[baltimoreed]

With a 2k budget I might try getting two. But then I’m cheap. Will a 2k 1911 make ‘better’ .452 sized holes in a target than a 1k or less 1911? It might look prettier. My last two 1911s were a very nice looking Cimarron and a Auto Ordnance. I use both in Wild Bunch matches. They never choke on my reloads. Good luck on your 1911 hunt. We expect a range report when you have made your choice.

 

[Delta Rose]

Dan Wesson. You should be able to find one for less than $2K.

 

[LarryNBoise]

It's your money, so if you want a bragging rights gun, buy a Les or Dan Wesson. If you want one to keep up with those for 1/2 the price check out reviews for BUL Armory 1911s. They are beasts. The action feels like its riding on ball bearings. It's that smooth.

 

[1911Fanatic]

Get a Colt if you want it to retain some value for resale later. But there are so many good options out there, without spending a ton of money. But believe me, if I could afford it, I would get a WC, LB, or DW.

These days, Kimber seems to be a lot of bang for the buck. Last year I got a Kimber Eclipse Pro 4 inch. It came with ambi safety, night sights, and front checkering. I paid $956.00 for it new.

 

[THinckley]

With that budget, get two SR1911. How many features do they need to have? Point, pull trigger, goes bang, hole in target where aimed seems to be all the features I need....

 

[GYJ]

I love Ruger and have a ton of them but they're not my first choice in a 1911.

The Tisas guns are excellent. They're all forged and their machining is fantastic. Way more gun than the price suggests. I've bought five in the last year. $2650 would replace them all. The gray "Night Stalker" (top right) has the threaded barrel and rail you want and runs $700-$800. Single or double stack.

The finish on the Standard Mfg is unrivaled anywhere. It has a traditional finish with modern features but no rail or threaded barrel. You could buy it and the Night Stalker for $2000.

This pic shows off the level of polish a little better.

 

[shakatak]

Find yourself a good used Les Baer, Premier, UTC, etc and you wont be sorry.

 

[oldag]

I cannot recommend the TRP. I bought one and it failed miserably out of the box. Jamming like crazy and POI way off (in both axes). Turns out they had installed the wrong sights at the factory, but that does not explain being off in the horizontal axis. I can only assume they do not test fire guns before leaving the factory, or they don't bother to check POI vs POA. They replaced several other parts to fix the jamming. Maybe it should not have, but those kind of gross quality problems soured me on Springfield. Fired it enough to make sure it functioned and sold it.

At the low end, the Ruger is probably a good choice. Have not had the chance to shoot one, but examining one the fit seemed good. I would buy a Sig 1911 before buying a Wesson. The Sig is good quality and very smooth shooting.

I have known of people who had a lot of problems with Baer customer service.

Kimber went through a spell of quality issues, but that was back when they ramped up production so much. They have probably fixed the problems by now.

Someday, save up for a Guncrafter (they have gotten crazy expensive, like the rest, over the past five or so years). Best craftsmanship I have ever seen in a firearm by far and great people.

 

[LarryNBoise]

I love Ruger and have a ton of them but they're not my first choice in a 1911.

The Tisas guns are excellent. They're all forged and their machining is fantastic. Way more gun than the price suggests. I've bought five in the last year. $2650 would replace them all. The gray "Night Stalker" (top right) has the threaded barrel and rail you want and runs $700-$800. Single or double stack.

View attachment 274055

The finish on the Standard Mfg is unrivaled anywhere. It has a traditional finish with modern features but no rail or threaded barrel. You could buy it and the Night Stalker for $2000.

View attachment 274057

This pic shows off the level of polish a little better.

View attachment 274058

I owned the same Tisas humpback you show and while overall it was a decent gun, the rear sight needed adjustment to one side. A sight adjustment tool that I have for 1911s works great on every gun I've used it on but not the Tisas. Never could get it to budge after removing the screw completely, soaking the slide in various lubricants and even penetrating oil befor applying heat to the slide. Ended up marring the slide as nothing worked and sold it at a loss.

