1911Forum banner

Rank Your Top Ten 1911 Manufacturers in Order

35K views 90 replies 69 participants last post by  SW51 
#1 ·
My rankings (for 1911s only)

1. Nighthawk
2. Wilson Combat
3. Ed Brown
4. Les Baer
5. STI/Staccato
6. BUL Armory
7. Dan Wesson
8. Kimber
9. Colt
10. Springfield
 
#21 · (Edited)
AGREE !!!! And relatively affordable to boot. It's been my experience over many ( too many) years, that other than pride of ownership, you gain very little, if any, in performance with "custom" guns; and I've owned a few beautiful customs. I'm more of a revolver guy, and own a beautiful German Korth revolver ca. 1988. But my favorite revolver is my S&W model 686-4; 1/4 the price, no compromise in performance, and very little in overall quality.:)
 
#3 ·
1 Nighthawk
2 Alchemy Custom
3 Springfield
4 Les Baer
5 Dan Wesson
6 Colt
7 Remington
8 Ed Brown
9 Wilson
10 Kimber
I have an Alchemy Prime Elite on order. I can't wait to compare it with my Nighthawk Falcon. Ed Brown makes excellent 1911 but I had a very bad experience with their customer service. That's why I ranked them so low. The only manufacturers pistol on this list I haven't fired is a Wilson.
 
#15 ·
I would like to get my hands on an Alchemy someday. I have heard good things.
 
#20 ·
OK mods, we totally need to ban this troll! :biglaugh:
 
  • Like
Reactions: NewWaveGuy
#6 ·
1. Wilson and Baer and Nighthawk and ACW and STI (when they made them in .45ACP)
<10. Everyone else.
 
#7 ·
Colt.

I've never had any experience with any 1911 clone so can't offer an opinion about them. Have owned Colt guns since the first one in 1978. There are 13 Colt 1911-guns on hand spanning 102 years time from 1918 to 2020, in eight different chamberings, one .45 1911 predecessor, a Colt Model 1905, and one Remington Rand 1911A1. All give perfect shooting satisfaction with outstanding reliability. Because of the Colt guns' track record, especially the ones that have seen hard use, I can't see me ever wanting to sample any other manufacturer's rendition of a 1911-gun.

Son has had good fortune with a plain ol' Rock Island since he got it in 2008, something that grates on ol' dad's sensibilities, but there it is. His Rock Island's serviceability long term cannot be denied.
 
#8 · (Edited)
I wonder how many of us have owned and/or otherwise extensively fired 1911s from 10 different manufacturers.

For those who have, I'll confess to a slight jealousy. But with a big smile and tip of the hat.

I have impressions of course, but I have not actually owned 1911s from 10+ manufacturers. I also recognize that my impressions are colored by my own priorities, which might differ considerably from the next person. E.g., I don't place a high priority on a rollmark image, but others do. Then there's the always present consideration for many of best buy, which quickly becomes very subjective.
 
#13 ·
1. Colt
2. Singer
3. Remington Rand
4. Ithaca
5. Union Switch & Signal
6. Remington-UMC
7. Springfield Armory (US Gov't)
8. DGFM-FMAP
9. Kongsberg
10. North American Arms (Quebec)

Notice a trend? ;)
 
#18 · (Edited)
Walther PPQ series, 45 or 9, take your pick, best performance in Pistol for the buck...1" groups at 25 yards, great-trigger and ergonomics makes for fast shooting too (On par with my semi-custom 1911's). 1,000% reliable, and very-low maintenance. Performance for $$$-spent exceeds any "rack" 1911, and far exceeds any custom 1911.

But on the serious side, if the OP was more specific in what the ranking criteria for the 1911 manufacturer are, it would be a more valuable exercise. Note in the lists above Colt is often #1 as so is Nighthawk, yea, both of these can be true, but NOT likely true if both are being ranked by the same ranking criteria (obviously they are not).
 
