

Sorry about being long(the beer flowed early) Any Thoughts???

dont know what your looking for EXZACTLY...carry gun...plinker....home protection to keep in the drawer beside the bed...just another toy to shoot ect.....and dont know your pistol shooting abilities.....some 1911s are known for jamming because of limp wristing....you dont handle it properly and its not going to function properly.....ive shot alot of pistols for only being 19...but never shot and XD....sigs and glocks are both pretty dang user friendly IMHO....both shoot good and go bang when you pull the trigger...but dad is on a Kimber 1911 kick right now.....and been shooting a full sized tactial now...he loves it..i ran a box through it and loved it....that thing shot GOOD...i used to shoot pistols every week with him and got pretty dang good for being a youngun..i havent got to shoot a pistol on over a year...picked the kimber up and was shooting GOOD.....we also have many Sigs and Glocks in the house....all shoot good.....just depends what your looking for....if you dont REALLY need a 45 id go with a 9mm...just becuase ammo is cheaper and it sounds like your looking for a plinker....and the recoil is less if your new to pistol shooting...i dont know..for a full sized 9mm i think its hard to beat a Sig 226....depends what you want to do with the pistol.......for a TRUE cheap easy to use plinker i LOVE my browning buckmark in 22cal!..

The XD is an outstanding gun. A 1911 that is put together right is also. Springfield sells such a 1911 calledthe 'Milspec' for around $450.

You might want to go and check out some Kimber's That could make up your mind for you.

Well, for 38 years in the Army, I used a pre-Series 70 Colt Gold Cup (SN 10XXX NM) as my duty sidearm with total success! At one time, as a member of a pistol team, I fired over 500 rounds of GI hardball per week thru the thing for over a year, and all I ever had to do was to replace the brittle roll pin that the rear sight leaf pivoted on. It was too brittle for hardball and kept shattering. I finally replaced it with the shank of a Herter's fish-hook, and that never broke. I later put a Wolf 26# recoil spring in it when I was using hot handloads in it. I gave it to my daughter, and it was in as good shape as when I bought it in 1964 at Frontier Sporting Goods inFairbanks, AK.

I guess the amount you spend (=the degree of custom work) on a handgun would depend on the use you intend to put it to. A RELIABLE M1911 with a decent trigger does NOT have to cost a couple grand! If you are looking for X-ring accuracy at 50 yards, it will cost a little more!

I have a Ruger KP97 in .45 acp. I have had no propblems. I did have a few failures to feer which was caused by limp wristing it. I paid $379.99 for it. I will never get rid of it. They stopped making it cause they came out with the P345. My friend recently bought one which has a few improvements then my gun. He paid $459.99.

I like Ruger and have no complaints about them.

I have an XD Tactical 40 and love it. Wouldn't mind having a 1911 though. The 4" XD is every bit as accurate as the 5" tactical model.

i like the springfield 1911 also, i own a kimber tactical II and the Springfield 1911s and love them both. Kimber = $1000, Springfield = $430

I gave my wife Hoyt girl a XD subcompact 9mm for XMAS this year. She loves it and it fires every time you pull the trigger and shoots very well. Springfields are great guns. I have a Glock mod 21 45acp with a lasermax on it and it always goes bang when you pull the trigger and is a pretty accurate gun. Both are tough as nails and always go bang. FWIW, I have heard other guys on another forum complaining that when they had problems with their Kimber 1911's that a Dennis in their custom shop is impossible to deal with and the company is hard to get them to honor warranty work.

You mention you can't carry. Here is a funlooking pistol.Only $499. .223 Kel tec