I never messed with returning it to the mfgr in Turkey because I decided to cut my losses and move on. Maybe I got a one off machining out of tolerance issue, but that put a nail in my Tisas love affair.

 

[LarryNBoise]

If I had $2k to splurge, I'd do like what has worked best for me the best over the years. Buy a slightly used proven solid quality gun for hundreds less than a new one. Every gun I buy new has always been a crap shoot and like buying a new car, it instantly depreciates in value as you leave the dealership. I have a ton of pre-owned guns that will outshoot a NIB one and leaves me $$ to add-on....like better trigger, ambi this or that, etc.

I gravitate towards shorter barrel defense guns that still hold their own accuracy wise to longer barreled guns but with just a little less velocity.

The all steel Canadian built gun pictured produces freaking tight groups out of its 3-1/2" barrel and I paid $600 to a prior California SWAT officer who carried it behind his ballistic vest as backup to his issued Para Ordnance P14-45. He trusted his life on it and so do I

Ain't pretty, but damn will shoot where I aim and has 12+1.

$2k can go a long way in the used 1911 market. My BUL Armory Government model was $750 in Cabela's gun library when I liberated it.

The gold Ruger cost me $700 from an USAF Airman.

3 quality used 1911s for just over your $2k budget.

 

[Randy99CL]

Coming from far left field, are you positive you want 45acp?? Obviously there are options and I waited to buy my first 1911 until I could afford one in 10mm Auto.
I love the 10 and have since collected two Glocks and one PCC in the cartridge.

Range ammo is cheap and if you want ammo as soft shooting as the 45 some is only loaded to 40S&W velocities. Otherwise the 10mm is powerful and popular and available everywhere.

 

[Sr40ken]

I wouldn’t spend $2k on a 1911 unless you need bragging rights. “Feature rich” is subjective. Ruger’s enhancements are what is need for function over a GI.
Ruger likely makes a very good 1911 for the price range and great customer support.
I’ve kind of fallen out of love with the 45 AP. I’d go 10mm. Jmho

 

[LarryNBoise]

I wouldn’t spend $2k on a 1911 unless you need bragging rights. “Feature rich” is subjective. Ruger’s enhancements are what is need for function over a GI.
Ruger likely makes a very good 1911 for the price range and great customer support.
I’ve kind of fallen out of love with the 45 AP. I’d go 10mm. Jmho

As noted previously, I agree on not splurging $$$ on a 1911, but imho, 10mm is overkill for target or even defensive shooting and more aligned to hunting. Why did FBI drop the 10mm for defensive use? Excessive recoil, larger grip length not compatible for smaller hand sizes, muzzle blast, etc.

45 trumps 9mm and 10mm when it comes to lower hearing impact muzzle blast as it is subsonic and not the sharp crack of the others.

Cost and availability of 10mm ammo is another issue losing ground to 9mm and 45.

I would buy a 10mm specifically in a carbine or for bear, wolf, and mountain lion defense, but as a range toy. or carry gun...not sold on that caliber.

You know what they say about opinions... mine probably has hemorrhoids.

 

[1911Fanatic]

You can get a blued, all steel, Colt Combat Commander for around 1K new. That’s going to be my next one. I have seen Colt government models as cheap as $820 new. If it’s primarily for defense, those are good options. They are good basic pistols and have traditional 1911 guide rods. Simple and easy to break down for cleaning.

 

[1911Fanatic]

I also have a Colt Custom Shop that my son gave me, but I don’t carry it as it has a target sight. It was reportedly 1 of 100 and was listed at $2750. My son picked it up new, on sale, for $1900.

you don’t need to blow your whole wad on a pistol to have a good one. But this gun will shoot a dime sized group at 50 feet, even though the frame to slide fit isn’t tight like my Kimber and my past Rugers. The added benefit of that is it won’t jam up after it gets a little dirty.

if you are going to carry it, you might look at a Ruger aluminum framed Commander. Those can be had new for around 700 bucks. Cabela’s just had one for $650.

