Compact .45acp for CCW

[skb12172]

Chris, what ammo do you use in your Officer's?

[NVGdude]

It's not THAT hard to keep a shortened 1911 running.

Feed it a modern hollow-point like a Gold Dot or Win Ranger T or B and it will run just fine. Avoid light for caliber (185 grain) bullets in any compact. Don't overtension the extractor. Actually, on any 1911 don;t overtension the extractor.

Change the recoil spring every 600-1000 rounds depending on the design.

For a Kimber, make certain your ammo fits into a case gage. For a Colt out of spec ammo is usually not a problem.

I think the last time I had any failure on a shortened 1911 was the early 90's. That was with the old Speer 200 grain "flying ashcan" rounds.

[First Shirt]

Some years back, I got a good deal on a used Kimber Pro Carry, the previous owner having had reliability issues with it. A thorough cleaning, and a new (heavier) recoil spring resulted in a delightfully reliable CCW piece. It places 185 gr. JHPs into the same hole with monotonous regularity, and shoots to point-of-aim with those bullets loaded to just under 1000fps. Compact, light, and adequately powerful; What's not to like?

Couple of years ago it had started looking a little shabby, so it went off to be bobtailed and refinished, and came home to a new set of slim-line grips.

If I'm packing CCW, it's what I've got, and it looks like this:

photo (8).JPG

[skb12172]

Some years back, I got a good deal on a used Kimber Pro Carry, the previous owner having had reliability issues with it. A thorough cleaning, and a new (heavier) recoil spring resulted in a delightfully reliable CCW piece. It places 185 gr. JHPs into the same hole with monotonous regularity, and shoots to point-of-aim with those bullets loaded to just under 1000fps. Compact, light, and adequately powerful; What's not to like?

Couple of years ago it had started looking a little shabby, so it went off to be bobtailed and refinished, and came home to a new set of slim-line grips.

If I'm packing CCW, it's what I've got, and it looks like this:

photo (8).JPG

Nice. What kind of recoil spring did you install?

[First Shirt]

A #24 from Brownells, think its a Springco. I change it every 1500 rounds or so, just to be safe.

[NVGdude]

This is the one I carry.

"Series I" Kimber. Alloy frame ultra. Trijicon night sights (Novak copy)

Speer 230 Grain Short Barrel Gold dots chrony at 805 fps from the 3" barrel.


This is the one I used to carry. Steel frame. 3 1/2" Colt. At the end of the day, your lower back notices the difference in weight.

[D5CAV]

I sometimes carry a Taurus PT 245. The trigger is not very good, but I have never had a failure to feed or failure to fire. Reliability trumps most other faults in my book.

The magazine holds 10 rounds of .45 ACP. It has a lightweight polymer frame, and the controls are pretty much the same place as the 1911 controls (safety comes off by coming down with the thumb).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taurus_PT_24/7

[Combat Controller]

I have a kimber royal carry cco that is delightful and I really like my S&W Nighthawk lightweight 1911 as well. All my guns have Alan from Springco's springs in them. I still do all his cryo work.

I have been super happy with my XDS in pocket carry recently though....