 This is Shepard with a Jackson Hole shooting experience and I received an email yesterday from a lady that shot with us And she's interested in purchasing a 1911 pistol that is very much like the one that she shot In our multi-gun shooting experience and I thought hey this response that I want to give deserves a little bit more attention than Then just a quick email. So yeah, what don't I you know, I haven't shaved in a few days. I'm on vacation Why don't I make a video? So I decided to do that. So here you go. Hopefully this will help you as well If you're searching for a 1911 so the 1911 that this lady shot was a Springfield Armory 1911 it was a full-sized Some 1911's are made in a altered size the smaller officer model types Compared to the full size. So the one that she shot was a full-sized The model number that Springfield Armory gave it was the a1 now a challenge when you're looking for 1911 pistols is that there are so many options There are a lot of different companies that make them some of them make material changes and some only make cosmetic changes Some have better triggers some have better barrels some have better frames And so there's there's a lot to take into Account as you as you contemplate which one you want. So then you turn to me and I say I don't really know Here's here's how I made my decision. I decided I wanted to compete with a 1911 So I went to a local friend. It was a high-end of 1911 builder a custom builder Herb hazen and I said herb. What do I want and I can't afford one of your nice $3,000 pistols. What what can I do? He suggested he's worked on a lot of different 1911 is doing gunsmithing and he said right now the best one out there Is the Springfield Armory? And so if you get that we can then build it up to be the the good gun for you so I purchased the Springfield Armory a1 and Used it for some years in competition My wife was using it at a class and there was evidently I'm not gonna admit that it was my fault but evidently one of the hand loads I did was a squib and so she had a Catastrophic failure and when she fired the one bullet goes down the barrel and hits the other bullet that was lodged in the barrel that's a squib and It caused the magazine to pop out smoke coming all over the place Fortunately, she wasn't hurt, but it cracked the part of the barrel just a little bit one of the little connectors on the barrel So I took the gun back to herb and said hey What do we need to do and he says, you know, let's put a new barrel in and so he said Ed Brown Would be a good barrel. That's the brand So he put an Ed Brown barrel in and then he did some tuning up of the trigger I'm not a gunsmith and I'm not very tech savvy in that way or engineering savvy gunsmithing savvy But he did some sort of polishing to make the trigger be more sensitive and smoother And so that is the gun that we ended up with oh and I put an aftermarket grip on it They kind of had the little cutouts for the finger or a little molded Cutouts for the finger and I find it to be really comfortable. It has some stippling little bumps on it But it's made of a hard rubbery plastic material So those are kind of the modifications done to my pistol years ago So right now I don't know that Springfield Armory offers that exact pistol and if they do I don't know that That's the exact one you want If you're not concerned so much about, you know, how much it costs I Actually would suggest a an STI. They're just a great brand now when I say this those of you watching this who know guns are gonna say oh you've got to have the Buds of black Hawk or or Nighthawk or Everybody's gonna have a favorite high-end custom 1911 and the truth is Probably all of them are pretty good You're not gonna really go wrong if you're spending more than 1500 or 2000 bucks on a 1911 You'll you'll get something good the things that you care about If you're getting the traditional large frame regular size 1911 you care about the trigger. That's the biggest thing that has a good trigger on it now some companies have tried to make good 1911's that are that are for the gentleman shooter that's only gonna shoot once every couple years and This person wants a higher-end gun But doesn't want to have all the customizing done and Kimber is a good name for this So their guns are gonna cost 20 or 30 percent more than other 1911 makers But they've already done the trigger work and and so on and so forth. I've never met a competitor though that uses Kimber It's it's not really a Hardcore users gun. I'm they're gonna be fine. But if you're planning to shoot a lot I'd step up to a different brand than that as I mentioned I like STI but lots of good brands out there and I'll actually put a link to some of them down in the description of the video Just to give you an idea, but the search is not an easy thing to look for so in this particular situation I would say I don't suggest trying to replicate the The exact gun that I have it was okay, but it was a lower mid-end There's no reason to go buy one of those and then put the ed brown barrel in because the existing barrel is gonna be great It's gonna be just fine She mentioned that the grip felt just wonderful was made for her hand That's how I feel about a lot of the CZ heavy-frame pistols and for her this grip Was just perfect my wife Lynn. She says there's a different gun for every body So for this gals body for her hand this particular grip I had felt great I'll put a link to that down below that is if I can find it I'll find one that's pretty similar when I get back home from vacation and so that'll be included in the description So my long story short suggestion would be to get a Rangemaster version of the STI and get it in 9 millimeter just because it's more comfortable shoot It'll let you shoot more which will make you be a better shooter That's what I would suggest if you do want the full-size 45 ACP That's great. They're they're wonderful, but used it for many years and loved it Then go for any Ed Brown less bear STI is it night hawk or night force something like that I'll put a link as I mentioned or the name of it down below Anything like that. That's a couple grand It's gonna be a great gun the shape and this is a big thing the reason that many of us love 1911's is it the angle of the barrel and the frame the angle of the grip is Just feels good to people who like 1911's it feels good and that angle is gonna be the same on any 1911 model Traditional shaped gun, which is what you're gonna find on gunbroker guns America or wherever you're searching That's what you're gonna find and whatever you find Is gonna be comfortable you get that aftermarket grip that feels good to you Hogue is a popular brand the Hogue grips and that might be what I have on mine as I mentioned I'll put the correct answer down below and then just put that grip on if you have already spent two grand on the gun It's gonna have a good trigger You're probably not gonna have any have to have anything additional done if you do Find a local gunsmith and this lady is from outside of the United States. She's in an even better country She lives in Texas. So in Texas, they're gonna be all kinds of great gunsmiths Talk to a friend talk to somebody at the range and they're gonna mention all you gotta use Bob But Bob is the best ever and he's just you know, he's a master gunsmith. Great Bob's gonna do a very good job Make sure you get a recommendation from an actual shooter preferably a competitive shooter They know more and they care more. They're paying for their own ammunition. They're paying for their own guns They're gonna care more than perhaps your neighbor down the street who was assigned a cop Gun as part of his job as a cop. He was assigned a particular Gun and he's not gonna be the expert that the local person that actually competes is gonna be so I would talk to a IDPA USPS a Three gun competitor somebody like that and say hey, who's a who's a good custom gunsmith that can do some work on my trigger so that's my overall advice on selecting the pistol and For all of you that have been out to shoot with us Kind of included in our price is a lifetime of shooting emails to me And I'm not a phone talker kind of person but shoot an email and just say hey, I found these three on Gunbroker, what do you think of them? And I'm again? I'm not a gunperson. I'm a shooting person I'm not that much of a gunsmith Engineering kind of guy, but I've made a lot of mistakes over the years and hopefully I can use those mistakes and kind of take a look and say Oh, you know what? I did make this error. Don't don't reinvent this wheel I just take my advice and go for this one or that one or Can't keep looking or something like that. So hopefully these tips have helped you You know who you are I'm not gonna divulge your name and anyone else watching hopefully these have helped you and Please do be in touch shoot an email to me so to speak and I'll be in touch