 

[Randy99CL]

I like 10mm for some of the same reasons why others like any magnum handgun, it is fun! I love the power when you feel the concussion in your chest.
AFAIK 10mm ammo is cheaper than probably any (357, 41, 44) magnum cartridge.
10mm is fantastic in full size, full weight steel 1911s, very controllable and accurate. It can be a handful in a light plastic pistol.

But there are a few companies that only load their 10mm to 40S&W velocities and those are relatively mild in a 1911. Full power 10mm is a 180g or 200g bullet around 1250fps (and up) but American Eagle (1030fps) and Armscor (1008fps) are two examples of those who load to only around 1000fps.

As to cost, I've been buying a lot of Magtech from SOS, FMJ range ammo is only $15.99 for 50 and JHP is a few $ more when in stock. In-Stock 10mm Ammo | Top Brands, Great Prices | Sportsman's Outdoor Superstore

 

[LarryNBoise]

You can get a blued, all steel, Colt Combat Commander for around 1K new. That’s going to be my next one. I have seen Colt government models as cheap as $820 new. If it’s primarily for defense, those are good options. They are good basic pistols and have traditional 1911 guide rods. Simple and easy to break down for cleaning.

I have a Colt Mark IV Series 80 Officers ACP Lightweight that the only mod I made was changing ot to an EGW solid guidevrod setup. It is the 1st gun I bought here in Boise in 2008 in original box with all the paperwork for $600 used. I benched it at 80 yards and kept 6 of 6 on notebook paper in 1 vertical line.

Older Colts are still excellent Colts.

 

[sgcardinal]

Coming from far left field, are you positive you want 45acp?? Obviously there are options and I waited to buy my first 1911 until I could afford one in 10mm Auto.
I love the 10 and have since collected two Glocks and one PCC in the cartridge.

Range ammo is cheap and if you want ammo as soft shooting as the 45 some is only loaded to 40S&W velocities. Otherwise the 10mm is powerful and popular and available everywhere.

I did get to try my buddy's 10mm and liked it quite a bit. I was expecting something difficult to control and it wasn't bad at all.

 

[sgcardinal]

If I had $2k to splurge, I'd do like what has worked best for me the best over the years. Buy a slightly used proven solid quality gun for hundreds less than a new one. Every gun I buy new has always been a crap shoot and like buying a new car, it instantly depreciates in value as you leave the dealership. I have a ton of pre-owned guns that will outshoot a NIB one and leaves me $$ to add-on....like better trigger, ambi this or that, etc.

I gravitate towards shorter barrel defense guns that still hold their own accuracy wise to longer barreled guns but with just a little less velocity.

The all steel Canadian built gun pictured produces freaking tight groups out of its 3-1/2" barrel and I paid $600 to a prior California SWAT officer who carried it behind his ballistic vest as backup to his issued Para Ordnance P14-45. He trusted his life on it and so do I

Ain't pretty, but damn will shoot where I aim and has 12+1.

View attachment 274070

$2k can go a long way in the used 1911 market. My BUL Armory Government model was $750 in Cabela's gun library when I liberated it.
View attachment 274071


The gold Ruger cost me $700 from an USAF Airman.

View attachment 274072

3 quality used 1911s for just over your $2k budget.

That's a good point about looking at the used market. I'll likely need to get the help of my knowledgeable gun buddies to make sure I know what to look for when going used. Thanks!

 

[maddmatter1970]

Sorry what I meant was 10mm is loaded to a softer level in factory ammunition GENERALLY speaking. This is because reduced power loads were developed to lessen recoil when the 10 was playing for LE points. And those loadings kind of "stuck" rightly or wrongly