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3" .45

7K views 77 replies 58 participants last post by  Owl Farmer 
#1 ·
I have the hots for a 3" .45 1911. Any thoughts on what I may want to look for, or steer clear of. I have heard they may not be reliable at times due to the short slide. Maybe reliability issues have been addressed over the years.
 
#32 ·
My Kimber Ultra CDP II has run fine since day one. I had my gunsmith remove the Swartz safety and do a trigger job, but otherwise it is stock. It is reliable with factory ammo and my dirty 200 grain externally lubed SWCs. However, it will start to hangup after about 200 rounds of my SWCs. At that point I take it home for a good cleaning and lube and it is ready to go again.
 
#34 ·
I have the hots for a 3" .45 1911. Any thoughts on what I may want to look for, or steer clear of.
Yes...steer clear of 1911's under 4 inches.

I'm not saying you can't find reliable 1911's under 4 inches...only that it becomes a lot harder. So if you're going to go ahead with this, make sure you're committed to the time and effort you may need to put into finding a reliable one, and make sure you pick a company with a solid reputation and good customer service...in case you need it.

YMMV on this, but to me, that difference of an inch does not buy me enough to warrant the effort and potential reliability issues. Particularly as I don't find it any harder to conceal a 4 inch gun vs a 3 inch gun. And if I really wanted a small gun, there are a lot of other platforms that are inherently more reliable than the short 1911.
 
#35 ·
My experience with 3" pistols has been flawless.

I've had two Kimber RCPs, a Colt Defender, and a Sig Ultra.

They ate any ammo that I loaded. Ultimately I settled on 185 gr. Silvertips.

Sure, like others offer, all configurations have their advantages. The 3" 1911s make a nice pocket carry with large cargo pants pockets. That's why I have them.
 
#36 ·
I have a Colt New Agent, the early one with the slanted trough sight. It has been 100% reliable with ammo over 180 grains. Doesn't like the lighter copper ammo. Easy to control, accurate even with the trough sight once you learn to use it.

The only thing I don't like is colt used screws with a special size head and larger holes in the grips. The finish comes off easily and Colt no longer has replacements. I love the factory grips but if I want to use them I have to either use screws with bare spots or sig 226 allen screws that look out of place.
 
#37 ·
This 3" is/isn't reliable is simply fodder for those that like to sound knowledgable.

Twenty-five years ago, I'll bet there were . . . some . . . problems, that were not user
induced. Since somewhere in the Y2K time frame, the 3" 1911s have functioned quite
well . . . . except for a few users.

Purchase a reputable manufacturer's product, use it properly, and it WILL do what you
expect/want it to.

I have "more than one" 3" and have yet to experience a failure. . . . YMMV. Mine haven't.
 
#39 ·
3” 1911, in 45acp. Can be finickity feeding some bullet types. As with any CCW pistol, run it with your carry ammo. New gun? Get some full house, target level loads in as many bullet styles as you can find. Randomly mix them and load them randomly, run several mixed mags, see what works, what doesn’t. Match your carry ammo to what worked best in the random test.
4” too heavy?, Sig C3, alloy frame, 4”” bbl but shortened frame (Officer’s Model)
Renowned for it’s accuracy. It’s my EDC, feeds anything I throw in it.
3” are fine, I like mine, the Sig hides just as easily and the accuracy is outstanding.
 
#41 ·
I had a pre-Series Ultra Carry, and it was a good gun. My issue with the 3" guns is not one of performance but rather terminal ballistics. The reduced velocity created by the short barrel does not produce enough speed for a hollow point to mushroom correctly. They are great guns but you my as well shoot ball ammo.
 
#50 ·
ParaOrds: Nite Hawg, C6.45LDA
I'm a Para Ordnance fan, too. I've owned and sold two, a 6.45 LDA (3-inch) and a 12.45 LDA (3-1/2 inch) and the shorter barrelled pistol was the more accurate of the two in my hands. I now have two same size pistols, a 6.45 LDA and its revised version, an LDA Carry.

6.45 LDA



Many of the parts to these pistols are directly replaceable with 1911 parts and the controls are basically the same except for the amazing LDA trigger. It's almost a 1911...:) and I have no qualms carrying either one of them.
 
#44 ·
I have a 3” Kimber Ultra CDP II in 45 cap. I’ve had it for 15 years and it’s been great... no problems and very accurate. I also have a Springfield EMP, 3”, 9mm. It’s also been great, although occasionally would not return to battery. I fixed that with a different recoil spring. I’ve used both for 4 day defensive handgun courses where I shot 600-750 rounds each course and would do it again with no qualms.
 
#46 ·
I just shot a friends 3" Kimber 1911 .45acp. It was fun, accurate, & not as hard to shoot as I had thought it would be. The recoil was also less than I had imagined. However I would not trade a LW Commander for one. If I needed the extra concealability I'd go with a RB LW Commander for myself.
 
#47 ·
Springfield Micro compact 3”, enjoy the heck out of that thing. Alloy frame so you gotta hang on, the most important thing I discovered is springs must be kept up with. I also use a flat bottom FPS along with a EGW guide rod and 22 lb. flat recoil spring. When the brass starts flying in a different direction it’s time to renew springs.
 
