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A Resurgence of the 1911 for Duty?

HayesGreener

HayesGreener

Ronin
I belong to several national law enforcement firearms instructor organizations. I just got notice from one of them that, due to an increasing number of LEO's and agencies adopting 1911's for duty use, they are putting together a 3-day 1911 LEO instructor certification course. I find this to be a fascinating trend. When I first became a firearms instructor 54 years ago the 1911 was thought to be obsolete in many LE circles, though some remained loyal to it. My OSI agency adopted a chopped 1911 for a while in the late 70's, but was the exception. I suppose the increased availability of double stacked 9mm guns is a factor in renewed interest in the platform. I personally prefer a single stack 45, but whatever your preferences, you have to admit, Browning's genius 1911 has amazing staying power.
 
HayesGreener said:
I belong to several national law enforcement firearms instructor organizations. I just got notice from one of them that, due to an increasing number of LEO's and agencies adopting 1911's for duty use, they are putting together a 3-day 1911 LEO instructor certification course. I find this to be a fascinating trend. When I first became a firearms instructor 54 years ago the 1911 was thought to be obsolete in many LE circles, though some remained loyal to it. My OSI agency adopted a chopped 1911 for a while in the late 70's, but was the exception. I suppose the increased availability of double stacked 9mm guns is a factor in renewed interest in the platform. I personally prefer a single stack 45, but whatever your preferences, you have to admit, Browning's genius 1911 has amazing staying power.
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It seems that no matter what becomes "old and obsolete", always seems to make a comeback. Bell Bottoms, Vinyl Records, Atari, record players, the 1911. The Revolver has been around how long now, and never seems to go "out of style". I know that quite a few people will argue that the new cars are "faster and more efficient" than the old classic Thunderbird, or any Muscle Car. However, you don't get the same feeling sitting in a Lexus as you do sitting in a 1956 Ford Thunderbird with the Porthole windows and Continental Kit. And, parts are more readily available for a 1966 Mustang than they are for my wife's 2017 Mitsubishi Outlander GT. Cheaper as well. Just spent $351 on two rear shocks from Mitsubishi, since that is the only place to get shocks and struts from. Rear shocks for my Dodge on Rock Auto $40.79 each plus shipping. They have discontinued a lot of parts for my 2005 Dodge Ram 1500. It takes me about an hour to change all 8 plugs on my Dodge. The Mitsubishi? I have to drain the cooling system, remove the throttle body and intake manifold to get to 3 of the 6 plugs. Manufacturers have made their vehicles more disposable and harder to work on.
 
Onewolf426 said:
It seems that no matter what becomes "old and obsolete", always seems to make a comeback. Bell Bottoms, Vinyl Records, Atari, record players, the 1911. The Revolver has been around how long now, and never seems to go "out of style". I know that quite a few people will argue that the new cars are "faster and more efficient" than the old classic Thunderbird, or any Muscle Car. However, you don't get the same feeling sitting in a Lexus as you do sitting in a 1956 Ford Thunderbird with the Porthole windows and Continental Kit. And, parts are more readily available for a 1966 Mustang than they are for my wife's 2017 Mitsubishi Outlander GT. Cheaper as well. Just spent $351 on two rear shocks from Mitsubishi, since that is the only place to get shocks and struts from. They have discontinued a lot of parts for my 2005 Dodge Ram 1500. It takes me about an hour to change all 8 plugs on my Dodge. The Mitsubishi? I have to drain the cooling system, remove the throttle body and intake manifold to get to 3 of the 6 plugs. Manufacturers have made their vehicles more disposable and harder to work on.
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Well, Atari hasn't made a comeback as far as I know. I quit wearing Bellbottom jeans in the early 80s because I couldn't find them anymore. Levi quit making them and as far as I know they still don't make them. And other than women's fashion I don't see anyone wearing them and haven't in a great many years. As for vinyl, it's really only the guys that grew up with it that keep any interest in it at all. The same goes for turntables and bad ass tube receivers. Hi-Fi audiophile stuff. Old Marantz and McIntosh stuff is big with boomers. I definitely prefer it myself and until the flood in 2017 took nearly everything I owned I had an extensive and valuable record collection as well as a vintage hi-fi system.
As for guns, it's the same thing as guitars/basses and vintage tube amplifiers. Us older guys love that stuff. A vintage Les Paul through a vintage Marshall JCM 800 and a Greenback loaded cab. Or a late 50s/early 60s Fender Deluxe ( Tweed, Brown, whatever) and a 60s Telecaster. The young guitarists and current popular musicians aren't into it at all. Everything is digital. Ampless stages, Asian guitars, blah, blah, blah. I have it on good authority those guys have no soul(s). :) Guns may have a little more crossover from people into historical stuff, but for the most part these younger guys aren't into 1911s and old, heavy shotguns. The biggest difference is that the younger generation doesn't make up the majority of gun sales like they do cars and jeans and music. It's still mostly us old guys driving the market.



I know a lot of cops. None of them are carrying 1911s. In fact most of them are bound to whatever guns their department issues, which is almost universally Glocks. And in their off duty time they are still carrying Glocks. The military guys I know are a mixed bag. Some of the 4 year guys or reservists are plebes really, but the long term guys and spec ops guys are carrying whatever it is that floats their boats. Some of them 1911s, but most of them are carrying strikers as well.
 