#19 ·
Comparing gun “factory” operations with small boutique builders is unfair to both buisnesses.
Factory operation examples in no particular order;
Colt
Springfield Armory
Dan Wesson
Sig Sauer
Smith and Wesson
Rock Island
Kimber
Ruger
Remington
Taurus
That some listed here operate custom shops can muddy the water somewhat.
Smaller volume shops again in no particular order;
Wilson
Nighthawk
Baer
Brown
Alchemy
STI/SVI
Fusion
The rankings should be segregated by production volume. A “factory” operation has a greater challenge to produce fault free high precision weapons.
Joe
 
#33 · (Edited)
There’s nothing internally “unfair” about comparing the quality of 1911s produced by manufacturers of varying sizes.

Anyway, STI and SVI/Infinity — the latter of which very few people on this board seem to know much about — should not be listed as one entity. SVI/Infinity produces 1911s that are a significant level above anything that the various “semi-custom” shops turn out (although one could fairly dock them for their CS, which lags far behind the likes of Wilson and ACW). The same is definitely not the case with STI/Staccato.
 
#25 ·
Based only on my experiences:

1). Wilson
2). ACW (Battle with #1... I like my Prime Elite better than my well-appointed CQB...I did not like the EDCx9....but I love my ULC Commander more than any other)
3). Dan Wesson
4). Colt
5). Springfield Custom (Professional)
6). CZ
7). Les Baer (one experience with a used finicky Concept VII)
 
#27 · (Edited)
Based solely upon experiences

... (for 1911s only)
...

1) & 2) & 3) STI and The Wessons: S&W, DW
Too close to call ... my sole STI and S&W have each been functionally perfect; the DWs so good that I just recently added another.

4) Colts: accurate, attractive and reliable

5) Remington-Rand: old and great

6) Para Ordnance: reliable

7) R.I.A.: reliable

8) Kimber: mixed bag

9) S.A.: mixed bag

10) Taurus: mixed bag

Ranked by concatenating: reliability, accuracy-ergos, build, looks. Every mis-feed is worse than a miss. A miss worse than tool marks or rattle. etc.

[ ed. initially forgot about STI(?!?) and P-O ]
 
#28 ·
1. Wilson combat
2. Ed Brown (barely, I only placed them here since I have only used a few and own one vs 12 Wilson's)
3. NHC
4. Springfield custom
5. DE
6. Kimber
7. Colt (since they are good guns to use for projects)
8. Springfield non custom
7. RIA
 
#29 · (Edited)
Fact, COLT the rest are clones.

But I’ll rank what I have experience with,

1. Colt government 1911a1/45 acp the real 1911.
2. Springfield Armory 1911a1 series 90/1990/45 acp taller sights, tighter slide fit. Awesome shooter.
3. Springfield Armory 1911a1 GI Mil spec/45 acp awesome shooter
4. Auto Ordnance US Army 1911a1 45 acp awesome shooter
5. Chinese norinco 1911a1 USGI clone the most accurate , flawless 1911 I own.

I would take any of these affordable 1911’s into battle. I don’t need a high dollar 1911 to get one that functions flawlessly.
 
#30 ·
I agree with your list, and especially the Norinco. Mine rests comfortably in my safe between my 1982 Gold Cup and my newer SA Range officer, and is just as rugged, dependable, accurate, and well built ( not quite the finish quality) as the others:)
 
#32 ·
Based on what I own (after all, how can I rate something I’ve never used?):

1. Wilson Combat - have owned 4, still have 3, zero malfunctions, ever, over 1000s of rounds
2. Smith and Wesson - SW1911 Pro Series 3” 9mm, zero malfunctions, ever, 875 rounds
3. Dan Wesson - .38Super Guardian had to go back for major rework, ECP 9mm lots of still continuing growing pains; after Guardian reworked by DW, 1000s of rounds without malfunction
4. Colt - Government .38Super 5” - malfunction machine, will eventually send to Wilson to get it right

Last 1911 I bought was a Wilson Super Sentinel - exceptionally happy with this gun, “probably” done buying.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top