Which 1911 .45

Looking for a back up 1911 45 and was wondering which commercially available brand 1911 ,45 would everyone buy?
Springfield Armory custom shop, Rock River, Les Bare Custom or a Accuracy X.
 A full custom built would be preferable but don't want to wait up to or over a year to have one built.

Hard to beat a Rock River. I have bought two used ones over the years and both are tack drivers.

Bill

If you're willing to spend for it then Accuracy X

My vote would be for Rock River. One of the best “off the shelf” bullseye guns there is.  Many times they will have some guns already built and ready to ship so no wait time. They also have a dealer network so you could try that route too if they don’t have anything.  

Good luck.
John

If you want a Les Baer right now, John at 1911 Heaven has a stock of new that he
will ship right away.  I got one in days last year.

Rock River - very good straight out of the box.

Suggestion - since you're going to send it off to one of the good Bullseye gunsmiths to make it into a competition gun anyway, why not call one of them and ask what THEY prefer?  Off the top of my head, there's KC, Dave Salyer, and Jon Eulette.  Probably many more.

There's also the matter of how much work you're going to want the gunsmith to do, and how much you're going to want to spend, along with how long it will take them.

By the way, you mentioned Baer.  I've got a Baer Premiere II, and it jammed shooting light bullseye loads.  I had to send my barrel to Dave, so he could change it to prevent the jams.  Apparently it wasn't designed for the shape of the bullets that are used for bullseye.

Talking about a wadgun or one that can be used for everything? Now that CMP allows sight ribs for EIC, I would lean more towards a RRA if it makes weight. The AXI Multi sight feature is nice though.

Fair warning... I have a Rock River that I'm quite happy with. I've been shooting it with the combo rib for service pistol. It suits me well. But if you want to shoot an optic, I'd recommend going with their regular rib. Running an optic on the combo rib requires a pretty stout load to cycle, basically jacketed only. YMMV.

Dave

Accuracy X as a Back-Up gun???

Rodger Barthlow wrote:Looking for a back up 1911 45 and was wondering which commercially available brand 1911 ,45 would everyone buy?
.........
A full custom built would be preferable but don't want to wait up to or over a year to have one built.

I guess everyone's finances are different, but personally, for a back-up gun, I think I would be looking for a used gun.
You might consider starting with a decent gun, new or used, and just having the barrel fitted properly, with a match barrel bushing at the front end.

You could ask the gunsmith you work with about this, and get his advice.  I'm not good enough to advise others.

Thanks for all the replies on the different brands available ready made for our sport.
For me a backup gun has to shoot as good as my primary gun and it needs to feel the same in my hand.

Jon has my primary 45 putting a new barrel in it when KKM decides to ship one to him. 

I have read a few complaints about AX pistols and I wasn't aware they were made from stainless steel so that would take them completely out of the running.
I've read of problems with all the manufacturers QC problems letting things slip out the door that shouldn't so one has to pick the manufacture with least problems or complaints. 
Rock River is the one that is the most favored and would likely be the way to go. 

Finding a good used pistol to build on is not easy and the asking price on most is more than would be feasible to put more money into to have it tuned up as compared to buying new or have a custom pistol built from scratch.
Finding a used Rock River or other used custom builds from one of the Master's is all but impossible.
Yeah there was a Kid 1911 45 listed in the classifieds but it didn't have Kids signature markings so I was a little reluctant to buy it.

I’ve owned 3 Les Baer Customs (just bought one last week), my dad has two Les Baer National Match pistols, and I have three Dave Salyer guns. Never have any issues with any of them.

Rodger Barthlow wrote:Thanks for all the replies on the different brands available ready made for our sport.
For me a backup gun has to shoot as good as my primary gun and it needs to feel the same in my hand.

Jon has my primary 45 putting a new barrel in it when KKM decides to ship one to him. 

I have read a few complaints about AX pistols and I wasn't aware they were made from stainless steel so that would take them completely out of the running.
I've read of problems with all the manufacturers QC problems letting things slip out the door that shouldn't so one has to pick the manufacture with least problems or complaints. 
Rock River is the one that is the most favored and would likely be the way to go. 

Finding a good used pistol to build on is not easy and the asking price on most is more than would be feasible to put more money into to have it tuned up as compared to buying new or have a custom pistol built from scratch.
Finding a used Rock River or other used custom builds from one of the Master's is all but impossible.
Yeah there was a Kid 1911 45 listed in the classifieds but it didn't have Kids signature markings so I was a little reluctant to buy it.

I am curious what issues you have heard about the AXI pistols. Please share. 

I own one and it is fantastic. I decided to go with AXI because nobody makes a 1911 that is better for bullseye than them. Some might be equal but none are better. Additionally, the waiting list for AXI was 6 months whereas the other 1911 smiths that have the highest reputations also have waiting lists of 1 yr or longer. 

I went distinguished last summer and immediately replaced the iron rear sight with an red-dot, H2. Had a manufacturing defect with the sight and sent it in for repair so put the irons back on and am using it with irons again. The modular sight slide is very versatile. 

Yes AXI is made of stainless. Is this a problem? 
Just FYI, if you don’t like the  aesthetics then you can get it with a BlackStar finish which is black in color. Unfortunately They do not offer some of the unique looking options such as case hardening, Damascus, or something like that. 

Good luck,
-Trevor

hengehold wrote:

Rodger Barthlow wrote:Thanks for all the replies on the different brands available ready made for our sport.
For me a backup gun has to shoot as good as my primary gun and it needs to feel the same in my hand.

Jon has my primary 45 putting a new barrel in it when KKM decides to ship one to him. 

I have read a few complaints about AX pistols and I wasn't aware they were made from stainless steel so that would take them completely out of the running.
I've read of problems with all the manufacturers QC problems letting things slip out the door that shouldn't so one has to pick the manufacture with least problems or complaints. 
Rock River is the one that is the most favored and would likely be the way to go. 

Finding a good used pistol to build on is not easy and the asking price on most is more than would be feasible to put more money into to have it tuned up as compared to buying new or have a custom pistol built from scratch.
Finding a used Rock River or other used custom builds from one of the Master's is all but impossible.
Yeah there was a Kid 1911 45 listed in the classifieds but it didn't have Kids signature markings so I was a little reluctant to buy it.

I am curious what issues you have heard about the AXI pistols. Please share. 

I own one and it is fantastic. I decided to go with AXI because nobody makes a 1911 that is better for bullseye than them. Some might be equal but none are better. Additionally, the waiting list for AXI was 6 months whereas the other 1911 smiths that have the highest reputations also have waiting lists of 1 yr or longer. 

I went distinguished last summer and immediately replaced the iron rear sight with an red-dot, H2. Had a manufacturing defect with the sight and sent it in for repair so put the irons back on and am using it with irons again. The modular sight slide is very versatile. 

Yes AXI is made of stainless. Is this a problem? 
Just FYI, if you don’t like the  aesthetics then you can get it with a BlackStar finish which is black in color. Unfortunately They do not offer some of the unique looking options such as case hardening, Damascus, or something like that. 

Good luck,
-Trevor

Don't want to nitpick so I will leave it at that. But if it were made from carbon steel it might be different.