The inevitable Glock vs 1911 came up (no surprise there!) during one of the breaks. (For the record, I carry 1911 style pistols. Don’t like GLOCK, but they are good pistols that do what they are supposed to do:..go “Bang” when the Bang Switch is squeezed and hit where they aim. I don’t like the Safe Action trigger….my choice. Doesn’t mean GLOCK are bad firearms, just not my preference.)
“You can take a dozen GLOCK pistols and field strip them and put all the parts in a pile and then stir them up and reassemble a dozen GLOCK pistols from random parts in the pile and end up with a dozen working GLOCKs.”
True.
“you can’t do that with 1911’s, they have to be hand fitted”.
I asked if they really thought that, say, Springfield Armory hand-fitted their production 1911 pistols at a an MSRP of $900 or so? Seriously?
No, they assemble them from bins of parts…..then test fire them and put them in a box with a manual, just like GLOCK.
I also pointed out that when GI 1911’s are rearsenaled, the same process happens. Stripped into parts, inspected, and then reassembled from bins and racks of parts. And, if the parts are in Spec, then the pistols work as designed.
One cannot take parts from different specifications of firearms and do this. You can’t mix Gen 1, Gen 2 and Gen 3 and 4 GLOCK parts and reassemble them randomly into working pistols, same way one cannot take parts from 1911 pistols from different manufacturers (and therefore slightly different dimensions) and end up with working pistols. 1911 describes a TYPE of action in a pistol, not pistols made to the same specifications by different manufacturers (Wartime military production notwithstanding). Different brands have different dimensions, just as different series of GLOCK pistols have different dimensions.
But the same brand and same model of production 1911 style pistols? Yes, yes you can.
(ETA: Please, this was not meant to start a “1911 vs Glock” fight in the comments.)
I have both. The glock is always in my nightstand. I like the 1911, but, I just am not crazy about the safeties. I have had times where my grip wasn't quite right at the range, so it didn't fire because of the grip safety. People say with practice, you won't have that issue. Problem I see is, in the time of need, I am going to be nervous, and I would rather have a gun I can draw, aim and shoot, and not have the worry of hitting the safeties just right. To each their own, I just don't like the grip safety of the 1911. I shoot decent with both, but the glock, even though it has the style of a brick, goes bang every time without worry, and I actually get a decent grouping with it. Summer time carry, I have a nice little Browning BDA. It hides better than the Glock.
Actually, there are/were a number of rearsenaled 1911s from WWII that had parts from different manufacturers, Colt slides on Remington frames, etc. BUT they were all built to the same spec.