Belt Fed said:
Gawd i hated those things, if all you could find were them now i'd go naked.
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I wore them every day until about the time I got kicked out of school ( 15 years old). I also had hair down to my ass and wore hiking boots and a chain wallet. In school we were called freaks or hippies. Of course our version of hippies were weed smoking, beer drinking street fighting Shiteheads.
Then I switched to 501s. These days you couldn't pay me to wear anything made by Levi Strauss. And I cut my hair off when I was 21 or 22 and other than a mohawk I sported for awhile in the early 2000s it's been a buzz cut ever since.
 
If I could squeeze into my 70's bellbottoms and disco shirts I would. (At least the boots still fit). I miss my 72 Mustang convertible. A&W pork tenderloin sandwiches. Gunsmoke and Combat on TV. But the 1911 is a timeless old friend that has stayed true. A lot of officers out West still carry the 1911 but most agencies have gone fantastic plastic. Some departments allow personal weapons outside standard issue. The trigger is seductive.

It remains to be seen how much of a trend there will be toward duty 1911's, I'll be watching with interest. I am sure the 1911 manufacturers will as well.
 
Seems to me there’s some difference - verbiage wise - between “the 1911” and “the 1911 platform”.

One is the 5” barrel, 7-shot single stack in .45 (big YEAH!), traditionally configured setup. T’other can be in other calibers, capacities, lengths and be comped, ported, or whatever else. What they share is inside.

Not too surpising the platform is being rediscovered for duty purposes.
The big, grand “forty-five” as my dad calls it, will live on but mostly in the traditionalists’ corner…

Just thinking out loud :)
 
No doubt the 1911 trigger is slick. I love they way they handle and how easy it is to shoot one well (which is why one is on my hip as I write this). The fact that it take three actions to fire it (grip, safety, trigger) one could make the argument that it’s a safer weapon to carry. Also should an LEO have his weapon “taken” by a gangbanger it would slow the young thug’s ability to employ it against the LEO as the punk couldn’t quickly figure out how to make it go bang😏.
 
Atari are pretty popular with some kids these days, my granddaughters were telling me all about this "new" game system they had been playing with friends. I told them that's cool, and if any one wanted them to play Leisure Suit Larry they needed to tell me... they were both wearing bell bottom jeans too.

I did see several police officers at dinner with 1911s a while back, first time in a long time, its a very rare sight around here. And I did see the chief of police in a department on the show On Patrol Live carrying what looked to be a 686 which I thought was cool.
 
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Belt Fed said:
Gawd i hated those things, if all you could find were them now i'd go naked.
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Bell bottoms had their place in history. Everything these days seems to cycle around and bell bottoms are on their third go-around from my count. Won’t wear them now. I did do skinny jeans for a while but it was a PITA to get them off over my feet. I wear boot cut now when I wear jeans.
Guns…I love my 1911s. I have three - two 45s and a 9mm. I like how they shoot, and they challenge me.
When I do see LEOs locally I always check what they carry. Most look like Glocks, did notice what may have been S&W on a deputy at the county fair once. Whatever feels good and they’re accurate with is most important IMHO.
 
Bassbob said:
I wore them every day until about the time I got kicked out of school ( 15 years old). I also had hair down to my ass and wore hiking boots and a chain wallet. In school we were called freaks or hippies. Of course our version of hippies were weed smoking, beer drinking street fighting Shiteheads.
Then I switched to 501s. These days you couldn't pay me to wear anything made by Levi Strauss. And I cut my hair off when I was 21 or 22 and other than a mohawk I sported for awhile in the early 2000s it's been a buzz cut ever since.
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Bet those hiking boots had red laces?
 
It’s funny to me that most auto pistols out there today are either (1) 1911’s (or modifications thereof) or (2) Glocks (or semi clones thereof-on the basis of striker fired plastic handguns whose safety is the flipper in the trigger). Those two groups confine like 85% of what I’m seeing in the gun shop these days. There are a few CZ 75’s, HiPowers and Berreta 92’s ( and the clone of these models) and that brings it to what 95% of auto’s that are available. The Glocks’ are the “newest” design, and they’re what 40 years old or so? Truly nothing new under the sun.
 
Shibadog said:
It’s funny to me that most auto pistols out there today are either (1) 1911’s (or modifications thereof) or (2) Glocks (or semi clones thereof-on the basis of striker fired plastic handguns whose safety is the flipper in the trigger). Those two groups confine like 85% of what I’m seeing in the gun shop these days. There are a few CZ 75’s, HiPowers and Berreta 92’s ( and the clone of these models) and that brings it to what 95% of auto’s that are available. The Glocks’ are the “newest” design, and they’re what 40 years old or so? Truly nothing new under the sun.
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…kinda similar to a thought I once had about “new cars”. My 2021 SUV isn’t fundamentally any diff from a 19__ Model-T: frame, four wheels, drive train, cab and internal combustion engine.
Get across town in about the same time, too.

( afterthought: might be kinda cool to drive around in a 1911 wearing a 1911 😉 ).
 
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