Desert Eagle 1911G at 100 yards on Thursday, 8 min video

[Joe L]

Range was too crowded on Tuesday, rained out on Wednesday, muddy but ok on Thursday with rain coming, so I took a chance and was able to get in 50 rounds at 100 yards with my one and only token 1911.  No one else showed up and the range owner was building some stuff, so there is a little background noise. 

Why shoot a 1911?  Because I will test a friend's 1911 on Tuesday and I needed some practice.  The grip is much narrower than my double stack CZ's and the trigger is MUCH lighter and crisper.  I have too much trigger time with the striker guns, especially this year.  Plus I had not shot anything for two weeks, with Thanksgiving trips and weather constraints. 

https://youtu.be/gfah5DdsUuE

Note that I was shooting 5 rounds at a time from an 8 round single stack magazine.  The first shot from each reload was generally low right compared to the next 5 shots.  Not exactly sure why, but, most likely, it is a tiny bit of shooter flinch movement.  It didn't happen on the first shot of the day with the gun, but it pretty much did for the subsequent slide lock reloads.   I will have to see what happens next trip out.  I think the lockup is almost too tight on this gun so I don't think it is anything mechanical.  I will check when I clean the pistol later today. 

My conclusion--nothing really great or really bad based on my experience shooting other firearms first time out after a few months in the safe.  Still 70% "good" shots, 30% busts is not a bad 1st time out.  The best I can do is usually 80-90% "good" shots, 10-20% not so hot.  Seeing a sub 4" group for 7 out of 10 on the first target was an unusually good result, followed by the more common 6-7" groups with three outliers.  So, there is hope!

This is fun.  This isn't easy. 

Joe L

[armoredman]

Nothing wrong with a 1911, except single action/single stack, for me nowadays. I carried a Springfield 1911A1 decades ago, and it was a fine sidearm.

[M1A4ME]

Nothing wrong with the 1911 or it's primary round.

Every time I hear talk about the .45 acp what comes to my mind are the two MOH citations from WW1 and WW2.

When Alvin York took out a German patrol with the 1911 he carried he used one shot for each of them.  Why was he shooting a German patrol with a handgun?  He'd fired his rifle so much in a short time that the action had gotten hot enough it was getting sticky and he'd laid it down beside him to cool off a bit.  Combat.  An enemy patrol armed with rifles/bayonets and he ended their mission with one shot each.  He survived and went home at the end of the war.

When Thomas Baker took out a Japanese patrol on Saipan the 1911 was all he had available.  He was badly wounded, could not walk on his on at had ordered his men to leave him beside the trail with his pistol while they took the other wounded to the beach for medicale care and to get more ammo before coming back to get him.  When they got back to the tree by the trail they found Sgt. Baker and eight dead Japanese soldiers laid out in front of his tree.  Sgt. Baker was badly wounded at the start of his fight and did not survive to go home.

The pistol and the round work just fine.  If they don't the person using the 1911 is doing something wrong.  No, I don't carry my 1911's anymore.  I'm not getting rid of them either.

[Wobbly]

Nothing wrong with the 1911 or it's primary round.

Every time I hear talk about the .45 acp what comes to my mind are the two MOH citations from WW1 and WW2.

I understand that they actually perfected the 45ACP on cadavers before approving the round. That was the 1910 version of ballistic gelatin.

I have a high school friend that, to this day (and we're both in our mid-70's), will only carry a 1911 in 45ACP.