Does your 1911 rattle when you shake it side to side?  Big deal.  What that means is you probably have a Colt.  Now don’t get me wrong, I love Colt’s.  That is the only 1911 for me.  What that rattling really means is that your gun was not fit very well at the factory.

If you were to buy a truly custom gun it shouldn’t rattle.  They are made to demanding specs that call for tight tolerances.  Some factory guns don’t have a lot of play, but most companies don’t put enough time into them to really care about the fit of your gun.  They are simply trying to give you a good value with a decent fit.

It’s true that you are loosing some accuracy by having one of these old rattle-traps, but for most shooters, i.e. non-bullseye shooters, it will never make a difference because they can’t shoot well enough to see the difference on paper.  If you are using the gun for defense or plinking go ahead and enjoy it.  A little rattle never hurt.

I was test firing the other day, and it reminded me how important magazines are for your semi-automatic weapons.  By the way, a clip is sometimes referred to as a magazine, but only by the uniformed.  Don’t make the same mistake that I did and call it a clip to a professional if you want to be taken seriously.  Anyway, back to the point of test firing.

In any semi-auto, the magazine will often be the weak link to most of the malfunctions that you are having.  This was true with the a Colt Defender that I was testing.  The stock colt magazine wanted to do some funny stuff with the last round every time I shot.  It was actually flipping the last round straight up into a stovepipe jam, bullet facing up.  I tried a McCormick mag and a Wilson Mag and it remedied the problem.

Obviously both of the mags mentioned are a little more than some that are available.  However, if it helps your gun function reliably, what does it matter if you spent $10 more.  Take the time to make sure all of your mags function reliably, and you will have a better time shooting and the peace of mind to use your gun for defense.

This is some footage of the Army Marksmanship Unit Shooters (AMU) shooting in a 3 gun match. One of the shooters is Daniel Horner who you may have heard of from his civilian days as a shooter from the Tactical Shooting Academy. What you will notice is that these guys are awesome.

It has come to our attention that this video was removed from youtube for a copyright violation.  Don’t know what’s up with that, but here is a replacement.

One of the questions that we get asked a lot is why the Glock trigger doesn’t feel as good as a 1911? The short answer is that the two systems are fundamentally different and cannot produce anything close to one another. Think apple and orange juice. Both juices, not the same. 1911 and Glock. Both have triggers, not the same. So what’s the difference?

The Glock is striker fired. In the animation you can see the striker being moved during the trigger pull. What you don’t see is the trigger bar in contact with the connector on the other side. To lessen felt pull on a Glock you must first change the angle of the connector. Here is a picture of the trigger bar in contact with the connector.

Notice where the two angles meet. The trigger bar must slide down the entire length of the angle. That doesn’t look like a long way, but in reality that is quite a bit of movement that must take place before gun will fire. What you have is a perceptual creep that leads to the spongy feel of the Glock trigger.

Now let’s consider the 1911. The 1911 has far less movement because the sear and hammer design. When you pull the trigger as seen in the animation it contacts the sear which releases the hammer. Study this picture of a 1911 hammer and sear as they would be engaged inside the gun.

You can see that the distance required to release the hammer is much smaller than the Glock. What’s more, your gunsmith can tune that trigger to a precise pull by adjusting the relationship between the hammer and sear. He can give you a crisp trigger that breaks suddenly, or he can add a small amount of creep to make it feel even lighter than it actually is.  It is a game of angles.

Because of these differences it is impossible to make the Glock feel like a 1911. Does that mean it’s not a good trigger? Not at all, but it does require some transition from the 1911 to the Glock. If the Glock was the first gun you ever trained with, it seems natural. Just remember if you are a 1911 shooter, you have been using what most consider the best trigger pull in handguns, and a Glock will never feel that way.

A few weeks ago I wrote about Remington‘s entry into the AR-15 market. In that post I asked the question, “Who is going to market a cheaper AR-15?” I still don’t have an answer at this point, but I know that the market is ready for a value priced AR.

Recent entries into the 1911 market may support this. Rock Island Armory has mastered this with a gun that is getting good reviews right now. Along with Rock Island, TAURUS has started making a 1911 with all the bells and whistles. Both of these guns allow shooters to get a fine introduction to 1911 pistols without putting their shooting on hold because of cash flow problems.

Before you start telling me how cheap and inferior these guns are, let me say a few things. Yes they may be inferior to the $800-$1,000 gun that you own or have seen advertised by the gun writers. But, let’s once again ask ourselves, “Who really needs that type of gun?” This question is very similar to the accuracy question that we looked at earlier. Do most shooters really need that type of gun? No. Most shooters are content with a gun that will shoot straight a few times a year.

Hence my argument for the cheaper AR. What many people fail to realize is that the cheaper gun that introduces a shooter to a genre may actually lead to other purchases down the road. My first 1911 was a Sistema Colt. To most people total junk, but I still have that gun today. It actually led me to some of the higher end guns I own, but at the time I couldn’t shell out $1,000, and nobody was offering anything like Rock Island or TAURUS. By offering a cheaper AR, a company will find that they will receive more business in the long run.

Perhaps you have heard that Colt has a new product out called the New Agent. It is part of the Defender line. Made to rival Kimber’s entry into no sight, micro pistol group, it looks good and is competitively priced. As a huge Colt fan you have to be pleased; almost. When will they ever realize that they can’t keep up by making rattle traps that are poorly put together? It would be a huge improvement if they would just add an up swept beavertail safety, but alas they leave things the same even on their latest gun. You have to wonder who does their marketing, and if they ever taken notice to see how the 1911 is radically different now from when it first came out in 1911. If you are like us, die hard Colt fans, you just keep holding on wondering, “When will they produce something worth their asking price?” Until then, I guess Colt fans are left to fight over used Colt’s at gunshows.