#49 ·
The only 1911 that I've got is the Springfield Range Officer Champion in 45 and its has a 4"barrel. But I did picked up a Springfield XDE which is DA/SA but it has a safety like the 1911 and it also decocks the gun also. It has a 3.3" barrel but the down side is it only holds 7 in the magazine.
 
#52 ·
3 inch 45

sorry to put my 2 cents in..but here goes. One item that may give the officer size 1911 issues is if you forget to change out the springs on the right schedule. unlike 5000 rounds of a 5 inch some suggest to change springs as low as 500 rounds with a 3 inch.

I think if you do regular maintenance, good mags, right ammo for that particular gun and change springs, you should have a reliable gun.
 
#53 ·
For what it’s worth, my Kimber 3” Ultra CDP has been reliable. During the first 200-300 rounds it wouldn’t go 100% into battery when inserting a fresh mag when I passed the 100 round mark at a session. A little push with the heel of my left hand fixed that. I’d take a oiled cloth and wipe the feed ramp, and it would be fine. After the break in period, it’s bee 100% reliable, no hesitation to carry concealed.
My 4” Kimber Compact CDP has been 100% from the first round.
I know, I know, the Defender is highly regarded. Unfortunately, there are NO Colt semi-autos on the hated California roster.
 
#54 ·
I would say it depends upon the brand for the reliability. I once took a class and a guy had a 3 inch Kimber. It failed so many times during the class the instructor told the guy to put the gun up and lent him another to finish out the day. Rounds kept getting hung up during ejection.
 
#55 · (Edited)
Obviously there was something wrong with the weapon If it fails repeatedly reguardless of brand. I would love to ask the owner a few questions; had the weapon been worked on, what ammo was he using, factory mags, cleaning procedure, lube etc, etc?

Other than the above post, you will noticed a commonality in these post from owners of Kimbers when it comes to a 1911 with a 3" barrel, Kimber has really done a steller job. I too have an Ultra Carry that has never given me a problem with any ammo and is extremely accurate. My brothers experience is the same with his, Infact, he's the reason I bought mine.
 
#56 ·
Colt's 3" model has a good rep.


/\
What he said A.K.A. "CCO"

After "the hots" wear off, consider something lighter like one of the little M&P guns. An all steel 1911, even in a short grip and 3 1/2", like my Detonics, was a big weight to carry around all the time.
I think the 3" 1911 is only about 5 ounces heavier than a M&P Shield.


You always hear that, but I have 10 3" 1911's in 45 and they all work great.
Did they require trips back to the factory or the work of a gunsmith?


Get a 4", 3" are a hit or miss that's why most of the big boys don't offer them! JMHO
FWIW, I think Dan Wesson has a 3.5" model. I never read a review of it.
 
#58 ·
A double action/single action trigger is designed starting with the hammer down so that one “pull” of the trigger will bring the hammer back then release the hammer allowing the firing pin to ignite the primer. With the force of the recoil the hammer will be cocked again. The other means would be to repeat the cycle.

With ParaOrd’s LDA System the “hammer is cocked and ready to fire”. Unlike a true double action gun the LDA you get one pull of the trigger; it must then bet set by cycling the slide (shooting) or manually resetting the trigger/hammer. With the Colt Double Eagles they are true DA/SA gun’s; you can repeatedly pull the trigger until it’s released.
 
#60 ·
3" compromise? RIA CS is 3.5" and fits just right

I'm a .45 1911 guy and after trying a full size, I tried the CS (compact size) otherwise known as Officer Size 3.5" Springfield Armory that new with their top model cost me a bunch. Then all the articles about "If you are in a defensive shooting they'll confiscate your weapon" and "Gun free zones only mean one thing, if you have a 2a support decal on your vehicle it will be broken into and your weapon stolen". So I picked up a used Rock Island Armory .45 in CS for $350 at a gun show.

I was amazed the RIA shot better than the SA. Lighter trigger. More accurate on target. And it jammed less than the SA. So I sold the SA and used the funds to buy a new RIA as my rotation piece. I wear one or the other daily and the old one and new one both work great dirty, dry and with almost all ammo. I keep good quality defensive loads in it for the daily magazines. The target mags get gun show good quality reloads I bought a thousand at a time.
https://www.armscor.com/firearms/ria/rock-series/rock-standard-cs-45-acp/

If you really want to go compact, here's what I carry in my pocket when wearing an IWB won't work. The Heizer Defense PKO-45. I bought one the first month they were introduced and I've never regretted it.

https://heizerdefense.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/pko45.pdf
If I'm going into a higher risk area I've got an ankle holster to carry the PKO-45 as my backup. It's kick isn't really that much more than any size .45 I've had.
 
#62 ·
I have had a number of 3" 1911's in both 9mm and .45 cal. From my experience the idea that they are not reliable is an artifact of the past. The Sigs I had were flawless and don't require sticking a wire in a hole to field strip them. The Kimber had an excellent trigger out of the box but eventually developed a feed issue when dirty until I installed a new recoil spring. I carried the ultra sized 1911's in the winter months for several years.
 
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